I have to admit that as a child I wasn’t particularly keen on the Romanian roasted pepper salad. We sometimes had it for our Sunday lunch, alongside steak and French fries, and I remember that I barely touched it.
Growing up though, I started to appreciate the complex flavour of this simple salad and began to make it more often. Now, every time I prepare the barbecue, I make sure that I have some spare peppers to chard over the open flame. You don’t need to have a barbecue to roast the peppers though, the oven works just as good.
The Ingredients for the Romanian Roast Peppers Salad
The Romanian roasted pepper salad is another simple side dish which bears a lot of flavour. There are only a few ingredients that go inside this salad: red peppers, garlic, vegetable (or any neutral) oil, apple vinegar, a little bit of sugar, and salt.
Traditionally, this salad is made with what we call kapia peppers. These are slim, red peppers which taper off at the end. In the UK, you will find them labelled as sweet, pointed peppers. I usually find them easily at Asda, Aldi, or at Sainsbury’s, but they are more expensive than the usual bell peppers.
If you can’t find this particular type of pepper, you can also use bell peppers for this recipe.
How to Make Romanian Roasted Pepper Salad
To start making this delicious roasted pepper salad, you firstly need to prepare the peppers. Make sure that you pick healthy peppers, without any bruises. The same as in the classic Romanian aubergine salad, I prefer to roast my peppers over an open flame, on a coal barbecue. This is because the peppers infuse with that irresistible smoky flavour that you can only get from hot coals or burned wood.
You need to leave the peppers on the barbecue until they turn black. Don’t worry, the flesh of the peppers do not burn, only the outer skin. Once they are ready, put them in a bowl and cover with a plate. This process is called “sweating the peppers”, making them very easy to remove the burned skin. Leave them for 10 minutes and then peel the skin off.
Meanwhile, make an easy vinaigrette by mixing the oil, vinegar and sugar together. Mix until the sugar dissolves. Taste it to make sure it’s not too acidic and if it is, add a little bit more sugar. Add the finely chopped garlic and mix well.
Arrange the peppers in a bowl and make some small cuts here and there, to infuse them with flavour. Pour the vinaigrette over the peppers and put them in the fridge for a couple of hours, before serving.
How to Serve the Romanian Roasted Pepper Salad
I prefer to keep the peppers whole and serve them as they are. Other people prefer to cut them into small pieces, taking the seeds out.
This roasted peppers salad is a side dish, and works well alongside meat dishes or in a barbecue spread. You can keep it in the fridge for 2-3 days.
Romanian Roast Peppers Salad
Ingredients
- 6-8 red sweet/pointed peppers
- 2 garlic cloves chopped finely
- 2 tbsp neutral oil
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 2 tbsp water
- 1 tsp sugar
- salt
Instructions
- Roast the peppers. I prefer to roast them on a grill, over coals, but you can roast them in the oven as well, or over an open flame on top of the stove.
- When the skin of the peppers becomes charred, put them in a bowl and cover with a plate, letting them "sweat" for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile mix the oil, vinegar, water, garlic, sugar and salt to create the dressing for the salad
- Peel the burned skin off the peppers and put them in a new bowl. The skin should come off very easily. Make a few small cuts in the peppers, so that the inside infuses with the marinade as well.
- Add the dressing over the peppers and put the bowl in the fridge for a few hours before serving them.
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