Zacuscă

ZACUSCA ( zakuskə ) is a Puree peppers, eggplant and tomatoes, which is used as a seasoning and spread the Romanian cuisine.

Preparation

Typically, this jam is prepared after the autumn harvest. The peppers are roasted until the skin is slightly blackened and the surface appears wrinkled. Eggplant is also roasted until they are soft and easy to tear the shell, which is then removed with the bitter liquid. The cooled peppers are peeled and cored and then coarsely crushed. Add half a sliced ​​, fried onions and finely chopped cooked carrots simmer for about 30 minutes, then the peppers mass is added with bay leaves, salt and pepper. After another 30 minutes tomato puree with some sugar and coarsely chopped eggplant are added. In some cases, other ingredients are used, such as Celery, mushrooms (Romanian ZACUSCA de ciuperci ), beans (Romanian ZACUSCA cu Fasole ) or fish (Romanian ZACUSCA lipoveană de peste ). The mass simmer for another 30 minutes and allowed to burn at any time, if necessary oil is watered again. Thereafter, the paste is roasting (at 200 ° C convection oven) a total of about 4-5 hours and reduced, stirring occasionally to a firmer consistency. The hot mass is poured preserved in boiling hot jars.

The production of about 7-8 kg spread during a cook cycle is not uncommon. The maturation of ZACUSCA several months in cool conditions to improve the taste. The traditional home-cooked food is often prepared at home, but is also commercially available.

Word origin

The term has its origin in the ZACUSCA Slavic languages ​​( cf. Russian закуска, sakuska ), German appetizer or snack. The Slavic root word of the term russian кус, kus describes " savory " with Russian вкусно, vkusno " bite ", with Russian кусать, kusat, or " grab a bite " with Russian закусывать, zakusyvat ''.