Recipe Ajvar- A serbian Dip

[djordjem87]

Ok. This legendary dip is made from several ingredients and it is so tasty. You will need a special kind of red bell pepper, some eggplants, parsley, garlic and oil. The basics are simple.

First you need to grill the peppers a and eggplants. ( mind that ratio is on the side of peppers)
http://uspesnazena.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/watermarked-29092013297_resize.jpg
When done, peal the black skin off and you grind everything in on of these things.
http://www.nonstopshop.rs/cms/flick/prodimg/mediadb/largeimg/17343.jpg

After doing that you will need a big pot with a certain amount of oil to fry the mix.
https://www.google.rs/search?q=ajva...UIBygB&biw=1309&bih=639#imgrc=JsS_Shr-3zpdSM:

It is a lengthy process but every minute is worth it. When finally you do everything and Ajvar is ready you should put it in jars and pasteurize it. That is a process of destroying bacteria on the certain temperature. This is done because we make this to last during the winter, meaning 50 jars or so. You can also put some additives to keep it fresh but pasteurization is much better. The final product looks like this.

http://www.recepti.com/img/recipe/17877-domaci-ajvar_zoom.jpg
http://leskovackevesti.rs/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/e499a45b1e9f71ab00ba46f3e163a7f3_view_l.jpg
http://cdn0.pairswellwithfood.com/w...-Pepper-Eggplant-Ajvar-Spread-Recipe-1020.jpg

For a detailed recipe you will need to ask me in PM.
And please share if you have similar things in your countries.

 

[Bakemehappy]

I am thinking this is quite similar to the Mexican sofrito? They also grill the bell peppers which could be sirano, habanero I am not sure with the spelling. My question is can we skip the pasteurization process? Say we only want to use the dip for now.
Upon checking the photos on your link I got interested. Can we use the paste for pizza toppings? This is getting me interested really.

 

[djordjem87]

You can skip the pasteurization process but it will last for couple of weeks a guess. We usually put aside a certain amount before we put it into jars so we can eat it before winter comes
I just checked sofrito and it is similar but it has tomatoes in some variations and in ajvar only peppers and eggplant can be used. The eggplant is giving it a bitterish flavour and what i forgot to mention about peppers is that these are Serbian peppers originated in South Serbia and used primarily for ajvar. The name of the peppers is ajvar Red Pepper. When i was living on Malta i tried several peppers and never managed to make a proper ajvar. As for the tomato mixture we have another dip or sauce and it is called PINDJUR . It is similar but yet very different in taste because of the addition of the tomatoes.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4-6WzkwGfF4/UFrFTiYicFI/AAAAAAAABzo/JyFcdmjjKE0/s1600/SAM_2331.JPG
You can see the seeds of the tomato in the jars.
Ajvar Peppers or some similar are hard to find outside of Serbia.
http://palachinkablog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/ajvar2.jpg
This is the original.
Please ask anything you would like to know.

 

[Bakemehappy]

I see the Serbian peppers are quite hard to find and that is actually really making me more interested. The photo tells me they look just like the usual peppers though. Can you please tell me if they taste anything different or special? Are they sweeter or more hot or bitter?

 

[djordjem87]

You can find both, sweet and hot but the taste and the structure are not the same. They are more 'meaty' and with less seeds inside. They come quite bug for this reason. I remember measuring 300 grams , even more.
https://www.google.rs/search?q=lesk...=ajvarak+paprika+velika&imgrc=pdqhDmgJ-YmUVM:

I really do not not the name for this pepper but I know I wasn't able to find anything similar. The point is not to be watery, because if so, when you grill them the water will disappear and you will have nothing left to make ajvar.

 

[Bakemehappy]

Do you have a recipe for cevapcici? Base on my readings that is like a kebab in Serbia is that right? I think the cevap goes well with ajvar. Mind sharing your recipe if you have one?