Matboucha is a stew of tomato, paprika, hot pepper and garlic that are cooked to their essence, to their most concentrated form. The long cooking period reduces the liquid and yields an incredible flavor that you’ll want to devour on its own. Serve matboucha as part of a mezze table with a good bread to dip in, spread in sandwiches, or use it as a base for shakshouka. Make twice as you think you’ll need. It’s that good.
Moroccan tomato and pepper dip (matboucha)
Course: Dips, pickles and relishes, Moroccan, Vegetables, Yom Ha’AtzmautCuisine: MoroccanDifficulty: Easy4
cups15
minutes1
hour30
minutes1
hour45
minutesMatboucha is a stew of tomato, paprika, hot pepper and garlic that are cooked to their essence, to their most concentrated form. The long cooking period reduces the liquid and yields an incredible flavor that you’ll want to devour on its own. Serve matboucha as part of a mezze table with a good bread to dip in, spread in sandwiches, or use it as a base for shakshouka. Make twice as you think you’ll need. It’s that good.
Although matboucha is made traditionally with fresh tomatoes, I’ve found that I get better and more concentrated results with canned ones. I give you both options below.
INGREDIENTS
4 lb. ripe tomatoes or 2 cans 28 oz. peeled tomatoes in juice
⅔ cup light olive oil or corn oil
12 garlic cloves, chopped
2-3 Serrano peppers (or to taste,) seeded and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons paprika
2 teaspoons salt
DIRECTIONS
- If you’re using fresh tomatoes, you will need to peel them. Use a sharp knife to make an X on the bottom of your tomatoes. Put tomatoes in a large pot and pour boiling water over them. Let stand for 1 minute, then pour the boiling water out and wash tomatoes with cold water to cool them down. Now you can easily peel the skin off using your fingers, or a knife, if needed. Chop tomatoes and keep in a bowl.
- If you’re using canned tomatoes (and this is my preferred way,) use a large knife to cut them inside the can. Set aside.
- Put oil in a tall heavy bottom pot over medium heat. Add garlic and Serrano and cook until just golden, then add tomatoes at once. Bring to boil, reduce heat to low and cook on low simmer for 1 hour (with no lid on,) stirring occasionally. Adjust heat to keep low simmer and make sure the matbucha does not burn at the bottom of the pot.
- After tomatoes have been cooked for an hour, mix paprika and salt into the pot. Let tomatoes cook on low simmer for another 30 minutes, uncovered, or until the mixture is very thick and dark red in color. Keep on scraping the bottom of the pot to prevent it from really burning, but a slightly “burnt” tomato aroma is actually wonderful. Adjust salt to taste and remove from the heat.
- Keep matboucha in a sealed container in the fridge up to 7 days. You can also freeze the matbucha in small containers for a few months.