Step-by-step recipes for preparing the Mother-in-Law's Tongue appetizer with eggplant, tomatoes, and garlic for the winter

Eggplants, when properly cared for, produce a bountiful harvest, and home canning helps preserve it over the winter. They can be fried, pickled, fermented, or used in salads. Our page features recipes for eggplant salad, popularly known as "Mother-in-Law's Tongue," with step-by-step preparation using various methods and adding a variety of vegetables, spices, and seasonings.

How to prepare mother-in-law's tongue for the winter

To prepare the salad, choose small eggplants and slice them lengthwise, creating tongue-shaped slices. Slicing them into rounds would be suitable for the salad, but wouldn't live up to the name. Hot peppers are cored—the seeds contain most of the pepper's pungent flavor.

Selecting and preparing eggplants

For winter preserves, choose ripe vegetables: dark blue or purple, and eggplants can be white or yellow. Vegetables of different colors have different flavors. If they taste bitter, they are soaked in salted water. Modern eggplant varieties They are free from bitterness, so they are not soaked.

The best recipes for making mother-in-law's tongue at home

Preparing Mother-in-Law's Tongue salad using simple, top-quality recipes, with a variety of vegetables, spices, and seasonings, will provide the family with a cold appetizer. These delicious and healthy dishes replenish the body with beneficial micronutrients, fiber, and vitamins during the winter.

A step-by-step guide to the classic salad

Preserved eggplant with garlic, tomatoes, and bell peppers is a classic version of Mother-in-Law's Tongue salad. It's a cold appetizer, a complement to steak or beefsteak.

1. We cut the eggplants into 3 mm slices.
2. Place tomatoes and bell peppers in boiling water, cool, peel, and mash.
3. Peel the garlic and crush it with a garlic press.
4. Clean and chop the hot pepper.
5. Heat the cauldron, pour in the oil, heat until smoking, add the vegetables, heat until boiling, add the tongues of garlic, cook for at least half an hour, until the mixture thickens and the flavor is rich.
6. Place in prepared containers and seal.
7. Wrap it up and let it cool.

Recipe:

• eggplants – 2 kilograms;
• tomatoes, bell peppers – 4 pieces each;
• table vinegar 9% – 50 milliliters;
• sunflower oil – 60 milliliters;
• hot pepper, salt, garlic, and sugar are taken according to the family's taste preferences.

With fried eggplants

A preserve with fried eggplants and garlic will preserve the finished dish for the winter; it can be reheated and served with boiled potatoes or steaks. Slice the eggplants lengthwise, fry in oil, and squeeze out the garlic at the end. Arrange in layers in sterile 0.75-liter jars, adding vinegar. Cover with sterile lids, pasteurize in a water bath at 90°C (194°F) for half an hour, and seal hermetically.

Recipe:

• eggplants;
• garlic and salt - according to the taste of the hostess and the habits of family members;
• refined sunflower oil;
• Add 15 milliliters of 9% table vinegar solution to a 0.75 liter jar.

Eggplant layers

This eggplant appetizer with layers of tomatoes, onions, and peppers is delicious served cold or reheated. Fry the eggplants. Cut the tomatoes, garlic, peppers, and onions into rings.

Place the following in layers in sterile jars: tongues, garlic, tomatoes, onions, peppers, and parsley. Season the vegetable layers with salt.

Cover with lids and pasteurize in a water bath, finally adding vinegar and heated sunflower oil. Pasteurize 0.75-liter jars at 80-90°C for 40 minutes. Seal the jars tightly.

Recipe:

• eggplants – 1 kilogram;
• large, sweet tomatoes – 500 grams;
• onions, peppers – 300 grams of each vegetable;
• garlic – 5 cloves;
• sunflower oil – 100 grams;
• herbs and spices – to the taste of the hostess and family members.

With tomatoes and carrots

Mother-in-law's tongue can be prepared with a vegetable dressing ground through a meat grinder. The dressing, including tomatoes, peppers, and carrots, is simmered until smooth, and the eggplants are served with a sauce. Cut the eggplants into slices, and process the vegetables through a food processor.

Pour sunflower oil into a cauldron, heat it up, add the vegetable mixture, celery tongues, salt, and sugar, and simmer for half an hour. Finally, add vinegar. Seal, check for leaks, and wrap until cool.

