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Canning vegetables is a long-standing Russian tradition. Almost all the vegetables from the garden are rolled into jars, thereby creating tasty supplies for the winter. Pickled cucumbers, tomatoes, various vegetable salads and, of course, squash caviar. All this is very tasty, but takes a lot of time to prepare. However, some experienced housewives know that there are recipes that allow you to quickly prepare vegetable rolls. For example, delicious squash caviar in winter it can take no more than an hour, and sometimes even 30-40 minutes. We’ll talk about how to quickly and tasty prepare this traditional appetizer further in the section.
Simple and quick recipe
This recipe allows you to prepare delicious squash caviar from a minimal set of ingredients literally within 40 minutes. You can eat it hot, chilled immediately after cooking, or roll it into jars for the winter.
Required set of products
This caviar recipe can be called classic. To prepare it you need 3 kg of zucchini, 1 kg of onions and the same amount carrots, literally 2 tbsp. l. tomato paste, 1.5 tbsp. l. salt, 1 tsp. l. lemons and 1.5 tbsp. l. Sahara. Some vegetable oil will be needed for frying vegetables. This set of products can really be called minimal for preparing zucchini caviar, so the recipe is the cheapest and fastest to prepare.
Cooking process
To prepare caviar “quickly,” you need to stock up on two frying pans for simultaneously frying various vegetables and a large saucepan for stewing caviar. In general, the cooking process is quite simple and accessible to every housewife:
- Remove seeds and skin from zucchini. If the vegetables are young and their skin has not yet become rough, and there are no seeds inside, then you can simply wash them and cut them into slices or cubes.
- Fry the zucchini in oil until golden brown. Dark, burnt spots on vegetables can spoil the appearance of future caviar.
- Chop the carrots and onions and fry in a second frying pan. Parallel frying of vegetables will save time when preparing zucchini caviar.
- Mix the roasted vegetables and grind them in a meat grinder. You can also use a blender for grinding.
- Place the chopped vegetables in a large container and add the necessary spices and tomato paste to the mixture. Boil the caviar for 15 minutes.
This simple recipe allows you to preserve some of the beneficial substances of zucchini after canning. The taste of the snack surprises with its tenderness.
Squash caviar in 60 minutes
Delicious winter squash caviar can be prepared in just 60 minutes. During this time, you can make about 5 liters of aromatic and tender snacks.
List of ingredients
To prepare a zucchini snack, you will need quite affordable products in large quantities, which allows you to prepare a large batch of winter supplies at a time. So, for 6 kg of zucchini you will need 3 kg of carrots and 1.5 kg of onions. Tomato paste in an amount of 500 ml is also included in this recipe. 6 tbsp. l. salt and 15 tbsp. l. sugar, as well as 3 tablespoons of oil are preservatives for squash caviar, which allow it to be stored for a long time during the winter. A small amount of water may be needed if the moisture from the zucchini evaporates quickly.
Stages of caviar preparation
Even an inexperienced cook can prepare caviar according to this recipe, since there are no special tricks here:
- Wash, peel and chop all vegetables. To make it faster, you can cut the zucchini into bars, grate the carrots, and chop the onion into half rings.
- Place the chopped vegetables in a saucepan and simmer for 40 minutes over low heat. At this time, you may need water to prevent the vegetables from burning. Optimally, you can add 1-1.5 tbsp of water to the specified volume of products.
- At the end of cooking, place the vegetables in a colander to drain the moisture. After this, return them to the pan and grind with a blender to a puree consistency.
- Add the remaining products to the resulting homogeneous mass and boil for another 15-20 minutes. At the end of cooking, the squash caviar is placed in clean, prepared jars and rolled up.
The advantage of the recipe lies not only in the excellent taste of the resulting snack, but also in the simplicity and high speed of preparation, since there is no need to pre-fry the vegetables, making sure that they do not burn.
Squash caviar with tomatoes and herbs
The excellent combination of zucchini and tomato paste is used in many recipes. The uniqueness of this particular recipe is that instead of tomato paste it is recommended to use fresh tomatoes, which you will probably find in the garden during the autumn planting season. Also, the “highlight” of this squash caviar is the greens, which imbue the product with its unique aroma and taste. Learn more about making this delicious caviar recipe below.
Ingredients for cooking
Of course, the most important ingredient in caviar is zucchini. The recipe is designed for 1 kg of this vegetable, but if necessary, the quantity of products can be increased proportionally. In addition to zucchini, to prepare caviar you will need 300g of fresh carrots, the same amount of onions, 700g of tomatoes, 2 bell peppers, 100g of herbs (this can be dill, celery, parsley), salt, sugar and garlic (1-2 cloves).
Cooking technology
To prepare caviar according to this recipe it will take a little over an hour. Of course, if the volume of food is increased, then the time spent on cleaning, cutting and frying vegetables will increase. In general, the cooking process is quite simple and even a novice cook can do it:
- It is necessary to prepare the main vegetables for frying. Remove the seed chamber from the zucchini and cut off the skin from the surface of the vegetable. Cut the zucchini into slices or rings. Peel, wash and chop the carrots. The onion should also be peeled and cut into half rings or small cubes.
