Khorovats is a dish of Armenian cuisine consisting of grilled vegetables. The specificity of the recipe is such that the appetizing khorovats stored in jars for the winter is not just tasty, but also healthy - the snack retains a maximum of vitamins. And then it can be eaten separately or used, for example, for preparing soups, stews, salads, and stuffing for stuffing holiday poultry.
Cooking features
The translation of the name of the snack quite accurately reflects the essence of its preparation - “oven over a fire.”The products are laid out on a grill over the fire. Thus, they are not just baked, but also subjected to the lightest smoking, and acquire a piquancy from the smoke. Khorovats from vegetables is a half-lazy recipe, because ripe fruits require practically no pre-processing, everything is simple with them. Gourmets are given the opportunity to roam when the time comes to put them in jars (and this opportunity will be revealed later). As for firewood for the brazier, it is recommended to use birch, linden or oak, from fruit trees (apricot, cherry, apple).
List of ingredients for the recipe
The “heart” of khorovats is formed by almost all vegetables that can be grown in a garden in our latitudes (or found on the market). Eggplants, zucchini, fleshy tomatoes, onions and leeks, sweet bell peppers. For a creative experiment, you can add corn, pumpkin, asparagus, Brussels sprouts, carrots, beets.
It’s also impressive that it can be the final flavor-forming touch for preserving a snack. Theoretically, you can limit yourself to just a small amount of salt or prepare a full-fledged and perhaps even luxurious filling (which will be discussed further). To prepare this particular recipe you will need:
- 2 kg eggplant;
- 1 kg of sweet pepper;
- 1.5 kg of tomatoes;
- 500 g leek;
- 2 heads of garlic;
- salt;
- vinegar;
- refined vegetable oil;
- black peppercorns;
- dry greens of cilantro, parsley and dill;
- fresh rosemary sprigs.
Product selection and preparation
Vegetables selected for preservation must be ripe, but not overripe, undamaged or spoiled.In theory, they can sit in the kitchen for a while, but experienced chefs recommend letting them into the khorovats as soon as they are picked from the garden.
Vegetables need to be washed and dried thoroughly.
How to prepare containers
Since khorovats are sterilized at the end of cooking, initially you can do a simple thing with the jars and lids - wash them with hot water and soda and rinse with boiling water.
How to cook khorovats for the winter
To prepare the snack you need to do the following:
- Place vegetables (sweet peppers, eggplants, onions, tomatoes, garlic) in one layer on a grill that closes on both sides and place on the grill. Turn over, keeping an eye on how they brown, the skin may burn in places - this is normal, remove the vegetables when they become completely soft.
- Cool the vegetables and peel them. Cut off the stems of eggplants and peppers, also remove some of the seeds from the latter, and cut out the hard spots on the top of tomatoes.
- Cut all vegetables into desired size pieces.
- Add a spoonful of salt to the bottom of each jar and throw in a couple of peppercorns.
- Fill the jars with vegetables in any order you like, pack them tightly. Sprinkle them little by little with dry aromatic herbs.
- Heat the oil in a saucepan, and when it starts to smoke, turn the heat down a little and throw in the rosemary sprigs. After a few minutes, remove them - they have already transferred the taste and aroma into the oil.
- Pour the oil into the jars - all the vegetables should be covered. Shake the jars so that the oil pours into all the spaces between the vegetables.
- Pour 1 tbsp into each jar (about 0.7 liter capacity). l. vinegar.
- Place a large saucepan on the stove and lay an unnecessary kitchen towel on its bottom. Loosely cover the jars with lids and place in the pan. Pour hot water - it should reach the jars' shoulders.Allow 15 minutes to sterilize the snack.
- Roll up the lids.
Further storage
You can put the khorovats in a cellar or pantry for as long as 12 months, the main thing is that the air temperature there does not rise above +18 ° C, and the humidity does not exceed 75%. The open jar must be placed on the refrigerator shelf and emptied within 10 days.
