How to make a zucchini appetizer with tomato paste "Uncle Ben's" for the winter: simple recipes that will make you lick your fingers

This tender and flavorful vegetable appetizer first appeared on the table in the 1990s. It pairs perfectly with pasta, potatoes, chicken, and beef, and pairs beautifully with a variety of dishes. Many cooks preserve "Anks Bens" for the winter. The zucchini for this salad is grown in garden plots and vegetable patches, and is sold fresh at markets and stores quite inexpensively. It has a pleasant flavor and a delicate texture. Vegetable preparations for the winter It is loved in many families and is also served at festive tables.

Secrets to making Uncle Ben's zucchini salad for the winter

To add a special touch to a homemade snack that quickly empties from jars, vegetables are preserved with herbs, seasonings, and spices. Zucchini pairs well with carrots and onions, hot and sweet peppers, and garlic.

Each ingredient subtly alters the salad's flavor, imparting its own unique aroma. To ensure maximum vitamins and minerals are preserved, it's important to know which vegetables are best suited for this salad and how to determine whether they will produce a tender appetizer.The smell and taste of a salad largely depends on the sauce it is dressed with.

Selecting and preparing the main ingredients

Gardeners who grow vegetables in their gardens know that young, small zucchini are best for canning. Vegetables grown for home consumption are perfect for various snacks; they don't absorb chemicals, and no growth stimulants are needed.

Overripe fruits can be used for making salads, but they must be completely peeled, the seeds removed, soaked in water for several hours, and then wiped dry with a cloth.

However, the salad will not be as tender, but still tasty, if you choose a good recipe, and this is not difficult to do.

When buying vegetables at the market, be sure to examine their appearance. Fruits with spots, cracks, or dents are not suitable for winter storage. Avoid vegetables with unevenly colored flesh for snacking. Store-bought zucchini, like old ones, should be soaked in plain water for a couple of hours.

How to make zucchini salad at home

After harvesting vegetables from the garden, they are preserved for the winter. "Uncle Ben's" is eaten as a main course, paired with mashed potatoes, baked meat, and vermicelli. When jarring, the salad isn't always sterilized. Vinegar, juice, or tomato paste are used as a preservative.

A simple recipe that will make you lick your fingers.

In the 1990s, every store sold a sauce, and the brand name gave its name to one of the most sought-after salads. The thick, jarred product seemed incredibly delicious, as everything was in short supply back then. To make the caviar or sauce, the fruit is grated, and for the salad, it is cut into circles, strips, or pieces. For 300 grams of zucchini, you need one vegetable each: tomato, red and yellow pepper, carrot, and onion.

Additionally you will need:

• garlic - 3 cloves;
• salt - ½ spoon;
• tomato paste - 30 grams;
• sugar;
• sunflower oil - 30 ml;
• spices such as paprika, coriander, cumin.

Remove the stems from ripe or even overripe tomatoes and drop them into boiling water for about 2 minutes. Once cooled, peel and cut into pieces. Remove the seeds from the zucchini, remove the rind, and shape them into sticks. Rinse the red and yellow pepper halves, remove the seeds, dry them, and cut them into strips. Cut the carrots in the same way, and the onion into thin rings. Peel the garlic and press it with a special tool.

Pour oil, sugar, tomato paste, and salt into a saucepan. When the mixture comes to a boil, add the zucchini and simmer for about 10 minutes. Then add the other vegetables and simmer over low heat until softened. Then add the tomatoes and simmer briefly, then season with spices and vinegar. After simmering for another 5 minutes, fill sterilized jars with the hot salad and seal with lids.

To give the sauce its original aroma, place the coriander and cumin seeds in a mortar and grind them yourself.

With tomato

Many housewives don't use a lot of ingredients to prepare Uncle Ben's salad for the winter. They simply take a kilogram of zucchini and cut it into small pieces. In addition to these fruits, you'll need:

• vinegar - 1.5 cups;
• tomato paste - 150 g;
• ripe tomatoes - 0.5 kg;
• vegetables - 300 g each.

Curry is a great spice. The sauce is made by adding 125 ml of sunflower oil, 400 ml of water, 100 g of sugar, the paste, and salt to a saucepan.

The onion is sliced ​​into rings and the tomatoes into pieces. Add the zucchini to the hot marinade, then, after about 15 minutes, add the pepper and grated carrots, and simmer for 15 minutes. When the salad is almost ready, add the onions and tomatoes and simmer briefly. Season with the vinegar and curry, and let it simmer for about three minutes. The fragrant "Uncle Ben's" is then canned.

