Ajvar

[DocNrock]

Stickman turned me on to this Serbian condiment called Ajvar. It sounded good so I had to try my hand at making it. I found a recipe online and went for it. This stuff is incredible. Its basically a roasted red bell pepper spread, and can be made spicy or not.

10 to 12 red bell peppers
6 cloves garlic
1 large eggplant
1/4 cup olive oil
Splash of vinegar (I used the juice of two fresh lemons, instead)
salt to taste. I used about 2 tsp.
1/2 tsp. pepper powder (optional) I used my smoked powder that is about 80% supers.

Cut red bells in half, deseed, and place open end down on a baking sheet. Broil about 3 to 4 inches under heat source for about 20 minutes, turning a couple of times.

Once in a bowl while still hot, cover with plastic wrap until they are cool enough to hold, then peel off all the skin.

Cut eggplant in half and put a tablespoon of olive oil on each half and broil for about 15 minutes. Never mind the onion in the photos. Those I did at the same time as I made some hot sauce later in the day.

Once the eggplant cools enough to handle, scoop out the flesh and add to the peeled roasted peppers, add garlic, then put in the food processor, add vinegar (or lemon juice) and blend into a mildly chunky mix.

Preheat a large skillet with the remaining olive oil then add the mix from the food processor. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until the mix can be cut with a spatula and the mix stays parted without liquid filling the void. Add salt to taste. This is where I added the pepper powder, as well.

This stuff is awesome! Great as a dip with crackers, and went well on a ham sandwich, too.

 

[stickman]

I haven't had trouble sending to, or receiving seeds from Hungary and Croatia, so I would say just label the seeds for species and variety if they aren't already, and declare the contents on the customs form when mailing. Now that I think of it... the folks from both locations sent the seeds to me by registered mail, and I had to sign for them.

I finally took a look at thp member 915river's chile seed website http://www.rainbowch....com/index.html
and Vlad has seeds for a number of Balkan peppers suitable for ajvar listed. I haven't done business with him yet, but I hear good things from various postings I've seen.

Cheers!

 

[MisterNo]

I haven't had trouble sending to, or receiving seeds from Hungary and Croatia, so I would say just label the seeds for species and variety if they aren't already, and declare the contents on the customs form when mailing. Now that I think of it... the folks from both locations sent the seeds to me by registered mail, and I had to sign for them.

Actually, from Croatia it is not allowed to send seeds out of the country, but I pack the seeds, and wrapped them with paper (to make it look like a regular letter. That is usually enough for the post office to send it, they don't look inside if they think it is a plain letter.

 

[stickman]

Thanks for the input from your side of the transaction... I didn't know that.

 

[MisterNo]

Thanks for the input from your side of the transaction... I didn't know that.

I'm not even sure if it is illegal or not, they have a sort of a list with items allowed to send outside of country, and pepper seeds are not on the list (or they are not sure in which category they belong). First time when I was sending seeds to Ela I didn't know so Ishowed the seeds to thepost office lady and I had to charm her to send the seeds over the ocean

Now I just make it look like a letter and I have no problems

Now, about Ajvar there are 3 main versions of Ajvar made here in Balkan region of Europe:
- only peppers (supposed to be original Macedonian recipe)
- peppers with eggplant (usually 5:1 ratio - 5 kg peppers with 1kg eggplant)
- peppers with tomato (again 5:1)

In all versions we use salt, sugar, oil and vinegar to adjust the taste and hot few hot peppers to spice things up. Some also like to add onion and garlic to the taste. I personally like peppers with eggplant version best, without onion and garlic. Other versions are also good, you can experiment to find out which suits your needs better

For all of Ajvar lovers here, there is another similar relish that we eat here: Pindjur
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pin%C4%91ur

Like with Ajvar, there are few recipes going on, this one i like the best:
http://kalipso-busybee.blogspot.com/2011/09/pindjur.html

Enjoy

 

[meatfreak]

I became interested in a pepper from Macedonia and presumed it would be an ideal ingredient on Ajvar, Venzena peperke.

It's actually Vezena Piperka and it does take a really long time to ripe off.

 

[roper2008]

I did find the seeds I got a plant over wintering now I bought my original seeds from THP member 915river (rainbowchiliseeds.com), I picked up another elephant variety of them from THP member cmpman1974.

I've got a friend coming back from MK in January, I'll make some inquiries.

When I first learned of ajvar, my friends were telling me about how MK was trying to trademark it as their own, and I think they have some law passed about using the name Macedonian Ajvar and it having to follow a specific recipe or be called something else.

Does your Vesena look like this? This is the one I grow, it is hot and very sweet. This is not my picture, by the way.

 

[Rawkstah]

Mine didn't get that big this year, I started my seeds late and pulled the plant inside when it was full of green pods. They all ended up ripening but they were all pretty tiny. They packed a decent amount of heat, more than i was expecting, but nothing like a super or anything crazy. My plant only produced around 10-12 stunted pods. I roasted the peppers and put them in olive oil and they're sitting in my fridge now. It took me a while to get the seeds to germ, out of around 12 seeds, I only got two to germ, and one of them died before i could re pot it. So I've been babying the remaining plant inside.

 

[stickman]

Made my first batch of Ajvar for the 2013 season tonight. I followed Doc's basic recipe, but tweaked it a bit by using lemon juice and red wine vinegar instead of white vinegar. I also added some garlic chives from the garden, but these only enhance the flavor of the roasted ripe sweet peppers without changing the flavors .

 
This year I used Kapija peppers I grew from seed I got from MisterNo.

 

[ajijoe]

those KAPIJA look yummy and are nice looking too are they hot or sweet?? i think you said there sweet are they a hungarian paprika type??
oh by the way your sauce looks awesome now i got  go and get some ajvar
 
 
thanks your friend Joe

 

[stickman]

those KAPIJA look yummy and are nice looking too are they hot or sweet?? i think you said there sweet are they a hungarian paprika type??
oh by the way your sauce looks awesome now i got  go and get some ajvar
 
thanks your friend Joe

 
Hi Joe,   I'm not exactly sure where the Kurtovska Kapija comes from, except to say it's an Heirloom variety from somewhere in the Balkans. It's a meaty sweet pepper with a long growing season for an Annuum, but that just makes them bigger and sweeter. The one on the scale in my earlier pic was 208 grams (about 7 and a third ounces).
 
I have a little seed from the Kapijas to trade if anyone is interested. They were the only peppers in my Mom's garden so they should grow true.
              Cheers all!

 

[tosh]

Just one thing u might want to try when roasting peppers. Don't cut them in half and take out the seeds, but bake them whole. After baking, put them onto the mesh, place the mesh into a pot, and cover them with foil, lid.... When they cool down, peel, deseed and do as written in OP. It takes a little longer to prepare them, but IMO its worth!
This way u wont lose the sweet oil juice from the peppers.
 
I never used bell peppers, we use the longer sweet peppers like Kurtovska kapija, Ljubov dlan or some homegrown varieties.
 
 
P.s. U can put roasted peeled and deseeded peppers into the freezer, and use them as salad. Mix olive oil, vinegar, parsley, garlic and grease the peppers with it. Its better if the salad sits in a fridge for a few hours or overnight before served.