"Cobra" Tomato Relish for the Winter

Cooking method

1. Step 1:

   

   How do you make "Cobra" for the winter? It's really more of a sauce, or even an adjika, since all the vegetables are ground very fine. I always eyeball the amounts: twice as many tomatoes as bell peppers, and garlic and hot pepper to taste. You can add any herbs you like — then the Cobra will be more fragrant. Parsley, cilantro, basil, and dill all work well for Cobra. Choose fully ripe tomatoes that aren't spoiled.

2. Step 2:

   

   Prepare all the vegetables the recipe calls for. Wash and dry the peppers and tomatoes. Cut the tomatoes into quarters. Peel the garlic. Remove the core and seeds from the bell peppers and cut them into large pieces that are easy to feed through a meat grinder. With the hot peppers it's the opposite — leave the seeds in, since that's where all the heat is.

3. Step 3:

   

   Then run all the prepared vegetables through a meat grinder fitted with the coarsest plate, alternating the different vegetables. This keeps the grinder from clogging, especially if you're grinding the herbs.

4. Step 4:

   

   Add the salt and vinegar to the tomato Cobra relish. Mix well. The vinegar is a must to make the relish keep longer. With vinegar, Cobra keeps in the refrigerator for one to three months. To extend the shelf life further, add aspirin to the Cobra at a rate of one aspirin tablet per liter of relish. With aspirin, this relish will keep for more than six months. My grandmother kept Cobra with aspirin in the cellar for years!!!

5. Step 5:

   

   Spoon the tomato Cobra into prepared dry jars. Since the relish is raw (no cooking), the jars don't need to be sterilized — they just need to be clean and dry. You can wash them with baking soda, which will extend the relish's shelf life a little.

6. Step 6:

   

   At first I wanted to make the Cobra without herbs, but in the end I decided to add half a bunch each of parsley and basil. The aroma of the relish turned out mind-blowing, and the flavor is very zesty!