Romanian Eggplant Spread - Zacusca
I really like eggplant and pepper dishes, but eggplant zacusca is also preferred in everyone's forehead.
I had a few unsuccessful attempts to buy it, I also prepared various variants, but the "queen" of all the eggplant zacusca was still being tested. Last year I had time to do all the steps (I gathered advice along the way from various housewives), to play with the ingredients, with the preservation, and passed the test over the winter - no jar exploded, did not change taste, and this without aspirin!
I say that this variant is the most exemplary, perfect, although a little more complicated and longer, but if you organize yourself correctly, you will enjoy the process and the results. Before you actually start the final mixing of the ingredients, do the following, even shared on various days off:
- Bake the eggplants on the plate (old pan or oven), clean them, drain them well and if you don't make them in 1-2 days, freeze them.
- So are peppers with donuts - baked, sprinkled with salt, left under the lid and clean well of skin and seeds. Freeze them as well if you do not prepare zacusca in 1-2 days.
- Then from the tomato broth prepared for winter, set aside, in the refrigerator, 3 liters for the zacusca. If you don't make broth, pass about 3 kg of tomatoes through the mincer or robot and use them in the zacusca.
After you have made the above, start the recipe, and I guarantee that you will have a grade 20 eggplant zacusca! Tasty, aromatic, dense, perfect even for the most capricious zacusca lovers :)
First phase:
- Bake the eggplants, clean them, drain well through a sieve.
I froze them and made zacusca the other day.
Step 2:
- Bake and clean the peppers and donuts (immediately after baking sprinkle with salt, cover with a lid and leave for about 30 minutes, then you will clean them much easier).
I also made them the other day, I froze and made zacusca later.
The third step is to make the broth, or pass 3-4 kg of tomatoes.
Then the preparation process will be effective:
- here you see in the picture all the ingredients ready prepared and to be used for zacusca.
Finely chop the onion in a food processor or meat grinder.
Heat the oil well in a large pot, add the onion, and let it stir, stirring periodically.
Then after about 15 minutes add the tomato broth, stir and simmer for another 15 minutes together.
During this time you give the eggplant through the robot or the meat grinder, as well as the peppers.
Then in another smaller pot or deep frying pan pour a little oil, eggplant, peppers and let them cook for about 15 minutes together.
Then pour the eggplant mixture into the pot with the onion and broth.
Stir, season with salt and when it starts to boil well, turn down the heat and let it boil for 2-3 hours, stirring periodically.
Be sure to cover it a little, because it is salty and you can fry it by hand, especially when mixing.
Notice that as it boils, the texture, taste, color change - it is very important here to have the patience to boil it as much and better.
It is ready when it becomes shiny, the oil comes to the surface and the zacusca is dense.
Then pour it so hot in clean and dry jars in time (I put them in the oven for about 30 minutes, at 150 degrees).
Be careful not to fill them too hard, leave about 1 cm free from the mouth of the jar.
Thread them well with clean and good metal lids (not to be rusty).
And put them so hot in a preheated hot oven at 150 degrees.
I leave them for about 30-40 minutes to make sure they stay over the winter without aspirin.
They were perfect, so don't worry about using the sterilization oven method.
Turn off the oven after this time, open the door and let the jars cool completely, possibly overnight.
And ready, store them, preferably in a cool and dry place.
Although it may seem more complicated process, know that it is not - but zacusca better than that I have not eaten, it is perfect in all respects.
Good appetite!