With bell pepper and tomato paste

The salad's flavor changes depending on the additional ingredients used. Fresh vegetables pair particularly well with colorful peppers and homemade tomato paste.

Uncle Ben's will delight you with its rich taste if you take:

• carrots - 6 pieces;
• 6 onions;
• tomatoes - 1.5 kg;
• sugar - a glass;
• vinegar - 6 spoons.

Three kilograms of zucchini are cut into pieces, carrots are grated, onions are chopped into rings, and peppers are cut into strips.

Place 1.5 cups of tomato paste in a saucepan with water, add 500 ml of oil, and season with spices. First, add the zucchini to the boiling sauce, then after 15 minutes, add the carrots, onions, and peppers. After the same amount of time, add the tomatoes. When the vegetables are soft, season with vinegar, bring to a boil, and seal. Store the salad in a cellar or basement.

With unripe tomatoes

If green tomatoes aren't ripening and you can still harvest zucchini from the garden, gardeners often combine the two to make a salad. It gives the tomatoes a crispy texture, and the salad itself has a unique flavor and is visually appealing, thanks to the addition of a few red peppers:

1. Add half a liter of water, a cup of oil, 5 or 7 allspice berries, 1 tablespoon each of salt and sugar to a saucepan and bring to a boil. Once the sauce is boiling, add a bay leaf, pour in the vinegar, and simmer for 10 minutes.
2. The zucchini is cut into rings, the pepper into strips, and the tomatoes and onion are chopped.
3. Squeezed garlic is added to vegetables and herbs are sprinkled on top.
4. Fill the jars with the mixture, pour in the sauce, and sterilize for a quarter of an hour.

To prepare this salad, tomatoes and zucchini are used in equal quantities—500 g each. These fruits complement each other well, and the spicy marinade adds a piquant flavor to the appetizer.

With rice

Vegetable salad is served not only as a side dish to meat, but also as a filling second course if you add rice during cooking in addition to spices. For two kilograms of zucchini, you'll need:

• onions and carrots - 1 kg each;
• red tomatoes - 700 g;
• garlic;
• salt - 3 spoons;
• sugar - ½ cup;
• vegetable oil - 250 ml;
• vinegar.

Place the tomatoes in a blender. Puree the carrots, finely chop the onion and pepper, dice the zucchini, and squeeze out the garlic. Place the vegetables in a saucepan, add oil, and add the tomato puree mixed with sugar and salt. Simmer for half an hour. Rinse the rice (400 g) and boil until tender. Add it to the saucepan with the vegetables and season with vinegar. Boil the salad for another 10 minutes and then jar it.

In a multicooker

Uncle Ben's is added to soups and borscht, and eaten with cereals and pasta. With the advent of modern appliances, vegetable salads are prepared faster, are even more delicious, and retain their vitamins.

Fill the multicooker bowl with a mixture of tomato paste, vegetable oil, salt, and sugar. When the sauce comes to a boil, add the chopped pepper, onion rings, and carrots. Select the simmer setting, and after 15 minutes, add the zucchini cubes. Let it simmer for another 15 minutes, then add the tomatoes. After 15 minutes, add the vinegar and seasoning.

To prepare the salad, you need to take:

• 350 g each of carrots, peppers, and onions;
• tomatoes - 0.5 kg;
• sugar - ½ cup;
• salt - 60 g;
• tomato paste - ½ cup;
• vinegar - 30 or 40 ml.

All these ingredients are calculated for 2 kilograms of zucchini. Uncle Ben's are rolled into jars, wrapped in a blanket, and then stored in a cool place.

Without sterilization

Zucchini salads today are just as tasty as the sauces that lined store shelves in the 1990s. To preserve these products longer, sterilizing the vegetables isn't necessary; you can do without it by using a simple recipe. To do this, you'll need:

• sweet pepper - 1 kg;
• zucchini, tomatoes - 2 kilograms each;
• onion - 500 g;
• garlic - head;
• sunflower oil - ½ cup;
• vinegar - 2 tablespoons.

The vegetables are chopped, placed in a saucepan and covered with a hot sauce, which is cooked in a thick-walled pan from tomatoes, water and oil.

The peppers and zucchini are simmered until they become soft, then vinegar is added, salt is added, they are boiled for another 2 minutes and transferred to sterile jars.

Further storage of blanks

In most families, Uncle Ben's doesn't last until the following spring. In winter, this preserve is quickly consumed, as it's a favorite among both children and parents. When stewed with rice, the salad becomes filling and can be eaten as a main course, used in soups, and borscht. Jars of zucchini in sauce are best stored in a cellar or basement, but can also be left in a dark pantry. Stored in a cool place, this product retains its flavor and will not spoil for two years.