Canned eggplant pickles are a must-have product on the winter menu. Various techniques are used to prepare vegetables according to delicious recipes. Eggplants with prunes - we study the original recipe for the winter. Preserving a fruit and vegetable mixture does not take much time. The advantage of harvesting is that you can use both large and small eggplants, since the fruits are pre-cut into medium-sized bars.
Cooking features
Today it is difficult to surprise anyone with vegetables of an unusual color.Eggplants are grown with skin that is blue-violet, white, yellow, or even striped. For canning, dark purple ones are most often used, which are the most useful. In order for vegetables to retain maximum vitamins and microelements, it is not recommended to fry or boil them for a long time.
When frying, eggplant pieces will absorb less sunflower oil if they are pre-greased with a small amount of oil and stirred. Place the vegetables in a hot dry frying pan and fry for several minutes until half cooked, stirring constantly.
Ingredients for preparation
When choosing products for preservation, you need to take into account that the vegetables must be fresh, without flaws, otherwise the preservation may spoil. Key points for selecting ingredients:
- Ripe fruits with shiny and smooth skin are used. Vegetables with wrinkled and dry skin are not suitable for preservation;
- soft brown spots on the fruit are a sign of spoilage. If the stalk is dry and brown, it means the vegetable was picked a long time ago.
Prunes are an original ingredient for winter canning that have many advantages. Dried plums contain a rich set of vitamins, micro- and microelements, slow down the growth of bacteria, and give the preparations a piquant sweet and sour taste.
Food preparation
Many housewives preserve eggplants for the winter in different ways: salted, pickled, stuffed. Of particular interest are recipes in which eggplants are combined with prunes. During the cooking process, the vegetable develops a peculiar bitterness. You can get rid of an unpleasant taste in different ways:
- the fruits are cut into pieces, lightly salted and immersed in water for 20 minutes. Then the workpiece is washed with clean water;
- Boil whole eggplants in salted water for 2-4 minutes.
When canning, it is not necessary to remove the seeds from the fruits or cut off the peel. Usually the stem and tip are cut off. If the prunes are very dry, you can pre-soak them so that later it is convenient to cut them into pieces or slices.
How to prepare eggplants with prunes for the winter
To prepare the original recipe, you will need the following ingredients:
- 3 kg each of eggplant and red bell pepper;
- 2 pieces of hot pepper;
- 300 g prunes;
- 70 gr. garlic
To prepare the marinade use:
- 3 tbsp sunflower oil;
- 2 glasses of water, 200 g of sugar;
- 200 ml vinegar;
- 3 tbsp salt.
Preparation of the workpiece includes several stages:
- The pepper is cut into large cubes, salted, filled with water and left for 20-25 minutes. Then washed.
- The eggplant bars are poured with oil, mixed and fried in a frying pan until half cooked.
- Sweet and bitter peppers, prunes, garlic are cut into thin strips.
- Salt and sugar are added to the water to prepare the marinade. The solution is heated, and at the boiling stage, vinegar is poured into the salty-sweet liquid.
Pour the marinade over a mixture of peppers and prunes, mix everything, add eggplants. Boil the ingredients for 15 minutes, add chopped garlic and cook for another 15 minutes. The fruit and vegetable mixture is laid out tightly in pre-sterilized jars.
Further storage of workpieces
Basic storage conditions for canned pasteurized eggplants: air temperature – 0-15 °C, humidity – 75-80%. If you comply with the requirements, the shelf life of the preservation is one and a half to two years. A great way to store it is to place the jars in the basement or pantry of your country house.
To prevent an increase in humidity, the balcony is periodically ventilated. If there is no balcony or it is not possible to arrange storage areas on it, the preserved food can be placed in the refrigerator.
Eggplants, canned according to any recipe, provide original variety to the winter menu. Most often, housewives prepare caviar. However, there is no need to be afraid of experiments and new tastes. Eggplant with prunes is a non-standard recipe in which the flavor combination of ingredients is manifested by piquant sweet and sour notes.
