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Zucchini caviar in our country has been very popular for more than half a century and for good reason, because this tasty and healthy zucchini dish was invented by Soviet technologists. In the distant Soviet times, zucchini caviar was a well-known delicacy that could be bought for a symbolic price in literally every grocery store. Now times have changed. And although the variety of this product’s selection is impressive, its taste characteristics leave much to be desired. Therefore, any housewife tries to prepare this dish for the winter herself, using various recipes and using a variety of culinary techniques and tricks to simplify her life and provide her family with delicious vitamin food for the cold season.
Experienced housewives know that when preparing canned food for the winter, it is difficult to do without sterilization. It is she who helps to keep ready-made dishes in their original state, preventing them from spoiling. But how can it complicate life, especially in hot weather. Therefore, many prefer to contrive in different ways, but do without sterilizing the finished dish. Zucchini caviar for the winter without sterilization is prepared in several ways, and it is these recipes that will be discussed in this article.
Secrets of cooking without sterilization
So, the most common option for making zucchini caviar, however, like any vegetable snack for the winter without sterilization, is to add natural preservatives, such as citric or acetic acid, to the dish.
However, to be precise, it will not be possible to do without sterilization at all.
The glass jars themselves and their lids must be sterilized before filling with caviar in order to avoid “exploding” the jars. This can be done in different ways:
- on the stove;
- in the oven;
- in the microwave;
- in an aerogrill.
Traditionally, jars are sterilized on stove fire. To do this, they are either placed in a pot of boiling water for 5-10 minutes (half-liter and liter jars) or placed on a special stand placed on top of a pot of boiling water (the so-called steam sterilization).
An interesting and modern is the method of sterilizing jars in a microwave oven. It greatly simplifies this process. Water is poured into well-washed jars with a layer of several centimeters and the jars with water are placed in the microwave at maximum power. Banks with a volume of 0,5 l and 1 l are enough to sterilize for 5 minutes. For larger jars, the time is increased to 10 minutes.
In the same way, jars are also sterilized in an air grill, if your kitchen has this wonderful appliance.
But adding acid to the blanks may not be to everyone’s taste. If someone does not like the taste of caviar seasoned with vinegar or citric acid, then there is a second option for making caviar from zucchini without sterilization. In this case, sterilization is replaced by long-term heat treatment of the original products. Both cooking options are shown below.
You only need to remember that if you are preparing zucchini caviar for storage for the winter without sterilization, you must follow the following rules:
- Jars and lids must be sterilized, but not in advance, but simultaneously with the preparation of the dish.
- Caviar is laid in jars only hot, even better in boiling form. To do this, the heating of the finished dish should not be turned off until the last jar is filled.
- Filled jars are immediately rolled up with sterilized lids and turned upside down for self-sterilization.
- Ready jars should be immediately wrapped and left in this form until completely cooled. Only the next day they can be transferred to a cool place without light for storage.
Zucchini caviar with added acid
All the ingredients for making zucchini caviar are pretty standard.
- Washed and peeled and peeled, if necessary, zucchini – 2 kg;
- Peeled carrots – 500 g;
- Bulgarian pepper, free from seed chambers and tails – 500 g;
- Peeled onions – 500 g;
- Washed, scalded with boiling water and peeled tomatoes – 500 g;
- garlic cloves – 3 pieces;
- Vegetable oil – 100 ml;
- Table vinegar 9% – 2 tbsp. spoons or citric acid – 1 teaspoon;
- Sugar – 1 tbsp. the spoon;
- Salt, spices – to taste.
Zucchini, sweet peppers, tomatoes and carrots should be cut into small pieces. The onion is cut into small cubes.
A pan with a thick bottom or a cauldron is taken and onion is first fried in well-heated oil in it until golden brown. Then tomatoes are added to it, and the mixture is fried for another 10 minutes.
The next step is to put the vegetables scrolled through the meat grinder into the pan, and with strong heating, the vegetable mixture is quickly brought to a boil. After boiling, the heat decreases, the rest of the oil is added, and the caviar is stewed in this form for about 40 minutes. When the due time has passed, sugar, salt, spices and chopped garlic are added to the zucchini caviar.
After 10 minutes, citric acid or vinegar is added and the mixture warms up for about 5 more minutes. Then it must be quickly laid out in sterilized jars, closed with lids and wrapped until cool.
Zucchini caviar without vinegar and sterilization
To prepare caviar according to this recipe from 3 kg of zucchini, find:
- Tomatoes – 3000 g;
- Carrots – 2000 g;
- Onions – 1000 g;
- Garlic – 100 g;
- Bulgarian pepper – 500 g;
- Apples – 500 g;
- Vegetable oil – 1 tbsp. a spoon;
- Salt, sugar, pepper and other spices to taste.
This recipe does not include frying vegetables. Therefore, everything is done very simply. Peeled vegetables and fruits are passed through a meat grinder and transferred to a saucepan with a thick bottom. Then vegetable oil is added to the vegetable mixture and everything is stewed over low heat for 2,5 – 3 hours, with occasional stirring, until the caviar becomes quite thick.
Then spices, salt and sugar are added to it, everything is mixed and, without removing it from the heat, the contents of the pan begin to be placed in prepared sterilized jars. Caviar from zucchini for the winter without sterilization is ready.
There are a lot of recipes for making zucchini caviar. Try and choose from them those that are not only tasty and healthy, but also suitable for you according to the conditions of preparation.