Tomato seasoning called "Eye-Gouger" is our most essential ingredient. We've been making it every year for years and can't even imagine our table without it. We add it to prepared dishes, pelmeni, vareniki, side dishes, and soups.
My mother and all our neighbors made this condiment. Some called it "throat-cutter," but we called it "eye-gouger." It was preserved in large 3-liter jars and made from ripe, sweet tomatoes grown under the Kazakh sun. No matter who you visited, everyone had this condiment.
Everyone made it their own way. Some used only tomatoes, garlic, and hot peppers, while my mother also added sweet red bell peppers and horseradish roots. My mother's "eye-gouger" was the best, not too spicy and sweet, because she made it from Bull's Heart tomatoes. You could eat it by the spoonful or drink it like tomato juice; it was delicious.
The eye-popping recipe is very simple; everyone can find the ingredients, and there's no need to cook it. The quantities are determined by eye. If you want a spicier seasoning, add more garlic, horseradish, and hot pepper. If you prefer a milder one, you can reduce the amount of hot spices. The same goes for salt: if you like it salty, add more. Store it in a cool place; we keep it in the refrigerator.
How to cook eye-gouger?
For the seasoning you need ripe, fleshy tomatoes.
Horseradish roots, garlic, red hot pepper.
Our hot peppers didn't have time to ripen this year, so we had to add green ones to the seasoning. It didn't affect the eye-popping taste at all.
Red bell peppers are best with thick walls, as they add thickness and a brighter color to the seasoning.
Salt to taste.
Acetylsalicylic acid tablets.
Clean tomatoes need to be chopped; you can use a meat grinder, but I do it the way my mother did: I grate the tomatoes on a coarse grater. This way, the mixture turns out thicker and the skin doesn’t get rubbed through, it stays on the grater.
I pour the crushed mass into a large 7-liter saucepan.
Red bell pepper is grated in the same way, seeds and skin are discarded.
Peel the horseradish roots and chop them into small pieces. Remove the seeds from the hot pepper. Put everything through a meat grinder. I grind the horseradish and hot pepper in a blender, adding a few juicy tomatoes to ensure everything is finely chopped.
I press the garlic cloves through a garlic press. I add all the ground ingredients to the pan.
The mixture needs to be mixed well, add salt.
Finely crush 1 acetylsalicylic acid tablet per 1 liter of seasoning and pour into a saucepan, mix everything well again.
I add 5 to 7 tablets, depending on the recipe. Aspirin acts as a preservative and is added for long-term shelf life. It's not noticeable in the seasoning. Without the tablets, the seasoning won't keep for long; it starts to ferment and turn sour.
Taste the sauce. If it's not salty enough or spicy enough, add more salt and garlic or pepper. Ground black pepper is also an option.
Cover the pan and let it steep at room temperature for 2 days. Stir and taste the seasoning periodically to ensure all the ingredients are present.
Then pour into sterilized jars.
Pour a layer of odorless sunflower oil on top and cover with lids, plastic ones will do. Refrigerate.
The finished eye-gouger turns out thick and tasty, it contains the freshness and taste of tomatoes, the spiciness of garlic and horseradish, the pungency of hot pepper, and it smells pleasantly of tomatoes and garlic.