🥗 STARTER
Zacuscă (Moldovan Roasted Eggplant and Pepper Spread)
Fire-roasted eggplant and sweet red peppers cooked down slowly with onion, sunflower oil and tomato until thick and jammy, the autumn preserve spread on bread all winter.
Moldovan · medium · serves 10
prep 40 min · cook 150 min · plus 1 h hands-off time
~202 cal · 3g protein · 19g carbs · 14g fat · 7g fiber · 10g sugars · 2g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
↓ Jump to Recipe
AI-generated illustration
Zacuscă is the vegetable spread that Moldovan and Romanian families put up in jars every autumn, when eggplants and fat red peppers are cheap at the market and the whole courtyard smells of vegetables charring over the fire. The name comes from a Slavic word for a snack or a bite before the meal, the same root as the Russian zakuski, and that is how it is eaten: spread thickly on bread as a starter, or next to grilled meat and .
The method takes a day but very little skill. Eggplants and red peppers are roasted until blackened, peeled and left to drain, then chopped and cooked very slowly in plenty of sunflower oil with softened onion, tomato, bay leaves and salt, stirred often, until the mixture is thick and little pools of oil rise to the surface. Some cooks add mushrooms, carrot or celery.
Made without meat, eggs or dairy, zacuscă is also a staple of the Orthodox fasting seasons. Sealed hot in jars it keeps for months, and it is said to get better as it matures.
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 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 10
- 1.5 kg eggplants
- 1 kg sweet red peppers (gogoșari, kapia or red bell peppers)
- 300 g onions, finely chopped
- 150 ml sunflower oil
- 250 ml tomato passata
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 1/2 tsp salt, to taste
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- plenty rustic bread, to serve
Instructions
- 1Roast the eggplants and peppers over a gas flame or barbecue, or in a 220C (425F) oven for 45 to 60 minutes, turning them, until the skins are blackened and the flesh is completely soft.
- 2Put the peppers in a covered bowl for 15 minutes so the skins loosen, then peel and seed them. Peel the eggplants.✎ Chef’s noteAvoid rinsing the roasted vegetables under the tap; it washes away the smoky flavour. Wipe off stray bits of skin with your fingers.
- 3Leave the eggplant flesh to drain in a colander for at least 1 hour, pressing it now and then, so the spread does not turn watery. Then chop the eggplant and the peppers finely, by knife or with a few pulses in a food processor.
- 4Warm the oil in a wide heavy pot over low heat and cook the onions with a pinch of salt for about 15 minutes, until soft and translucent but not browned. Add the peppers and cook for 10 minutes more.
- 5Stir in the eggplant, passata, bay leaves, salt and pepper. Cook uncovered over very low heat for about 1 hour, stirring often and scraping the bottom, until thick and jammy and small pools of oil appear on the surface.✎ Chef’s noteIt catches easily once it thickens. A heat diffuser under the pot helps, and a long wooden spoon saves your arm from spatters.
- 6Remove the bay leaves and adjust the salt. Serve cool, spread thickly on bread. To keep it, spoon it hot into sterilised jars, seal at once and store in a cool place.
Moldovan and Romanian autumn preserving 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
📍
Chișinău. Mamaliga stands in for bread and is cooked stiff enough to slice, traditionally with a thread rather than a knife. Branza is an umbrella word rather than one cheese, covering cow, sheep and goat alike, and the sheep version is simply the one most often reached for around here.
🗺️
Moldova. Mamaliga does the job bread does elsewhere: cooked stiff enough to hold its shape, turned out and cut with a thread rather than a knife, and eaten with branza, which is an umbrella word covering cow, sheep and goat cheeses. Zeama, the sour chicken noodle soup, is the everyday classic, and sarmale are Ottoman in origin and shared across the region.
🌍
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 Moldova
Mămăligă cu BrânzăThick cornmeal polenta layered with salty sheep's cheese and sour cream, the soul of Moldovan tables.
Plăcintă cu BrânzăPan-fried or baked flatbread pockets stuffed with salty cheese, a Moldovan morning favorite.
ZeamăA tangy chicken noodle soup soured with fermented bran brine and fragrant with lovage, Moldova's restorative bowl.
Browse all Moldova recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan, Oven, Grill or barbecue, Food processor.
Storing it: Best the day it is made. Wrap well and refresh in a warm oven, or freeze and reheat straight from frozen.
Make it a Moldova meal
Izvar (Moldovan Hot Wine with Honey and Black Pepper)Drink
CornulețeDessert
Similar dishes from around the world
Pindžur (Macedonian Roasted Pepper, Eggplant and Tomato Spread)North Macedonia
Tahinosalata (Cypriot Tahini Dip)Cyprus
Bigilla (Maltese Broad Bean Dip)Malta
Speca me Maze (Kosovar Peppers in Kajmak Cream)Kosovo
Bruschetta al Pomodoro (Tomato Bruschetta)Italy
Shafoot (Yemeni Flatbread in Herbed Yogurt)Yemen
Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Zacuscă (Moldovan Roasted Eggplant and Pepper Spread)?
Fire-roasted eggplant and sweet red peppers cooked down slowly with onion, sunflower oil and tomato until thick and jammy, the autumn preserve spread on bread all winter.
Where does Zacuscă (Moldovan Roasted Eggplant and Pepper Spread) come from?
Zacuscă (Moldovan Roasted Eggplant and Pepper Spread) is a Moldovan dish from Chișinău, Moldova.
Can Zacuscă (Moldovan Roasted Eggplant and Pepper Spread) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Zacuscă (Moldovan Roasted Eggplant and Pepper Spread) 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 Zacuscă (Moldovan Roasted Eggplant and Pepper Spread) 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 Zacuscă (Moldovan Roasted Eggplant and Pepper Spread) take to make?
About 4 h 10 min in all: 40 minutes prep and 150 minutes cooking, plus 1 h of hands-off waiting the method needs, serving 10.
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.