Ajvar is the Serbian roasted red pepper relish, blended with aubergine, garlic and oil into a thick spread. The autumn pepper harvest into a year-round Balkan pantry staple.

Ajvar emerged from late-19th-century Belgrade pepper-preserve traditions, codified through 20th-century Yugoslav industrial canning. The Macedonian and southern Serbian (Leskovac) versions are the canonical recipes, built on Kapija pepper varieties roasted over wood fires, peeled by hand and slowly cooked down with garlic and oil across four to six hours. Belgrade home cooks gather to roast peppers each September in courtyard sessions, and the entire harvest of two to three hundred kilograms is processed in a single weekend by extended families. Commercial brands include Centroproizvod and Vitaminka; the Leskovac Ajvar PDO designation protects the southern Serbian production method.

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Make it at home

Serves 44 hrEasy

Ingredients

  • 2 kg red bell peppers (preferably long Hungarian or Kapija)
  • 500g aubergine
  • 4 cloves garlic, peeled
  • 150 ml sunflower oil
  • 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon sugar

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 230 degrees Celsius. Roast the whole peppers on a tray for 30 to 40 minutes, turning, until the skins blister and char.
  2. While the peppers roast, pierce the aubergine and roast alongside for the last 25 minutes until completely soft.
  3. Transfer roasted peppers to a bowl, cover with cling film and rest 15 minutes to loosen the skins.
  4. Peel and de-seed every pepper. Scoop the aubergine flesh from its skin.
  5. Mince the garlic, then pass peppers, aubergine and garlic through a meat grinder (or pulse in a food processor) to a thick coarse paste.
  6. Transfer to a heavy pan with the oil. Cook on medium-low for 1.5 hours, stirring often, until the mixture reduces and darkens.
  7. Add vinegar, salt and sugar in the final 10 minutes. Spoon into sterilised jars, seal hot.

Editor tip. Use Kapija or Hungarian peppers if you can find them; bell peppers work but lack the sweet smokiness. Stir often near the end to avoid scorching.

Common allergens: None.