🥔 SIDE
Speca Turshi (Kosovar Pickled Peppers)
Whole pale green sweet peppers packed into jars with garlic, peppercorns and bay and covered with a hot, lightly sweet vinegar brine, the sharp, crunchy pickle set beside winter meals in Kosovo.
Kosovar · easy · serves 8
prep 20 min · cook 5 min · plus 7 days hands-off time
~56 cal · 1g protein · 12g carbs · 0g fat · 2g fiber · 6g sugars · 0g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
↓ Jump to Recipe
AI-generated illustration
Turshi, pickled vegetables, is how Kosovo gets through the winter. In late summer and early autumn, when peppers, green tomatoes, cucumbers and cabbage are cheap and plentiful, families fill jars and barrels with them, and through the cold months they come to the table as a side dish or a small plate beside beans, meat and bread. The word, shared with Turkish tursu and Persian torshi, is used across the Albanian-speaking lands.
Peppers are a favourite. Sweet peppers are washed, pricked or sliced so the brine can get in, and covered with a boiling brine of water, vinegar, salt and a little sugar, often with garlic, peppercorns and bay. Recipes vary a great deal from house to house: some cooks pour the hot brine over and leave the peppers covered for a day before packing them into jars, some blanch them briefly in the brine, and many add carrots, celery or parsley.
This version is a small batch kept in the fridge. It is ready after a week, and the peppers stay crisp and bright, with a sweet and sour bite that cuts through a rich bean pot or a plate of grilled meat.
Saved recipes and passport stamps are kept on this device. Sign in to keep them across your devices and leave reviews.
Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and gluten-, dairy-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 8
- 1 kg small pale green sweet peppers (or long light green peppers)
- 6 cloves garlic, peeled
- 1 tsp black peppercorns
- 3 bay leaves
- 750 ml water
- 250 ml white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar (5 to 6% acidity)
- 1.5 tbsp coarse salt, non-iodised
- 2 tbsp sugar
Instructions
- 1Wash the peppers and dry them. Leave them whole with the stalks trimmed short, and prick each one two or three times with the tip of a knife so the brine can get inside.
- 2Pack the peppers upright and tightly into two clean 1-litre jars, tucking the garlic, peppercorns and bay leaves in between.✎ Chef’s notePack them snugly. Peppers float, and a tight pack keeps them under the brine.
- 3Put the water, vinegar, salt and sugar in a pan, bring to the boil and let it bubble for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring until the salt and sugar dissolve.
- 4Pour the boiling brine over the peppers until they are completely covered, pressing them down with a spoon. Close the jars and leave them to cool.
- 5Keep the jars in the fridge and wait 7 days before opening, so the brine gets all the way into the peppers. They keep for about a month in the fridge. Serve cold, whole or sliced, beside beans, grilled meat and bread.
Kosovar and Albanian home tradition.
Ratings & reviews
Cooked it? Rate this dish:
No account needed. Sign in to leave a full review with a comment.
Cooked it?
Kept on this device, no account needed. Sign in to leave a review and keep your passport across your devices.
No reviews yet, be the first to cook it.
🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Pristina. Flija is built one layer at a time under a sac, an iron dome heaped with burning coals. A thin batter is spooned on in a pattern, cooked, brushed with kajmak, then the next layer goes over it, for two or three hours, until it stacks a dozen or more sheets deep.
🗺️
Kosovo. Flija is built rather than baked. Thin batter is ladled on in strips under a sac, a bell-shaped iron dome covered with burning coals, one layer set before the next goes on, with kajmak brushed between, for two to three hours. Slow Food lists it in the Ark of Taste as endangered, because depopulation has taken away the people willing to spend an afternoon on it.
🌍
Europe. Europe has written a great deal of its food into law. A regulation of 1992 created the protected designation of origin and the protected geographical indication, tying a name to a place and a method, and an EU evaluation published in 2021 counted more than three thousand registered names across those schemes, from cheeses and hams down to particular shapes of bread.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Kosovo
FlijaA patient, many-layered pancake built up batter-by-batter under live coals, served with butter and cream.
Pite me SpinaqLayered thin-pastry pie filled with spinach and cheese, baked until crisp, a Kosovo staple.
PasulA slow-simmered white bean stew rich with paprika and onion, the everyday food of Kosovo.
Browse all Kosovo recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Keeps 2 to 3 days refrigerated. Resteam or warm through gently to serve.
Make it a Kosovo meal
Çaj Rusi (Kosovar Black Tea)Drink
SheqerpareDessert
Similar dishes from around the world
Kvashanaja Kapusta (Belarusian Sauerkraut with Carrot)Belarus
Roșii Murate (Moldovan Fermented Pickled Tomatoes)Moldova
Achards de Légumes (Comorian Pickled Vegetables)Comoros
Malosolnye Ogurtsy (Russian Lightly Salted Dill Cucumbers)Russia
Gonré (Burkinabè Steamed Bean Cakes)Burkina Faso
Amateke (Burundian Taro with Eggplant and Leeks)Burundi
Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Speca Turshi (Kosovar Pickled Peppers)?
Whole pale green sweet peppers packed into jars with garlic, peppercorns and bay and covered with a hot, lightly sweet vinegar brine, the sharp, crunchy pickle set beside winter meals in Kosovo.
Where does Speca Turshi (Kosovar Pickled Peppers) come from?
Speca Turshi (Kosovar Pickled Peppers) is a Kosovar dish from Pristina, Kosovo.
Can Speca Turshi (Kosovar Pickled Peppers) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Speca Turshi (Kosovar Pickled Peppers) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Speca Turshi (Kosovar Pickled Peppers) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Speca Turshi (Kosovar Pickled Peppers) take to make?
About 7 days in all: 20 minutes prep and 5 minutes cooking, plus 7 days of hands-off waiting the method needs, serving 8.
Get the Sunday Spin
One dish from somewhere in the world, in your inbox every Sunday. No spam, just dinner inspiration you can cook that day.