Budget Tip #1: Waste Not, Want Not

I had some tomatoes and peppers that were starting to look over the hill, not rotten or moldy, but definitely tired. Normally, I use vegetables like this in soup or tomato sauce. It’s been heating up, however, and I don’t want to be eating a lot of hot food. So, for the first time ever, I made matbucha, mild matbucha. Sefardim might scoff at the lack of spice in this traditional Morrocan dip, but my family liked it better than store-bought matbucha. The ripe vegetables give the dip a sweet taste, and the garlic and paprika flavors are prominent.

Matbucha is usually spread on challah or pita, along with chummus, and other salads. However, it is also delicious on pasta salad or eaten straight from a bowl with a spoon.

I have known many women over the years who made all of their own dips and spreads. One used to put up a big pot of matbucha on Friday morning and let it cook all day. I did a little recipe-perusing and a little kitchen-testing and discovered that making home-made matbucha is really quite simple. I will definitely do this again.

Matbucha Recipe
Yield: 2 cups

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, diced
4-5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 bell peppers (I used 1 orange and 1 red), chopped
5  ripe tomatoes, chopped
1 hot pepper, diced (optional)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon paprika

Directions:

1. Heat olive oil in a small pot. Saute onions and garlic for about 5 minutes.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients. Mix and simmer for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Serve on challah or pita, along with your favorite dips.

Looking for other dips and spreads? Try these:
Pull-Apart Roasted Garlic Eggplant

Poor Man’s Pesto

Pesto spread on cracker

Sunny Avocado Salad