Eggplant in tomato juice for the winter
With the arrival of autumn, every housewife racks her brains over what to treat her family and friends with this winter. And not just feed, but also surprise with the sophistication and interestingness of the dish. Most people have tried eggplants in tomato juice since childhood, when their mother or grandmother opened a jar of a culinary masterpiece before the holiday. Remember this unique taste? But even if this dish is an innovation for the keeper of the hearth, it will not leave anyone indifferent.
Read also: eggplant like mushrooms for the winter!
How to choose products?
Eggplant plays the main role in this exquisite dish. This product is also popularly called "blue":
- The product should look fresh. Where can we go without it? The product must be in a salable condition. There should be no scratches, cracks, cuts or other damage, and even more so there should be no obvious signs of deterioration of the product.
- Solid to the touch. A soft product immediately raises suspicions - rotten. At the same time, it is important to take a ripe vegetable. Unripe blue spoils the taste and is poorly absorbed.
- The size is not big. Too large a product suggests that all kinds of fertilizers and chemical additives were used during the cultivation.
- Fresh "tail". A thick, soft and crisp ponytail is present in fresh, high-quality eggplant... If the stalk is dry, it means that the blue one is stale and, most likely, spoiled. The absence of a "ponytail" should automatically repel from the purchase.
- When pressed, the trail disappears. Experienced gardeners suggest checking the quality of the product in this way: press your finger on the eggplant. If the mark disappears quickly, the fruit is fresh, fit.
Poke your finger into the base of the eggplant. If it was done with difficulty, the fruit is not ripe. If the product is too soft, the blue one is clearly spoiled.
Concerning tomato - the ingredients must be fresh, free from damage and unpleasant odor.
Preparing supplies for the winter
Ingredients:
- eggplant 3 kg;
- tomatoes 3 kg;
- granulated sugar 3-5 tablespoons (to taste);
- vinegar (9%) 3 tablespoons;
- sunflower oil 250 g (1 glass);
- salt 2 tablespoons;
- garlic 4 heads;
- sweet pepper 1 kg;
- greens to taste;
Cooking steps
Recipes for dishes such as eggplant in tomato juice are varied. Someone likes it sweeter, someone - sharper, some generally fry eggplant before cooking - such a taste.
To begin with, you should try the simplest and most universal recipe, but in the future - the full will of your imagination!
The first step is to deal with the processing of blue vegetables. We thoroughly rinse the products (however, like all other ingredients), separate from the stalk and cut in any convenient way, for example, into circles or bars.
Do not chop the eggplant too finely, otherwise the product will boil over when stewing. Recommended piece thickness - more than 1.5 cm
Rinse the pepper thoroughly and chop it (again, not finely!) In any convenient way.
Put the eggplants and peppers aside and start with the tomatoes. Rinse and chop the tomatoes thoroughly. By the way, there are two options here:
- In a blender. Cut the tomatoes into quarters or more before placing them in the blender bowl.
- In a meat grinder.It is important to take into account that the peel from the vegetables must be removed, the tomatoes must be chopped and preferably passed through a meat grinder 2 or more times so that the mixture is as homogeneous as possible.
To rid the tomatoes of the skin, you need to pour boiling water over the food for a minute, then place the tomatoes in cold water for a couple of minutes. Now the unneeded skin will easily leave the ingredient.
Once finished with the tomatoes, move on to the garlic. After all, eggplants in tomato juice with garlic become much spicier and more interesting in taste. We clean the cloves and chop finely.
Here, again, it's a matter of taste - some with rings, some with cubes, but the more this ingredient is crushed, the more uniform and aesthetic the finished dish will look.
By the way, chopping garlic cloves is better with a knife than with a garlic press. In the first case, the product remains more intact, which means that all the juice and many useful vitamins in it will remain in the finished salad. If you decide to use greens in the recipe, then it is worth cutting it at this point.
Moving on to the next step in preparation.
Put the chopped eggplants in a saucepan, sprinkle with salt and sugar, then pour out the vinegar and sunflower oil. Mix thoroughly.
Pour the tomato puree obtained earlier. We put on medium heat and stir. After boiling the mixture, add pepper there, and greens, if it is present in your recipe as an ingredient.
Next step: reduce heat and simmer for about 10-15 minutes, then add the remaining product - garlic. Again, stir the delicious creation and simmer the eggplants in tomato juice for another 15-25 minutes.
While the dish is cooking ...
While our culinary masterpiece is languishing on the stove, let's sterilize the cans. Since eggplant is a finicky and whimsical guest, it is important to ensure that the dishes are sterile to the maximum level. Let's analyze two ways, and which is more convenient and practical - it's up to you.
Steam treatment
An old grandmother's way of processing blank cans. First of all, you need a pan and a grate, or a special stand for this method of sterilizing cans (it looks like a straight lid with a hole in the middle for the neck of glassware). You will also need a clean, ironed cloth.
If everything is there, then let's proceed:
- It is necessary to make sure that both the cans and their necks are intact, without chips or cracks.
- It is better to use new lids. If there are none, you should make sure that they are not bent, intact.
- We wash the cans with a clean new sponge with soda, do not wipe after the procedure!
- We put a pot of water on the fire, leave to a boil.
- We place the lids in water.
- We put the cans upside down on the wire rack / in the hole of the stand.
- We leave for 7-12 minutes. The finished jar has large drops of water inside. Caution, the dishes are hot!
- Carefully remove the jar and place it upside down on a clean ironed cloth (towel). We take out the covers with a clean fork, put them on the same cloth.
Electric oven processing
The second method is no less simple than the first. You will need the same ironed clean cloth and an electric oven. Gas does not work - the temperature does not stay uniform in it:
- As in the case of steam sterilization, we check the jars and lids for integrity and quality.
- Thoroughly rinse the glassware with baking soda with a new clean sponge.
- We put the cans upside down in a cold oven, put the lids side by side.
- We set the temperature to 120 degrees, leave for 15 minutes.
- We take out the cans and lids, leave them on a dry, clean cloth, as in the first case.
The blanks are made in dry dishes. If you need a jar right away, wipe the container from the inside with a clean fork and a clean cloth (not with your hands!).
The dish is ready, it's time to put the blanks in jars, roll up tightly and leave upside down overnight.A simple, but such an unusual and tasty salad for the winter will surprise not only the housewife who is just starting to master the culinary business, but also the hearth keepers who are experienced in preparing the home, because pickled or canned eggplants in tomato juice for the winter is always a good idea.