August is the month in which I spend most of my time in the kitchen. I already wrote about Ajvar which I made last week and this week I’ve decided to make ljutenica.

Ljutenica(Lutenica) is another popular Balkans side food, a relish or a spread(depending on the preference) made from peppers and tomatoes. When it comes to cooking it’s more similar to salsa than to ajvar only cooked much longer.

Making ljutenica is fairly simple. The recipe depends on the preference, but the most important is that it contains tomatoes, peppers, and chili pepper. The name would translate as “something very spicy”. Again like the ajvar every country has, it’s own recipe. Some add more different vegetables, others use only peppers and tomatoes. This is the way I make it and the way my family likes it.

Recipe:

5kg (11lbs) of tomatoes

3kg (6.6lbs) of peppers

2 big onions

spices

The first thing I always do when cooking with fresh tomatoes is to peel the tomato skin. This is an optional move, I don’t like the tomato skin in cooked meals so I always boil the tomatoes and peel the skin. The process is really simple, I cut a small X on the bottom of the tomatoes, throw them into the boiling water, leave for a minute, throw them into the cold water, and peel. This is the fastest way to peel them and the quickest way. I peel 5 kilos in just a few minutes. 

After the tomato peeling, comes the slicing. Tomatoes, peppers, and onions are cut into small pieces. I usually use tomato peppers, but this time I found ajvar peppers on sale so I bought them. It doesn’t really matter which kind of pepper you use. The only difference is that the more meaty peppers will take longer to cook.

On few drops of oil fry the onions until they turn a golden color and then add the peppers. Depending on the variety of peppers add some water to stop them from getting burned. If the peppers let out enough water there’s no need to add any water. 

After adding the tomatoes all that is left is to cook until the water evaporates.

Ljutenica is great as a relish with meat, eaten as a spread on the bread, or even as a chips dip. It can stay in bottles for ages, but once opened it should be eaten within a week or two. Because of this, I use smaller bottles.

 I should mention that all my jars are recycled so that’s the reason I have different shaped jars and different colors of lids. Sometimes I even have old labels on the jars. The reason is simple. New jars are really expensive. One clean, new jar costs more than a jar with actual food inside. So I collect them when we buy food in jars and I also get them from the family. The only thing I buy is the lids because they turn rusty after one season.

Sometimes I leave the labels on because there are some jars that have such strong glue on the labels that it’s impossible to wash. I tried everything, oil, acetone, alcohol, washing even paint thinner. Nothing can take it off. The jars stay sticky and I prefer old labels and having ljutenica with a cucumber label than a sticky jar.

I got 8 jars in the end(one is already with my hubby in his lunch box) and I think I will make one more round if I find more vegetables on sale.