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Overseas caviar has been enjoying well-deserved popularity among the people for many decades, both for its taste, and for its usefulness, and for its versatility in application. After all, it is quite possible to use it both as a side dish and as an independent dish. It is also perfect as a quick snack, and even children like it, who do not always favor vegetables that are healthy for their health.
There are many ways to prepare squash caviar; in the basic recipe, tomato paste is usually used. But squash caviar with tomatoes plucked from your garden cannot be compared with purchased tomato paste. Indeed, in recent years, the quality of store products leaves much to be desired, and if you grow vegetables on your site, then it is from them that you need to prepare the most delicious and healthy preparations for the winter for your family, using them to the maximum.
Basic recipe
Delicious squash caviar is always based on the following ingredients:
- Medium-sized zucchini - 3-4 pieces;
- Carrots - 1 large or 2 medium;
- Onion - 1 large onion or several small ones;
- Ripe tomatoes - 2-3 pieces;
- Vegetable oil - 2-3 tbsp. spoons;
- Salt, sugar, spices - according to your taste.
In order to prepare zucchini caviar with tomatoes for the winter, you will need to increase the amount of ingredients at least 2-3 times, and maybe more, depending on your family's appetites.
Since it is the tomatoes that give the necessary pungency and piquancy to squash caviar, if, of course, you are not fond of hot peppers, then special attention should be paid to them. Before cooking, you need to remove the skin from the tomatoes and the easiest way to do this is by pre-scalding the tomatoes with boiling water. After removing the peel, the tomatoes are cut into pieces of any shape and size and placed on a small fire in a frying pan with vegetable oil preheated to a boil. The whole tomato mass is stewed until it becomes more or less homogeneous. The juice should evaporate during the stewing process and the mass will become relatively thick and viscous. The resulting tomato paste is set aside and the rest of the vegetables are taken care of.
Zucchini must be peeled and seed-free if ripe. Very young zucchini just need to wash well and cut off the stalk.
You just need to be sure to peel them from the hard peel and seeds inside the fruit.
Onions and carrots are also peeled, and all vegetables are cut into small cubes. Then, in a deep frying pan, it is necessary to heat the oil until a white haze appears and fry the onions in it first until a translucent state, and then the carrots until they turn golden brown.
Zucchini are fried in a separate pan. If you cook large volumes of caviar, then it is better to fry in one layer in small portions. The taste of the finished product will improve significantly. But on the figure, numerous frying will not be reflected in the best way. Therefore, if every calorie is dear to you, then the best option would be to bake zucchini, cut into long pieces lengthwise, in the oven or on the grill. After baking, the zucchini can be chopped with a knife or with a blender or meat grinder.
When all the vegetables, including the zucchini, are fried or baked, they can be combined in one large deep bowl with a thick bottom. It is necessary to stew the squash caviar in this form until it thickens - this may take from 40 minutes to an hour and a half. Half an hour after the start of stewing, add the previously prepared tomato paste from fresh tomatoes to the vegetable mixture.
Finely chopped greens (dill, parsley, coriander, celery), spices (black pepper and allspice), garlic, as well as salt and sugar are added about 5-10 minutes before the end of the caviar stewing.
Still hot caviar is laid out in sterilized jars and sterilized for 30 minutes - half-liter, and 45-50 minutes - liter jars.
Vinegar 9% is usually added at the very end of caviar stewing. For the amount indicated at the beginning of the recipe, 1 tablespoon of vinegar is enough. You can also add just under one teaspoon vinegar to each quart can just before rolling. But keep in mind that adding vinegar does slightly change the taste of the finished dish. Therefore, before making large portions, you must first try what the result will be.
Other interesting recipes and additives
All the basic principles of making zucchini caviar were outlined in the previous chapter, but many other ingredients are often added to the zucchini caviar to complete the flavor.
The most interesting and delicious additions are white roots. They usually consist of parsnips, root parsley, and root celery. To add an exquisite mushroom flavor and aroma, the white roots are carefully chopped and fried until softened before being added to the caviar. Very few of them are needed - no more than 50 grams of roots in the total mass are taken for 1 kg of zucchini.
But they have a unique influence on the taste of ready-made caviar, although it is not so easy to get them even in our time. The easiest way to grow them yourself, especially since they are a wonderful seasoning for many first, second courses and preparations for the winter.
It goes well with zucchini and the addition of sweet bell pepper gives the caviar an exquisite taste. Usually, its fruits are peeled from the stalks and seed chambers, cut into pieces and fried in a pan or baked in the oven. They are then mixed with the rest of the vegetables.
Eggplants will also serve as a good addition to zucchini caviar. They will enhance her mushroom flavor and give her additional delicacy. Eggplants are usually peeled and soaked in salt water for several hours to remove the bitterness. But most modern eggplant varieties do not need these treatments. If in doubt, you can try a piece of fruit with the skin before cutting. Eggplant is completely edible raw. In any case, before adding them to the squash caviar, the eggplants must be fried in small pieces or baked in the oven until softened. You can even bake them in halves, but after cooling they must be chopped with a knife, meat grinder or in a blender. Only then are the eggplants mixed with the rest of the vegetables.
Recipes using modern kitchen appliances
Equally well squash caviar is obtained both in a slow cooker and using an airfryer. The latter is especially good for pasteurizing the finished product.
Zucchini caviar in a slow cooker
The amount of raw materials for making zucchini caviar with tomatoes is the same for both recipes:
- Zucchini - 3 kg;
- Sweet pepper - 1 kg;
- Carrots - 1 kg;
- Onions - 1 kg;
- Ripe tomatoes - 1.5 kg;
- Vegetable oil - 100 ml;
- Salt, sugar, spices and herbs to taste.
All vegetables are cut into small cubes. The oil is poured into a slow cooker, the "baking" mode is set for 40 minutes, and chopped carrots, onions, and bell peppers are placed in a bowl. After 20 minutes, chopped tomatoes are added to them.
At the end, add sugar, salt, spices, mix well and transfer to a separate bowl.
Switch the multicooker to the "Stew" mode for two hours and pour the sliced zucchini inside the bowl. After the end of work beep sounds, you need to mix all the vegetables together and chop them. Then they are laid out again in the multicooker bowl. The "baking" mode is set and the squash caviar is cooked until it becomes thick.
After the end of cooking, the caviar is laid out in jars, sterilized and rolled in the usual way.
Airfryer for cooking squash caviar
For preparation, the same ingredients are used in the same ratio as in the previous recipe, plus another 9% vinegar.
Cut the courgettes, peppers and tomatoes into large pieces. Bake the zucchini in a heating mode of 250 degrees for 10 minutes. Then add bell peppers and tomatoes to them and bake for another 10 minutes. After cooling, remove the skin from the tomatoes and zucchini.
Fry peeled and chopped onions with carrots separately until golden brown.
Combine all vegetables together and grind with a blender until puree. Add spices, salt and sugar to them and mix well. Place caviar in sterilized glass jars and place without lids in the airfryer. Set the temperature to about 180 ° for 30 minutes.
Immediately after the beep, half a teaspoon of vinegar is added to each jar and the jars are rolled up with lids.
If you've sterilized squash caviar or cooked it with vinegar, you can store it at room temperature. To preserve the taste, it is only necessary that the storage place is dark.