- Roll the zucchini in flour and fry so that the vegetable pieces on each side acquire a golden color. In parallel with the zucchini, you can start frying carrots and onions in another frying pan. This will speed up the cooking process.
- While the main vegetables are frying, you can do the peppers and tomatoes. It is imperative to remove the skin from them, otherwise it will impart rigidity to the ready-made squash caviar. To easily remove the skin, vegetables must be scalded with boiling water.
- Grind fried vegetables, as well as peeled tomatoes and peppers through a meat grinder. Pour oil into the bottom of a large saucepan and place a homogeneous mixture of caviar, salt and sugar it to taste. Simmer vegetables over low heat, covered, for 50-60 minutes.
- 2-3 minutes before the end of cooking, add chopped garlic and herbs to the caviar.
- Place the caviar in pasteurized jars and close with a tight lid or roll up.
Some housewives place zucchini slices after frying on a paper towel, which removes excess oil. This trick is not used when preparing squash caviar, since excess oil will allow the vegetables to stew without adding liquid and will make the taste of the finished caviar more delicate.
Spicy squash caviar in 90 minutes
For lovers of spicy food, the following recipe will certainly be of interest, which is based on the use of red chili pepper and garlic. This dish will not only be a tasty treat in the cold winter, but also a medicine for the prevention of viral diseases.
Everything you need for cooking
I would like to immediately note that the volume of products indicated later in the recipe allows you to prepare only 10 servings of squash caviar.This may not be enough to prepare for the winter, so if necessary, the quantity of all products can be increased proportionally.
Spicy zucchini caviar is prepared from 500 g of zucchini, 2 medium-sized carrots, 1 onion and, of course, 1 chili pepper. In addition, you will need 2 cloves of garlic, 75 ml of vegetable oil, a little vinegar and salt to taste.
Cooking steps
Preparing delicious squash caviar according to this recipe should not cause any difficulties. The cooking process is simple and straightforward:
- Peel the zucchini, carrots and onions and cut into small cubes.
- Remove seeds from chili peppers. Finely chop the pepper and garlic.
- Place the ingredients in one large container, first pouring boiling oil into it;
- Simmer vegetables in their own juice, covering the container with a lid.
- If the caviar starts to burn, you need to add a few tablespoons of water;
- After about an hour of boiling, the vegetables will become soft. This means it's time to chop them. To do this, you can use a meat grinder or blender. Some housewives manage to grind the vegetable mixture to the desired consistency using a sieve and a puree masher.
- After chopping, you need to add salt to the vegetable mixture, and, if desired, other spices.
- Before putting the caviar into jars to seal for the winter, it is recommended to add a little table vinegar (1 teaspoon per 500 ml volume) to pasteurized containers. This will allow the product to be better stored during the winter season. If desired, vinegar (1-2 tbsp) can be added not to the jars, but to the vegetable mixture at the end of cooking.
This recipe is based on the use of red hot chili peppers. But unfortunately, this product is not always available in fresh form at home.That is why in some cases it is reasonable to replace the fresh product with ground red pepper in the amount of 1 tbsp. l.
Other recipes for squash caviar and a visual example of preparation can be found in the video:
Little secrets of making delicious caviar
Every big deal consists of many small but important nuances. Experienced housewives know this especially well. After all, it often happens that dishes prepared according to one recipe differ significantly in taste. It turns out that it's all in the little things. So, the preparation of squash caviar has its own secrets:
- To prepare a delicious snack, you need to use a pan with a thick bottom. Such dishes heat up evenly and do not allow vegetables to burn during stewing. If you don't have such a pan, you can use a cast iron cauldron or a frying pan with a non-stick coating and high edges.
- Using a blender allows you to make squash caviar especially tender and homogeneous. Using a meat grinder, it is quite difficult to achieve such a result, unless you have to twist the vegetable puree twice. When the mixture is ground once in a meat grinder, the caviar will consist of many small particles, “caviar”, which also, for sure, finds its admirers among consumers.
- You can speed up the preparation of caviar by pre-salting the zucchini. To do this, a few hours before preparing the caviar, the zucchini must be peeled and moderately salted, and put in the refrigerator so that the vegetables release their juice. This will take no more than an hour, but will significantly speed up the cooking process of this ingredient. After salting, lightly squeeze the zucchini with your hands to remove excess water and salt.
Every housewife can prepare squash caviar quickly and tasty.To do this, you just need to stock up on some knowledge and the necessary package of products. You can choose a recipe for delicious caviar only on the basis of personal preferences: some see the advantage in low calorie content, others in the spicy taste, and for some housewives only ease of preparation is important. But in general, we can say that squash caviar is always tasty, healthy and affordable, because it can be prepared from natural products grown in the garden with your own hands.
