Homemade Lyutenitsa

Traditional Bulgarian roasted-pepper & tomato relish from Dobrovnitsa, Pazardzhik

• Large batch (many jars)
• Prep Several hours
• Cook Long simmer until paddle leaves tracks
• Bulgarian

Source: Workbook sheet «Лютеница» — Dobrovnitsa home recipe

Ingredients

• 20 kg red peppers
• 10 kg tomatoes
• 5 kg eggplants
• 3 kg carrots
• 4-5 hot chili peppers
• 1 packet ground black pepper
• 1 packet ground cumin
• 2 Tbsp crumbled savory (chubritsa)
• 1 bottle cooking oil
• 200 g sugar
• Salt, to taste

Method

1. Peel tomatoes and grind. Cook in a large copper kazan over moderate heat, stirring constantly so the puree does not scorch. Stir faster as it thickens.
2. Roast peppers, steam covered, peel and seed. Drain 1-2 hours on a tilted tray; grind.
3. Roast eggplants; cool, peel, cut, salt, drain 2 hours; grind.
4. Peel and boil carrots in salted water; grind.
5. Stir ground peppers, eggplants, and carrots into the tomato mass continuously. It will spit — use a long paddle, long sleeves, apron.
6. When reduced by half, add finely chopped hot peppers, oil in a thin stream, then salt, sugar, savory, cumin, black pepper. Taste and adjust.
7. Cook on low until the paddle leaves clear tracks. Cool slightly; fill sterilized jars; seal; water-bath 15-20 min after boiling with water covering jars by two fingers. Invert until cool.

Village-scale preserve from Dobrovnitsa (Pazardzhik).
Constant stirring is essential.
Hot peppers and salt to taste.