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| Type | Relish |
|---|---|
| Main ingredients | Eggplant, garlic, often bell peppers, tomatoes, parsley |
Kyopolou (Bulgarian: Кьопоолу, Kopoolu, more often Кьополу, Kopolu; Turkish: Köpoğlu[1])[citation needed] is a popular Bulgarian and Turkish spread, relish and salad made principally from roasted eggplants and garlic.
Common recipes include further ingredients such as baked bell peppers, baked kapia red peppers, tomatoes, tomato juice or tomato paste, onions, parsley, black pepper, and laurel leaves. Hot peppers may also be added. Taste can vary from light and sweet to hot and peppery. It is usually oven-cooked in pots or casseroles.
Kyopolou is a typical eggplant appetizer and can be consumed as a bread spread, a condiment, or as a salad. It is generally prepared as a canned food, in glass jars, for the winter season. During summer and autumn months, when its ingredients are usually readily available, it is also a main dish in Bulgaria, mainly during Orthodox fasting periods, such as Lent.[2][3]
Similar relishes are popular in the Balkans in different variants and names (e.g., ajvar or pinđur). A Romanian variety is called zacuscă, a word of Slavic origin[4] (cf. Bulgarian and Russian zakuska).
- ^ In Turkey this dish is colloquially called köpoğlu and in meze-serving fish restaurants it is a cold eggplant dish with tomato-red pepper paste in olive oil which gives it the red color. Речник на чуждите думи в българския език, Ал. Милев, Б. Николов, Й. Братков, Издателство Наука и изкуство, София, 1978.
- ^ Kay, Annie (2015). Bulgaria. Bradt Travel Guides. p. 57. ISBN 9781841629377.
- ^ Clark-Mahoney, Kelty (2022). Food and World Culture: Issues, Impacts, and Ingredients [2 Volumes]. ABC-CLIO. p. 253. ISBN 9781440870002.
- ^ Zacusca on DEX Online Dictionary