Vegetable salads are a great appetizer and a good substitute for the traditional side dish for meat, poultry, fish. Among interesting options is a mix of zucchini and eggplant, such a salad can be made immediately before use or prepared for the winter.
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Zucchini and eggplant: advantages and features of the preparation of salads
Vegetable salads are diverse. The most delicious dishes of several ingredients that are harmoniously combined with each other. Good duets include eggplant and zucchini. The former give the dish a rich and pleasant bitter-spicy taste, the latter are responsible for freshness and juiciness. Zucchini and eggplant salads can be prepared immediately before meals or canned for the winter.
Zucchini is added to salads fresh, stewed or browned in a frying pan, eggplant is definitely fried. To remove excess bitterness, before cooking they are covered with salt or soaked for half an hour in salted water. After this, pieces of eggplant should be rinsed and thoroughly dried. Salt treatment contributes to the release of excess moisture; eggplant will not absorb too much oil during frying.
For a salad, it is better to choose young eggplant and zucchini. They have a more delicate pulp and soft skin that does not need to be removed. Vegetables are cut into small pieces: thin strips, circles or slices.
Other vegetables can be added to the salad: fresh carrots, ripe meaty tomatoes, sweet or hot peppers. Some recipes contain more satisfying ingredients: olives, mushrooms, ham or boiled tongue. As a dressing suitable soy sauce, vegetable oil, balsamic vinegar or mustard, mixed in an arbitrary proportion.
If the salad is supposed to be prepared for the winter, it is preferable to fry all the vegetables that make up the composition. Salt and vinegar are used as preservatives, granulated sugar will help remove excess acid. It is not necessary to sterilize the salad; ambassadors must be stored in the refrigerator. Ready salad is served as a cold appetizer, used to prepare homemade sauces for meat and pasta, soups and vegetable stews.
Warm vegetable salad: a step by step recipe
Instead of pasta, rice or potatoes, you can cook a delicious and healthy side dish of eggplant and zucchini. There are few calories in it, but the nutritional value is high. The dish is prepared very quickly, you need to eat it immediately after mixing. The proportions of salt and soy sauce are adjusted to taste. If the salad has cooled, you can slightly warm it in the microwave before serving.
Ingredients:
- 1 young zucchini;
- 1 large eggplant;
- 1 tbsp. l extra virgin olive oil;
- 350 g ripe fleshy tomatoes;
- 2 cloves of garlic;
- a few leaves of fresh basil and green onion feathers;
- 3 tbsp. l soy sauce;
- salt to taste;
- refined cooking oil for frying.
Wash and dry vegetables. Cut the eggplant into small pieces, removing the tails, cover with salt and leave for half an hour. Small zucchini cut. If the vegetables are young, peeling them is not necessary.
Heat 2 tbsp in a pan l flavourless vegetable oil, fry the eggplants, having previously brushed salt from them. Vegetables are fried for 8-10 minutes, constantly stirring with a wooden spatula. Put eggplant in a bowl, fry zucchini in a pan. When they are ready, add slices of zucchini to the eggplant.
Cut tomatoes into medium sized slices, put in other vegetables. Pass the garlic through a press, add to the salad along with basil leaves. Add soy sauce and extra virgin olive oil. Salt to taste, mix well. Arrange the salad on warmed plates, sprinkle each serving with finely chopped green onions. Serve with fresh baguette or white bread toast.
Salad with vegetables and cheese: a light snack option
As an appetizer, you can make a salad with fried eggplant, fresh zucchini, tomatoes and pickled cheese. The calorie content of the dish is low, it is suitable even for dieters. An important condition is not to pour too much sauce, otherwise the salad will turn out too salty. A properly prepared dish looks very beautiful in photographs; it can be served on a festive table.
Ingredients:
- 1 young zucchini;
- 2 eggplants;
- 2 sweet fleshy tomatoes;
- 200 g of feta cheese or other young pickled cheese;
- soy sauce to taste;
- walnut kernels;
- salt;
- refined cooking oil for frying.
Wash and dry the vegetables. Cut eggplant into thin circles, soak in cold salted water for half an hour. Then lay the vegetables in a colander and let the liquid drain. Fry the eggplant in preheated vegetable oil until golden brown, constantly turning and stirring with a wooden spatula. Put on a plate, mix with soy sauce and cool.
Cut cheese into plastics, scald tomatoes with boiling water and peel. Cut the pulp into circles. Peel the zucchini, turn it into thin plates using a vegetable peeler. Lay the fried eggplant, slices of cheese and tomatoes, rolled zucchini slices on a plate in a dish. Fry walnuts in a dry pan, chop coarsely with a knife and sprinkle salad.
Hearty salad with tongue
The original version for the festive table. The appetizer turns out to be very satisfying, the numerous ingredients give the dish an unusual and very pleasant taste.
Ingredients:
- 2 eggplant;
- 1 young zucchini;
- 250 g of beef tongue;
- 1 onion;
- 150 g pickled champignons;
- 1 bell pepper;
- balsamic vinegar;
- a few feathers of green onions;
- lettuce;
- sugar;
- cereal mustard.
Boil beef tongue in salted water, cool. Wash, dry, eggplant and zucchini, cut into thin plates and fry in warmed vegetable oil until golden brown. To prevent the dish from getting too fat, put a little oil. Put the vegetables on a plate covered with a paper towel, it will absorb excess fat.
Dice the onion and pepper and quickly fry, stirring with a spatula. Put vegetables to eggplant and zucchini. Chop the beef tongue into small cubes, mix with vegetables. Cut the champignons into thin slices, add to the salad and mix.
Prepare the dressing by mixing soy sauce, mustard, sugar and balsamic vinegar in a jar. The proportions of the ingredients are adjusted to taste. Season salad, mix. Put green lettuce leaves on plates, place a pile of vegetables mixed with the tongue on top. Sprinkle each serving with finely chopped green onions.
Winter zucchini and eggplant salad: step-by-step cooking
A mixture of eggplant and zucchini is the perfect combination for hearty winter salads. The dish is served as a cold appetizer, added to stews and soups, used as a light but satisfying side dish. Based on the basic recipe, you can invent your own variations by experimenting with spices.
Ingredients:
- 1 kg of eggplant;
- 1 kg of zucchini;
- 1 kg of sweet carrots;
- a bunch of fresh herbs (dill and parsley);
- 1.5 cups refined vegetable oil;
- 1 kg of sweet pepper;
- 2 heads of garlic;
- 1.5 cups of sugar;
- 80 ml of table vinegar;
- 0.3 cups of salt;
- 1 tsp coriander.
Wash and dry the vegetables. If the peel of the squash is tough, peel it off with a peeler. Remove seeds from pepper, remove stalks. Zucchini and eggplant cut into circles, sweet pepper - rings. Peel and grate carrots. Sprinkle eggplant with salt and leave for 20 minutes so that the vegetables let the juice.
Rinse the eggplant under running water and drop it into a colander. When the liquid has completely drained, squeeze the vegetables by hand and pat dry with a paper towel. In a thick-walled pan, heat the vegetable oil and fry the eggplant until golden brown. Remove the fried slices and brown the grated carrots in a pan.
Make the sauce. Puree tomatoes, bell peppers and peeled garlic in a blender. Add sugar, salt, table vinegar, mix thoroughly. Put eggplant, carrots and zucchini in a pan, pour the sauce. Bring everything to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about half an hour.
Arrange the salad in pre-sterilized jars, pouring vegetables in a thick sauce and filling the containers on the shoulders. Screw cans on top, turn over, wrap with a thick terry towel and leave to cool completely. Store canned food in a cool, dark place, preferably in the cellar.