Recipe:

• eggplants – 2 kilograms;
• bell peppers, tomatoes, carrots – 1 kilogram each;
• garlic – 1 head;
• granulated sugar – 120 grams;
• salt – 30 grams;
• table vinegar 9% solution – 60 milliliters;
• sunflower oil – 150 grams.

Diet recipe

A dietary salad dressing without sunflower oil will reduce calories in the salad and add variety to the menu for those trying to lose weight. Chop the eggplant, hot pepper, and garlic. Blanched and peeled tomatoes and bell peppers, mash them, place them in a roasting pan, and cook until the foam disappears. Add the tomato pods, salt, hot pepper, garlic, and vinegar to the tomato juice and simmer until tender. Pack into sterile jars and pasteurize at 90°C for 30 minutes. Seal with metal lids.

Recipe:

• eggplants, tomatoes - ripe, sweet, which will allow you not to add sugar - 2 kilograms each;
• sweet and hot bell peppers - 2 pieces of each;
• garlic – 4 cloves;
• vinegar 9% – 1 tablespoon per can of ready-made preserves;
• salt.

With tomato paste

Fried eggplants can be covered with tomato paste and sealed in jars for winter storage. Fry the sliced ​​eggplants, dilute the tomato paste with boiled water until it forms a thick tomato juice, squeeze in the garlic, add salt and sugar, and stir. Fill a sterile container 1/3 full with juice, add the eggplants, and pasteurize for 40 minutes at 90°C (194°F). Seal hermetically.

Recipe:

• eggplants – 1.5 kilograms;
• garlic – 5 large cloves;
• tomato paste – 50 milliliters;
• table vinegar 9% solution – 50 milliliters;
• granulated sugar – 50 grams;
• refined sunflower oil – for frying;
• salt – 30 grams.

Eggplant with cheese

Cheese lovers can preserve eggplants for the winter with cheese. Soft cheeses are used, such as Brynza, Feta, and Suluguni. Hard cheeses will become hard after pasteurization.

Fry the eggplants, slice the tomatoes into rings, chop the herbs and garlic, and grate the cheese on a coarse grater or cut into slices. Layer the eggplants, garlic, tomatoes, cheese, and vegetables in 0.5-liter jars; add salt to taste. Pasteurize the jars at 80-90°C for 30 minutes. When serving, add mayonnaise to the salad.

Recipe:

• eggplants – 2 kilograms;
• large tomatoes – 5 pieces;
• garlic – 5 cloves;
• cheese – 200 grams;
• vegetable oil – for frying;
• herbs and spices – to the taste of the hostess and family members.

Particularly sharp tongues

Those who enjoy a more intense experience will be delighted by the spicy tongues with hot pepper and garlic. Chop the vegetables using a vegetable peeler.

Fry the eggplants, fill sterile 0.75-liter jars 1/3 full with the vegetable filling, add the tongues, and pasteurize for 45 minutes at 80-90°C. Add vinegar at the end of the pasteurization. Seal hermetically.

Recipe:

• eggplants – 2 kilograms;
• tomatoes, medium-sized sweet peppers - 4 pieces of each vegetable;
• medium-sized chili peppers – 2 pieces;
• garlic, large heads – 2 pieces;
• table vinegar 9% solution – 50 milliliters;
• sunflower oil – 70 grams;
• salt, sugar, herbs and spices – to the taste of the hostess and family members.

Recipe without sterilization

Fry the sliced ​​eggplants until tender. Chop the vegetables coarsely and fry. Combine the vegetables in a cauldron, add salt and sugar, and simmer for half an hour until thickened. Pour in the vinegar, and transfer to a sterile container. Seal tightly and wrap.

Recipe:

• eggplants – 2 kilograms;
• sweet peppers and large tomatoes - 1 kilogram of each vegetable;
• 9% solution of table vinegar - pour 1 tablespoon into a jar;
• vegetable oil;
• salt, sugar, garlic – according to the family’s taste preferences.

Further storage of canned food

Home-canned food prepared without pasteurization is stored in the cellar or refrigerator. Pasteurization extends shelf life and allows for storage at home—in pantries and kitchen cabinets, away from heating appliances and heating systems.