Spicy Zucchini Adjika for Winter
A really simple recipe for a preserve-and-sauce that goes with anything! Fast, easy, and so tasty! This spicy zucchini adjika is a finger-licking winter relish—great with meat, poultry, or boiled potatoes, or simply spread on bread.
Cooking method
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Step 1:
For this spicy zucchini adjika, you'll need 1.5 kg of any zucchini, peeled and seeded (young zucchini don't need peeling). Plus 1 kg of tomatoes—any kind, even less-than-pretty or half-ripe ones will do. You'll also need 300 g each of bell pepper and carrots. And no adjika is complete without a fiery chili pepper and garlic (2–3 heads), added to taste.
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Step 2:
Prep all the vegetables. Wash, dry, peel, and cut them into pieces small enough to run through a meat grinder. Seed the bell pepper, but leave the chili pepper's seeds in—that's where all the heat lives.
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Step 3:
Run all the vegetables through a meat grinder. Use the coarse plate, or the vegetables will be hard to grind. Start with the bell pepper and garlic. Red peppers are best for adjika so the finished relish has a rich red color. Alternate the vegetables as you grind so the grinder doesn't clog and the tomatoes don't get crushed all at once—plus the adjika gets mixed as you go.
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Step 4:
Grinding everything takes no more than 5 minutes. Put the fragrant vegetable mixture on the stove and bring it to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Then lower the heat to medium and cook the adjika for 30 minutes.
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Step 5:
After half an hour, add 2 tablespoons each of salt and sugar. Use coarse or pickling salt. Measure the sugar level (not heaping), or about 50 grams.
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Step 6:
Pour in 100 ml each of 9% vinegar and neutral vegetable oil. Stir well and cook the adjika for another 10 minutes. Taste it at this point—if needed, add more heat or salt, then boil for another 5 minutes.
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Step 7:
Spoon the finished hot adjika into clean, dry jars. I wash the jars with baking soda and dry them in the oven for 5–10 minutes. You don't have to sterilize them.
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Step 8:
Seal the hot jars right away, turn them upside down, wrap them in a blanket, and leave them to cool for 12–24 hours.
- This amount of ingredients yields about 3 liters of spicy zucchini adjika.
- Enjoy!
Caloric content of the products possible in the composition of the dish
- Tomatoes - 23 kcal/100g
- Zucchini - 23 kcal/100g
- Sweet pepper - 27 kcal/100g
- Carrots - 33 kcal/100g
- Dried carrots - 275 kcal/100g
- Boiled carrots - 25 kcal/100g
- Garlic - 143 kcal/100g
- Granulated sugar - 398 kcal/100g
- Sugar - 398 kcal/100g
- Wine vinegar (3%) - 9 kcal/100g
- Vinegar 9% - 11 kcal/100g
- Balsamic vinegar - 88 kcal/100g
- Apple vinegar - 14 kcal/100g
- Vinegar - 11 kcal/100g
- Vegetable oil - 873 kcal/100g
- Hot chili pepper - 40 kcal/100g
- Salt - 0 kcal/100g
