What is Lutenitsa?
Lutenitsa (which is also known as ljutenica, lyutenitsa or lutenica) is a vegetable (that’s right, it’s vegetarian!) spread. It can be thought of as a relish, chutney, spread, or dipping sauce. I think it tastes a bit like a spicy baba ganoush (can click that link for our baba ganoush recipe!).
Where does Lutenitsa come from?
This delicious roasted pepper relish originated in the early 20th century in Bulgaria, around the time of World War II. At the time, Bulgaria started increasing production of vegetables such as peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes. Therefore, they created this recipe to better preserve the delicious vegetables in the form of a canned sauce.
Lutenitsa got its name from “ljut”, which is Bulgarian for “spicy” which makes sense with this recipe given the spiciness from roasted peppers.
Today, lutenitsa is a staple culinary component in Bulgaria as well as Serbia and Macedonia. However, the Serbian and Macedonian versions do not typically include tomatoes. These tomato-less recipes are typically called ajvar rather than lutenitsa.
How to eat this vegetable spread
Feel free to use this unique and versatile sauce however you like! You can spread it over toast (and can also sprinkle over some crumbled feta cheese on top). You can use it as a dipping sauce for other vegetables. You can use it as the base for a pasta sauce (for instance, you can replace the sauce in this Green Magic Chicken Pasta with lutenitsa). You can serve it as a sauce for chicken or seafood. You can use it as a pizza spread (such substituting it for tomato sauce in this Hawaiian pizza recipe).
The possibilities are endless! Whichever you decide, let us know in the comments below how you like to best use this sauce 🙂
How to store Lutenitsa
You can store Lutenitsa for several weeks at a time in a can in the fridge or several months in the freezer.
Variations and substitutions
There are many different variations for this vegetable relish. This was the one we settled with and we loved it (and hop you do too!). Here are a few notes:
- Tomato-less versions are more consistent with Serbian/Macedonian ajvar
- Red kapia is the typical pepper used in traditional recipes but we just used red bell peppers (obviously Fresno peppers are not traditional either but was the closest spicy pepper we could find in the store)
- If you prefer your spread to be less spicy, feel free to reduce or omit the number of Fresno peppers (or add more if you prefer spiciness)
- You can also add some parsley to the food processor to add more fragrance
- If you don’t have a big food processor, you can use an immersion blender instead (we would recommend an immersion blender for every kitchen since it’s so useful).
Lutenitsa (Spicy Bulgarian Chutney)
Ingredients
- 8 Red bell peppers
- 4 Large tomatoes
- 4 Carrots diced
- 1 Eggplant
- 2 Fresno peppers
- 1 Onion sliced
- 4 Garlic cloves minced and lightly sauteed
- 1 pinch Salt
- 1 tsp Sugar
Instructions
- Place red bell peppers and fresno peppers on a sheet pan and broil them until you get char marks on all side (you will need to flip them 3-4 times every 5-10). Once the peppers are blackened on all sides, take
- them out of the oven and cover them with foil to let them steam for about 30 minutes.
- While the peppers are broiling, boil the carrots and onion until softened (for about 20 minutes).
- Roast the eggplant at 400 degrees F for 45 minutes, and then take it out of the oven and allow it cool before removing the skin.
- While the eggplant is roasting, bring a large pot of water to a boil, make two slits in the form of an x at the bottom of each tomato, and boil the tomatoes for 1 or 2 minutes until the skins just start to peel off. Drain the tomatoes, rinse them with cold water, peel the skins, roughly chop them, and set aside.
- Once the peppers are done steaming, remove as much of the skins and seeds as possible. Be careful with the fresno peppers (use a knife and not your fingers to remove the seeds).
- Place the peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, onion, garlic, carrots, and olive oil into a food processor or large blender and blend until you get a chunky sauce (you might need to do this in two batches depending on the size of your food processor or blender)
- Pour your mixture into a large pot, stir in the salt and sugar, and cook uncovered over medium low heat for 1.5-2 hours, until thick, stirring frequently.
- You can keep the lutenitsa in the fridge for up to 10 days.
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