Vegetable Caviar with Eggplants and Peppers

Roast and peel the vegetables

1. Good vegetable caviar starts with young vegetables whose seeds have not yet formed. Choose large, young eggplants with dark, glossy skin. Large red sweet Bulgarian peppers are what you use when making Serbian ajvar from peppers alone, and they provide the color. The amount of fresh hot pepper is up to you. You can also make the finished caviar spicier with dried chili. The tomatoes should be fleshy and ripe so that the caviar has a deep red color.

   

2. Roast the eggplants and peppers until the skin is charred. If you have a grill with hot coals, simply lay the vegetables on the coals and turn them a few times — they will be done in 4-5 mins.

   Vegetable caviar made this way, as well as ajvar, Bulgarian pepper salad and other dishes, will turn out incredibly aromatic. A more accessible way is to bake them in the oven (at 220°C for about 30 mins, turning, until the skin blackens and blisters) or in an electric Bulgarian chushkopek.

   

3. Put the hot roasted eggplants and peppers in a pot right away, cover with a lid and leave until they are cool enough to handle. As they cool, the vegetables soften from their own inner heat and peel very easily.

4. Peel the burnt skin off the eggplants and peppers. Peeling the peppers for ajvar is quite laborious because of the large number of roasted pods, but when you cook at home in small quantities, it doesn’t take long.

   

Chop the vegetables

1. We are used to caviar with small pieces of vegetables rather than a smooth paste, so we don’t use a blender or chopper. Everything is cut or finely chopped with a knife.

2. Cut the peeled eggplants in half lengthwise and remove as many seeds as you can, if there are any.

3. Chop the eggplants quite finely with a knife.

4. Put the flesh in a bowl, pour 1 tbsp of wine vinegar over it and spread the vinegar with a spoon to form a film — this helps keep the eggplant from darkening.

   I use white wine vinegar; I think apple cider vinegar won’t spoil it either.

   

5. Cut the peeled peppers in half and remove the seeds carefully. Chop the flesh with a knife and put it in a bowl.

6. Meanwhile, pour boiling water over the tomatoes for 1-2 mins and peel off the thin skin.

7. Remove the seeds and the white core from the tomatoes, and chop the flesh with a knife.

8. Remove the seeds from the fresh hot pepper and chop it very finely.

9. Mix the sweet and hot peppers with the tomatoes.

   

Simmer and combine

1. Pour the vegetable oil into a saucepan and add the pepper and tomato mixture. Don’t drain the liquid from the vegetables.

   

2. Heat and simmer uncovered over medium heat, stirring constantly with a spatula, until most of the liquid evaporates and the mixture becomes thick.

   To check the thickness, run a spatula across the bottom of the saucepan: if the mixture doesn’t fill the gap right away but takes a few seconds, it is thick enough. The mixture shouldn’t run off the spoon, so there should be very little liquid.

3. Add salt, black pepper and, if you like, chili. Stir and simmer for another 2-3 mins.

   

4. Remove from the heat and let it cool to room temperature.

5. Peel 2-3 cloves of garlic and chop them finely with a knife. It’s best not to grate the garlic, as it releases a lot of juice.

6. In a large bowl or salad bowl, combine the chopped eggplants, the cooled pepper and tomato mixture and the garlic. Mix thoroughly so that the caviar is as uniform as possible.

   

7. Taste the caviar and add more salt and spices if needed. You may want to add a little more wine vinegar — ajvar with eggplants, for example, can be noticeably sour and spicy.

8. Transfer the vegetable caviar to a salad bowl and chill in the refrigerator for 30 mins.

Serving and canning

1. Serve the caviar as a cold side dish for vegetable and meat dishes or as an appetizer.

   Mixtures like this are often used for serving complex salads made of many components. In Turkey, khaivar is served as part of meze, an assortment of appetizers. The caviar goes wonderfully with pieces of brynza cheese, black olives, sliced herbs and fresh vegetables. You can simply arrange everything on a large tray or platter and serve it as an appetizer with a glass of grape rakia.

   

2. To keep the caviar in airtight jars, stew all the vegetables, including the eggplants, minimize the liquid and add a little more vinegar.

3. Pour the boiling mixture into sterilized jars and heat the jars further before sealing, or alternatively sterilize the jars of caviar in an autoclave.

4. The jars must cool slowly, ideally under a woolen blanket.