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Zucchini Rings in Spicy Sauce for Winter
Instructions
I begin by making the sauce. Finely chop the bell pepper, first removing the seeds and stem. Lightly fry it with oil in a deep saucepan for 5-7 minutes over medium heat. Frying brings out the aroma of the pepper and removes the «grassy» taste that raw pepper leaves behind.
Pour the tomato puree or juice over the pepper. Bring the volume of the liquid up to 2.5 litres by adding warm water. Let it boil, then simmer for a quarter of an hour over low heat. During this time the sharpness of the tomato fades and the sauce becomes velvety.
While the sauce is simmering, slice the peeled zucchini into rounds 1 cm thick. In the centre of each slice cut out a hole with a special corer or an ordinary shot glass – you get neat rings. Do not throw away the seeds and centres; use them in a vegetable stew or fritters.
Wash the litre jars with baking soda and sterilise them over steam or in the oven at 120 °C for 15 minutes. Fill them with the zucchini rings in any order, packing them tightly but without crushing.
Add the crushed garlic, the thinly sliced hot pepper and the chopped herbs to the tomato sauce. Cook for 5-7 minutes over low heat, stirring occasionally. I add the garlic and pepper right at the end – long cooking kills their bright flavour.
Salt the sauce, add the spices and bay leaves and stir in the sugar. Let it bubble for a couple of minutes. Pour in the vinegar at the very last moment – turn off the heat as soon as it comes back to the boil, otherwise the acetic acid evaporates and the preserve keeps poorly.
Pour the tomato marinade over the jars of zucchini (remove the bay leaves – they turn bitter during long storage). To stop the glass cracking from the change in temperature, always stand a metal spoon in the jar – it «draws off» the heat.
Line a suitable pan with a cloth on the bottom, stand the jars in it and fill with warm water up to the shoulders, leaving 1 cm from the rim. Sterilise the litre jars for 20-30 minutes after the water boils. No longer, or the zucchini will go soft and lose their crispness.
Carefully lift the jars out of the hot water with special tongs. Seal the jars at once with a canning machine and turn them upside down onto a blanket. Let them cool slowly for 12 hours, then put them away to store in a cellar or larder.
Tips
- 1
Choose medium zucchini 5-7 cm in diameter – the rings should fit nicely in the jar and be a comfortable size to eat.
- 2
Use the leftover centres and seeds to make a vegetable stew or zucchini fritters – nothing goes to waste.
- 3
Adjust the heat with the amount of hot pepper: 1 pc – mild, 2 pcs – medium, 3 pcs – hot. There is a similar principle in pepper lecho.
- 4
Store in a cool dark place for up to a year – a temperature of 5-15 °C is ideal for keeping preserves over the long term.
FAQ
Can I do without sterilising? +
Sterilising guarantees long storage and kills harmful microorganisms, including botulism. Without it the preserve may spoil or become dangerous, especially if it is kept somewhere warm. An alternative is the double pour: first pour hot marinade over the zucchini and leave it for 15 minutes, then drain it off, bring it back to the boil and pour it over a second time. This method works, but gives a less reliable result than classic sterilising.
Why do the zucchini turn out soft and fall apart? +
The main reasons are sterilising for too long (more than 30 minutes for litre jars) or using overripe zucchini with tough skin and large seeds. Choose young fruit up to 25 cm long with thin, tender skin. Keep strictly to the sterilising time: 20 minutes for half-litre jars, 25-30 for litre jars, 35-40 for three-litre jars. For extra crispness you can put a horseradish or cherry leaf in each jar.
What goes well with the zucchini rings in winter? +
They go beautifully with fried or roasted meat, boiled potato, mashed potato and buckwheat. Serve them as a snack in their own right with strong drinks – the rings are spicy, sweet-and-sour and very appetising. You can dice them and add them to borscht or solyanka for an unusual flavour. The sauce makes an excellent gravy for cutlets or rissoles – do not drain it off when you serve them.
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