Romanian & Vegan: Zacuscă de vinete

I have a very special connection to Romania. Not only that my boyfriend is half Romanian – two of my cats used to live on the streets of Bucharest before I adopted them. They are the cutest babies in the world! <3

Since the first one came to me one year ago I help to foster stray cats from Romania and try to find them a new home. If you have a heart for animals, think about becoming a foster home as well. It´s a wonderful way to help. I always looking for new foster places in Berlin by the way! Let me know if you are interested! 🙂

Now let´s switch to the cooking part! 🙂 No, I didn´t cook with any of my “Romanian cat friends”. The reason is that a girl from Constanța wrote me on facebook. She was reading my blog and was pretty eager to be part of it. I wish it would be like that all the time! Thank you for your enthusiasm Florentina!!

Flori suggested something very important and useful for every vegan – a spread! It´s named Zacuscă de vinete. Zacuscă is pretty popular in Romania and after trying I absolutely know why. It´s a perfekt chrismas gift by the way and I really should have done more of it!

Zacuscă de vinete

2 kg fresh eggplants
1 l sieved tomatoes
1 kg fresh bell peppers (the red ones are the best)
1 kg onions, chopped
3-4 bay leaves
salt & pepper (to taste)
500 ml sunflower oil

Put peppers and eggplants in the oven at 200 degrees. Turn them from time to time until their skins blacken. Peel them off. Seed peppers. Chop eggplants and peppers into small cubes.

Heat oil in a large pot and add onions. Season with salt & pepper. Let them fry until they are slightly golden.

Add eggplants, pepper, sieved tomatoes and bay leaves. Season with salt and pepper.

Boil on low heat for about 1 hour, stirring repeatedly. Season again with salt and pepper. Remove bay leaves.

If you want to save it, spoon the mixture into sterilized jars (to sterilize them – boil in water bath for 10 minutes), seal them then boil the jars for about 20-30 minutes into a large water bath.