In winter, fresh vegetables are quite difficult to get. And those that are, usually have no taste, and are quite expensive. Therefore, at the end of the summer season, housewives begin to make seams for the winter. Most often, these are pickled and pickled vegetables, as well as a variety of salads. Most housewives prepare lecho for the winter. This salad consists mainly of tomatoes and peppers. You can also add onions, garlic and carrots to it. Such a seemingly poor composition gives the workpiece a wonderful sour-spicy aftertaste.
But every year there are more and more new options for cooking lecho. For example, many praise this salad with the addition of apples or zucchini. But the eggplant lecho recipe for the winter collected the most positive reviews. Let’s consider the option of its preparation, and also learn some of the subtleties of the process itself.
Important features
Cooking eggplant lecho is not much different from the classic recipe, which uses tomatoes and bell peppers. The only thing is that in this version there are more various additives. Here you can throw a variety of herbs and spices. For example, many people add dill, bay leaf, garlic and black pepper to the salad.
In addition to such aromatic additives, table vinegar must be present in the workpiece. It is he who is responsible for the safety of lecho for a long time. In addition, vinegar gives the dish a special sourness, due to which the taste of lecho only improves. It is important to take the choice of vegetables for lecho very responsibly. They must be ripe and fresh. You can not take old large eggplants for salad.
Old eggplants are not only tough, but also somewhat dangerous. With age, solanine accumulates in the fruits, which is a poison. It is this substance that gives the eggplant a bitter taste. Also, the amount of solanine can be determined by the appearance of the fruits themselves. If the flesh quickly changes color at the cut site, then the concentration of solanine is quite high.
For this reason, it is better to use young fruits. But old eggplants can also be used in cooking. They are simply chopped and sprinkled with salt. In this form, vegetables should stand for some time. Together with the allocated juice, solanine will also come out. Such fruits can be safely eaten, but it will already be necessary to carefully salt so as not to overdo it. Now consider eggplant lecho recipes for the winter.
Eggplant lecho for the winter
To cook lecho with eggplant, tomatoes and peppers, we need:
- young eggplants of small size – one kilogram;
- red meaty tomatoes – half a kilogram;
- Bulgarian pepper of any color – half a kilogram;
- onions – two pieces;
- garlic – five cloves;
- ground paprika – one teaspoon;
- granulated sugar – two tablespoons;
- salt – one teaspoon;
- table 6% vinegar – two tablespoons;
- sunflower oil – about 60 ml.
It is necessary to prepare jars and lids for lecho in advance. They are first washed with soda, and then sterilized over steam or in boiled water. It is very important that by the time you need to pour the salad, the jars are completely dry. Otherwise, the remaining water may cause fermentation.
Tomatoes for lecho are washed in water and the stalks are removed. Further, the fruits are crushed in any convenient way. The fastest way to do this is with a blender or meat grinder. Then the bell peppers are washed and cleaned. It is cut in half and all seeds and stalks are removed. Now the pepper is cut into large pieces of any shape.
Next, start preparing the eggplant. They, like all other vegetables, are washed under running water. After that, the stalks are cut off from the fruits and cut into cubes or slices. The size of the pieces doesn’t matter. Onions are peeled from dry husks and cut into half rings. And garlic can be simply crushed with a press or finely chopped with a knife.
Vegetable oil is poured into a cauldron prepared for lecho, it is heated and onions are thrown there. When it becomes soft, tomato paste is added to the pan. Mix onion with pasta until smooth and bring to a boil. Now sugar, salt, dry paprika and pepper are thrown into the lecho.
The salad is brought to a boil again and garlic and eggplant are added there. On low heat, the mixture is simmered for 30 minutes. A few minutes before full readiness, pour table vinegar into the lecho and mix. When the mass boils again, it is turned off and they begin to pour into sterilized containers. Then the jars are turned over and covered with a warm blanket. In this form, the salad should stand for at least a day. After that, the lecho is moved to a cold room for further storage.
Conclusion
Now you can easily prepare a delicious and fragrant eggplant lecho. As you can see, the components of this blank can vary depending on taste preferences. But basically lecho consists of the simplest and most affordable vegetables. For example, from tomatoes, sweet peppers, garlic and onions. Many people like to add various herbs and spices to lecho. And adding eggplant here, you get an incredible salad, you just lick your fingers. Try to surprise and pamper your family and friends.
