How difficult it can sometimes be to choose the appropriate option from the huge number of recipes that are presented in the cookbook, when you want something tasty, original and easy to make at the same time.
Salad "mother-in-law's tongue"from zucchini for the winter belongs precisely to this category of preparations. If you accidentally try this dish with friends or acquaintances, you will definitely want to repeat it. The best news is that it is not at all difficult, and even a novice cook can cope with preparing this delicious snack. Next, the article will discuss in detail the process of preparing “mother-in-law’s tongue” salad from zucchini with step-by-step instructions.
Some people have a natural question about the origin of such an original name for the salad. However, it’s easy to guess that the pieces into which the zucchini is cut resemble a tongue in shape. Well, the adjective in a humorous form reflects the spiciness of the proposed snack. However, there are many recipes for making “mother-in-law’s tongue”, because this salad is so loved by many that housewives experiment with it in a rather free manner, easily modifying the amount of ingredients included. Therefore, the spiciness of the “mother-in-law’s tongue” salad can be reduced or increased, according to the tastes of the person preparing it.
Basic composition of products for mother-in-law tongue
Among the many recipes for making “mother-in-law’s tongue” salad from zucchini, the composition of the products used for it usually remains the same.
Below is the most classic recipe for this “mother-in-law’s tongue” zucchini salad for the winter with detailed photos illustrating the manufacturing process.
So, to prepare this zucchini salad you need to take:
- Zucchini itself - 2 kg;
- Tomatoes – 2 kg;
- Sweet bell pepper – 3-4 pieces;
- Fresh garlic - one medium-sized head;
- Hot pepper – 1-2 small pods;
- Refined vegetable oil, most often sunflower, 150-200 ml;
- Table vinegar 9% – 70 ml (natural wine vinegar will give the salad a more delicate taste – 100 ml);
- Granulated sugar - 50 g;
- Any salt, but not iodized – 50-60 g.
Obviously, this zucchini salad tastes especially good with tomatoes. But it may well be that you decided to cook this dish in a season when there are not yet an abundance of juicy and ripe tomatoes. In this case, prepared tomato paste is often used instead of tomatoes. Interestingly, some even prefer zucchini salad with tomato paste instead of fresh tomatoes. In addition to paste, you can also use ready-made tomato juice.
To prepare the “mother-in-law’s tongue” salad according to the above recipe, you need to take 500 g of tomato paste and dilute it with one liter of water before heat treatment. For the salad recipe, you will need 1.8-2 liters of tomato juice.
Almost any zucchini will do, except those that are completely overripe. Young ones can be used whole and it is better to cut them crosswise into oblong rounds.
For more mature zucchini, it is recommended to remove the peel, as well as all seeds with a flaccid interior. For the salad, use only the hardest parts of the zucchini.
A relatively large zucchini is first cut into several transverse parts, and then each part is cut lengthwise into slices at least 1 cm thick.
It is better to take tomatoes that are ripe and juicy for the “mother-in-law’s tongue” zucchini salad. Hard and unripe ones are not suitable. But somewhat overripe and irregularly shaped tomatoes are perfect, since they will still be crushed to make the sauce.
The same is with bell peppers - to prepare the “mother-in-law’s tongue” salad, you can use even deformed, but always ripe fruits.
Cooking steps
So, if you don’t know how to make “mother-in-law’s tongue” salad from zucchini, then the following instructions will help you in this interesting task.
In the first step, the zucchini is peeled and cut into suitable slices, so you can say that you have already completed this stage.
The second step is to deal with the tomatoes. If your tomatoes have too thick skin or it just bothers you, you can easily remove it. To do this, prepare two bowls of water: put one on the fire and bring to a boil, leave the other cold. While the water is boiling, make a cross-shaped cut on the tomatoes on the part opposite the tail. Throw the tomatoes one by one into boiling water and immediately remove them with a slotted spoon and transfer them to cold water. After this operation, the skin sometimes slides off on its own, or you have to help it a little.Then cut the tomatoes into 2-4 parts, simultaneously removing, if necessary, all problem areas. Rub the tomatoes through a meat grinder and place the resulting aromatic mass in a thick-bottomed saucepan over medium heat.
The next step in making the salad is to take care of the peppers: sweet and hot. From the sweet, clean out the entire inside with seeds and partitions and cut into conveniently sized pieces. The same thing is done with hot peppers.
The next step is to pass both types of pepper through a meat grinder and add to the chopped tomatoes. When the tomato and pepper mixture comes to a boil, cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
After 10 minutes, add salt, sugar and butter to the pan first, and then the zucchini waiting in the wings. Bring to a boil, gently stirring the zucchini slices so that they do not fall apart.
The next stage is the most important in preparing “mother-in-law’s tongue” zucchini salad. Because you must ensure that the latter have time to cook, that is, become quite soft, but not so much that they turn into puree. Approximately this should happen in 20-30 minutes, but in each case everything is individual and depends on the variety and age of the zucchini. Even in a recipe with a photo, it is not always possible to accurately reflect the condition of the zucchini slices in the salad. This usually comes with experience, so don’t be discouraged if you don’t manage to get the zucchini to the desired condition the first time and it gets overcooked. This certainly will not affect the taste of the salad.
A few minutes before the zucchini is ready, add garlic and vinegar crushed in a garlic press to the pan. Wait for the mixture to boil and remove it from the heat. Mother-in-law's tongue salad is ready to eat. But it still needs to be rolled up for the winter.
At the same time that you keep one eye on the behavior of the zucchini tongues in the pan, you begin to wash and sterilize the jars and lids. To prepare salad in winter, this is a must. Each housewife chooses her own method of sterilizing jars.
To do this, just pour a little water into each jar so that it does not burst, and set it to maximum mode for 5-10 minutes, depending on the size of the jar.
Since according to this recipe the salad is prepared without sterilization, it is very important to sterilize the jars and lids well, and then place the finished appetizer hot in the hot jars. Lids can be used either regular metal or with a screw thread, the main thing is to sterilize them for at least 5 minutes.
In the end, all that remains is to turn the jars of salad upside down and wrap them.
Try to prepare “mother-in-law’s tongue” salad according to this recipe and if you follow all the recommendations, you will definitely get a tasty and original twist for the winter.
