One of the very popular pickled foods in Croatia is Turšija. Turšija(Torshi) is a Middle Eastern and Balkan dish, and it’s basically a mixture of different sour vegetables. The Croatian Turšija usually contains cauliflower, cucumbers, carrots, peppers, green tomatoes, and cabbages. Every Turšija is different and people make it as they like and use vegetables they prefer.

My Turšija contains sliced peppers, cucumbers, cauliflower, tomato meat, carrots, and parsley. The number of veggies depends on personal choices. My hubby likes cauliflower, so I’ve used more cauliflower. Usually, the amount of veggies is equal, or one vegetable is a main vegetable in the mixture, and the rest is half the amount of the main vegetable. I’ve placed two tablespoons of salt on the veggies and left them for a couple of hours to let the juice out. Since I don’t have any cabbage, onions, or green tomatoes in the mix I didn’t leave it overnight to drain.

After a couple of hours, I’ve filled the jars with a veggie mixture. I’ve used mostly small jars so that my hubby could take the whole jar with him to work and eat it in two meals. Also, I was worried I wouldn’t have enough medium jars for the rest of the veggies, and I have more than enough smaller ones.

Again I’ve pasteurized the jars the same way I always do. I’ve used both methods this time.

• place a wet dishtowel on the bottom of the tray
• place the jars on the dishtowel
• fill the tray with two fingers of water
• place the tray in the oven
• heat the oven to 100°C (212°F)
• pasteurize one hour
• turn the oven off and leave the jars in the oven until they cool down completely

Stove:

• place a wet dishtowel in the pot
• place the jars on top of the dishtowel
• add two fingers of water
• bring the water to boil
• lower the range temperature so that the water gently continues to boil
• pasteurize for 30 minutes
• turn the stove off, place the lid on the pot and let the jars cool down completely before taking them out of the pot

If the jars are too tall to put the lid on, another pot can act as the lid.

Out of my mixture, I got 25 small jars and 3 medium ones. Turšija is a great side dish with meat, baked potatoes, and sandwiches, and made this way can be stored for years or until you empty all the jars.