Bomba Calabrese

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 1 m.-large eggplant(s)
• 1 m.-sized onion(s)
• 1 solo garlic
• 3 large mushrooms
• e.g. chili pepper(s)
• 1 tbsp fennel seeds
• 1 bell pepper(s)
• 1 pointed pepper
• 1 handful of snack peppers
• 150 ml vinegar
• 150 ml oil, neutral

Instructions

Working time approx. 45 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 30 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 15 minutes

in my own way

Wash the eggplant, onion, garlic, mushrooms, and chili peppers, peel if desired, and chop very finely. The cubes should be about 1-2 mm in size. Add the chopped vegetables to a pan with a little oil and fry slowly over medium heat. It’s important to ensure that as much liquid as possible escapes from the mushrooms and eggplant. Fry everything slowly until the onions become translucent, while the ingredients simmer more into a brown mass. This takes about 10 to 15 minutes. While the vegetables are simmering, lightly crush the fennel seeds in a mortar and pestle. If you don’t have a mortar and pestle, you can also sprinkle the seeds on a cutting board and crush them with a knife. Then prepare all the peppers. Wash them, deseed them, dice them very finely, and add them to the pan along with the fennel seeds. A few minutes after the peppers, add the oil and vinegar and simmer for another 10 minutes. This should reduce the vinegar’s bite and, most importantly, soften the peppers. Pour the finished mixture into jars and seal them immediately. This amount fills about three-quarters of a 750 ml jar. The mixture will keep forever in the freezer and will keep well in the refrigerator for quite some time after opening. Bomba Calabrese goes well with everything: as a dip for a barbecue or on a slice of bread, on its own or with cheese or sausage. My favorite, however, is with freshly cooked pasta as a lazy dish. Bomba Calabrese is versatile and simply delicious. I don’t know where the original recipe came from, but I only watched one creation on YouTube. It simply used a large pile of cherry peppers or something similar, which were supposed to be slightly spicy and very sweet. I recreated this with the above mix. A nice sweetness comes from the pointed or snack peppers, along with the delicious flavor of the regular peppers and the fiery bite of the chilies, which can be adjusted to your liking. I like the long Spanish chili, which produces a pleasant heat at the end, although a habanero or jalapeño chili is also good for more bite. It’s all about personal taste.