How difficult it is sometimes to choose the right 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 to just such a category of blanks. If you accidentally try this dish with acquaintances or friends, you will definitely want to repeat it. The best news is that it is not difficult at all, and even a novice cook can handle the preparation of this delicious snack. Further, the article will discuss in detail the process of preparing the 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 is easy to guess that the pieces into which the zucchini is cut resemble a tongue in shape. Well, the adjective in a playful form reflects the sharpness of the proposed snack. However, there are many recipes for the performance of the “mother-in-law’s tongue”, because this salad is so loved by many that the housewives experiment with it in a rather free manner, easily modifying the number of ingredients included in the composition. Therefore, the sharpness of the mother-in-law’s tongue salad can be reduced or increased, according to the tastes of the one who prepares it.
The main composition of products for the mother-in-law’s 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 unchanged.
Below is the most classic recipe for this “mother-in-law’s tongue” salad from zucchini for the winter with detailed photos illustrating the manufacturing process.
So, to prepare this zucchini salad, you need to take:
- Actually zucchini – 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 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 is especially delicious with tomatoes. But it may well be that you decided to cook this dish in a season when juicy and ripe tomatoes are not yet in abundance. In this case, ready-made tomato paste is often used instead of tomatoes. Interestingly, some even prefer zucchini salad with tomato paste instead of fresh tomatoes. In addition to pasta, 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 to dilute it before heat treatment with one liter of water. You will need 1,8-2 liters of tomato juice according to the salad recipe.
Almost any zucchini is suitable, except for very overripe ones. Young ones can be used whole and it is better to cut them across, oblong rounds.
With more mature zucchini, it is recommended to remove the peel, as well as any seeds with a sluggish interior. For 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 ripe and juicy tomatoes for the “mother-in-law’s tongue” zucchini salad. Hard and unripe will not work. But a few overripe and irregularly shaped tomatoes are the best, because they will still be crushed to get the sauce.
The same is true with bell peppers – even deformed, but always ripe fruits can be used to prepare the mother-in-law’s tongue salad.
Stages of preparation
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 matter.
At the first step, the zucchini are cleaned and cut into suitable slices, therefore, we can say that you have already passed this stage.
The second step is to deal with tomatoes. If your tomatoes have too thick skin or it just confuses you, then it can be easily removed. 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 incision on the tomatoes on their part opposite the tail. Throw tomatoes in turn into boiling water and immediately take them out with a slotted spoon and transfer them to cold water. After this operation, the skin sometimes slips off on its own, or you have to help it a little. Then cut the tomatoes into 2-4 parts, at the same time removing, if necessary, all problem areas. Rub the tomatoes through a meat grinder and place the resulting fragrant mass in a saucepan with a thick bottom over medium heat.
At the next step in making the salad, you need to do peppers: sweet and hot. From the sweet, clean the entire inside with seeds and partitions and cut into pieces that are convenient in size. The same is done with hot peppers.
The next step is to pass both types of pepper through a meat grinder and attach to the chopped tomatoes. When the mixture of tomatoes and peppers boils, cook it 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 step is the most important in the preparation of mother-in-law’s tongue salad from zucchini. Because you have to make sure that the latter have time to cook, that is, to become quite soft, but not so much as to turn into a 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 display the conditional state of zucchini slices in a salad. This usually comes with experience, so do not be discouraged if you fail to bring the zucchini to the desired condition the first time and they are digested. This will definitely not affect the taste of the salad.
A few minutes before the zucchini is ready, add garlic and vinegar, chopped on a garlic press, to the pan. Wait for the mixture to boil and remove it from the heat. Salad “mother-in-law’s tongue” is ready to eat. But it still needs to be rolled up for the winter.
At the same time as you keep an eye on the behavior of the zucchini tongues in the pan, you begin to wash and sterilize the jars and lids. For winter harvesting salad, this is a must. Each hostess chooses her own way of sterilizing jars.
To do this, just pour a little water into each jar so that it does not burst, and set it to the 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 lay the finished appetizer hot in hot jars. Caps can be used as ordinary metal caps, as well as with screw threads, most importantly, sterilize them for at least 5 minutes.
In the end, it remains only to turn the salad jars upside down and wrap them up.
Try to cook mother-in-law’s tongue salad according to this recipe, and if you follow all the recommendations, then you will definitely get a tasty and original twist for the winter.
