Ghiveci is such a nostalgic food for me. It is made in Romania in the summer or autumn when you have so many types of vegetables in your garden. I like the autumn version a lot because I am able to use a lot of seasonal veggies in one go.
You can use any vegetables you want and this is really not an exact science: the only thing to understand is the cooking time of each veggie so that you roughly get them in the stew in the correct order. The cooking time depends on that. I usually add beans for protein, but it is not traditional.
Here are some examples of veggies I like to use, in their order of addition:
- Onion, sweet potato, green pepper, garlic, tomatoes, cauliflower, zucchini, black canned beans, aubergine:
- Onion, chili pepper, cabbage, leek, carrots, sweet potato, normal potato, zucchini, aubergine, canned beans, tomatoes:
Directions
- Saute 2 onions until soft then add the chili peppers.
- Add the 1 half of a big cabbage bit by bit until it wilts. Let is cook with the lid on for 10 min.
- Add the chopped leek. you can immediately add the next ingredients.
- It is time to add harder veggies so that they have time to soften: sweet potato, carrot, 2 normal potatoes. Let them befriend for like 15 min with the lid on:
- In the meantime you can cook the aubergine separately in an airfryer with a bit of oil or in a pan. It is not the end of the world if you decide to add it raw though.
- Add the zucchini and the fried aubergine.
- Immediately add the beans, tomatoes and spices: 1 teaspoon of paprika, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon of powder cumin, 1/5 teaspoon of thyme.
- Mix well and cook with a lid on until all the veggies are tender.
- Serve with optional freshly chopped parsley.
