Matbucha: Spicy Morrocan Salsa

Many years ago an Israeli friend, whose parents were born in Morocco, taught me how to make the classic Moroccan-Jewish dish:  Matbucha (Maat-boo-hah).  It's my pleasure to share with you my favorite Sephardic Jewish dish!  Here is how Wikipedia describes it:

Matbucha (Hebrew: מטבוחה‎) is a cooked dish of tomatoes and roasted bell peppers seasoned with garlic and chili pepper.  The name of the dish originates from Arabic and means "cooked salad". It is also known as Turkish Salad. It is served as an appetizer, often as part of a meze. In Israel it is sometimes referred to as "Turkish salad."  Matbucha is popular across the Maghreb. It was brought to Israel by new immigrants from Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, and Libya.

1-First of all, you need the following items:
-large metal pot
-24 fully ripe tomatoes
-8 long green hot peppers
-1/2 of a head of garlic
-250 grams of soy oil
-20 grams of salt

Press on photos to enlarge

Cut a large "x" in the bottom of all of the tomatoes.  Take the core out of each tomato as well.

Boil the tomatoes in water for about 15 or so minutes and then remove the skin from each one.

Take the hot peppers and roast them on a gas flame.  Be sure not to burn them too much.  There should be a thin layer of burnt black skin around the entire pepper.  Over-burning is not desired.

Scrape off the black layer on the peppers with a sharp knife.  Run them under the faucet to remove the excess burnt black skin.  They should look like the bottom photo below.

Using a rubber funnel is the easiest way to remove the skin from the garlic.  You can adjust the amount of garlic you use, depending on your taste.

Pour about 250 grams of soy oil into the pot containing the skinned tomatoes, roasted hot peppers, crushed garlic, and 20 grams of salt.

The initial cooking should look like this.

Use the "smasher" below to stir and smash the matbucha salad.  The initial cool should last about an hour on the highest flame.  Be sure to stir regularly, especially as the excess water evaporates.  Otherwise, the mixture will burn in the bottom of the pot.  The smasher is sitting on an electric hot plate.  You will need this in the next step.

Place the semi-finished matbucha on the electric hot-plate.  For the next 3-4 hours stir the mixture occasionally.

When the color of the matbucha is dark red and the vast majority of water has evaporated, then the dish is ready.

The final product can be served hot or cold.  It is usually eaten with bread or challah.