Georgian cuisine is popular in many countries. That is why Georgian blue eggplants for the winter are a traditional dish that many housewives like to preserve. Pickled eggplants stand out among other twists, since they not only have good taste, but also stand out for their appearance.
Some people think that canning pickled eggplants is very difficult. However, this is not so difficult to do if you familiarize yourself in advance with how to prepare Georgian eggplants for the winter.
Preparing containers
Spinning eggplants in Georgian style for the winter without sterilization is done quite rarely.Most people prefer to seal fried eggplants in pre-sterilized containers. Therefore, it is difficult to find a housewife who would not sterilize jars before using them.
Steam
Often, eggplant appetizers are sealed for the winter in jars that have previously been steamed. This is the most common method of sterilization.
To process containers, you need to inspect them in advance and make sure that there are no cracks in them. After this, a small saucepan is filled with water and placed on the gas stove. There is a grate on top, which is needed for installing cans. They are processed until drops of water begin to flow down the inside of their lids. After this, you can remove the container from the pan and roll it up salted eggplants for the winter.
In the dishwasher
If the kitchen is equipped with a dishwasher, you can sterilize the containers with it. Before twisting the workpiece, all jars should be thoroughly washed and placed in the dishwasher. The water temperature in it should be at least 70 degrees. The container is processed for 10-20 minutes, after which you can roll up the baked or pickled eggplants.
In the oven
Salted eggplants can be rolled into containers that have been sterilized in the oven. A gas oven is completely unsuitable for such purposes, since it has an uneven temperature. Therefore, it is recommended to use an electric model with a more stable heating temperature.
Sterilizing jars using this method is very simple. To do this, you need to place several containers in an oven heated to 150 degrees. They are kept in it for 20 minutes, after which we take them out and preserve the blue ones.
Classic recipe
There are various recipes for preparing preserves, but not all of them can be used at home. A classic recipe that will help you seal Georgian-style eggplants at home for the winter. This preparation is created using the following ingredients:
- three heads of garlic;
- one pepper;
- kilogram of eggplant;
- 80 g sugar;
- salt to taste;
- 400 ml oil;
- 100 ml vinegar.
In some cases, this pickling is supplemented with other ingredients. For example, some people put tomatoes in jars.
Preservation begins with the preparation of all necessary ingredients. To prepare the appetizer, choose a tasty and young eggplant. All blue ones are thoroughly washed and cut into small circles and set aside. Some of them may have a bitter taste, and to get rid of it, you will have to soak the vegetables in a special saline solution.
Do not soak each sliced eggplant for too long. It is enough to allocate 10-15 minutes for this.
Having prepared the main ingredients, you need to start preparing the sauce. This is where the sliced eggplants will be enclosed. To prepare the sauce, you will have to cut the bell pepper into circles. However, before this, the core with seeds and the stalk should be removed. After this, each piece of pepper is passed through a meat grinder to obtain a homogeneous liquid mass. If you don’t have a meat grinder, you can use a food processor or blender instead.
After preparing the sauce, you should start frying the eggplants with tomatoes or other vegetables. The ingredients are laid out in a dense layer in a frying pan sprinkled with vegetable oil. When the frying pan is well heated, you can pour chopped garlic or onion into it.Bell pepper is added a little later. Everything is sprinkled with chopped pepper only after the eggplants are completely fried on all sides. All ingredients in a frying pan are thoroughly mixed and simmered for 20 minutes. If you do not periodically stir the contents of the pan with a wooden spatula, the blue ones will burn.
The entire mass from the frying pan is poured into a small saucepan and poured with the prepared sauce. If the mixture has not been salted before, then add a pinch of salt to it. You should also pour a little vinegar and sugar into the pan. Then everything is boiled on the stove for about 15 minutes.
After this, distribute the hot mass into pre-sterilized jars and close them with sealing lids. Twisted containers are turned over and cooled for 10 hours, after which they can be transferred to the cellar for storage.
With apples
Some recipes differ from others due to unique ingredients. One of these recipes includes twisting eggplants with apples. To create the snack you will need:
- a kilogram of blue ones;
- kilogram of tomatoes;
- 500 g pepper;
- 400 g onions;
- two apples;
- 300 g butter;
- 90 g salt.
For preparing preserves, it is recommended to use better varieties of sweet and sour apples. They are thoroughly washed, peeled and cut into small cubes. After this, the blue ones are prepared. They should also first be washed from dirt and peeled. First, they are cut lengthwise, and then the cut strips are chopped into small cubes.
After preparing the main vegetables, pour oil into the frying pan and heat it up a little. Then onions, eggplants, apples with peppers and tomatoes are poured into it. If you want to close the hot blue ones for the winter, then you should add more pepper. All this is stewed for half an hour over low heat.To make a canned snack, you need to pour the entire contents of the frying pan into jars and roll them up.
Conclusion
There are different recipes for creating winter canned eggplant. To prepare such a snack, just study any recipe with a photo and follow what is written in it. You can also consult with a person who has been pickling blue ones for several years.
