How to freeze fresh eggplants for the winter at home, and what to cook from them

How delicious are the eggplants fried with garlic and garnished with herbs! But what if you wanted such a dish in winter? It's simple - freeze eggplant... We have put together the best ways to do this for you in this article.

Can eggplants be frozen

You can freeze eggplants at home. The main thing is to decide on the quantity. The fact is that frozen eggplant must be consumed before the onset of the new season. Otherwise, all taste and useful qualities will be lost.

Points for and against:

Changes in composition and taste

The palatability changes only when fresh vegetables are frozen. The taste will be bitter and unpleasant. In addition, the shape of the vegetables is lost. In other cases, the taste does not change. The vegetable is fragrant and juicy. When frozen, only 20% of useful properties are lost, and when preserved, 40%.

Selection and preparation of fruits

The selection and preparation of fruits is the most important task. Let's start by choosing a vegetable. The color of the eggplant should be even, the skin should be firm and shiny. There should be no black dots, dents on the vegetable.

Council. For freezing, choose young eggplants, they contain a maximum of useful substances and a minimum of bitterness.

Is the peduncle dry? This vegetable is not suitable for freezing. Choose exceptionally ripe, healthy fruits.

So you've got enough vegetables. What's next:

1. Soak the eggplant in cold salted water for several hours. This procedure will remove excessive bitterness.
2. Rinse the vegetables.
3. Dry thoroughly. There should not be any moisture.
4. Prepare a place in the freezer. Herbs and berries are the worst neighborhood. It is better if a separate small box is allocated for vegetables.
5. The container must be airtight, clean and dry. Eggplant absorbs odors easily.
6. Check the temperature of the chamber. If it is above minus 12 degrees, nothing will come of it.

How to freeze eggplant

Eggplant is a vegetable that can be frozen in many ways. Let's analyze the main ones.

Fresh, whole / slices / slices

Freezing fresh eggplants is not a good idea. The taste and appearance are lost. If you are still determined to try freezing a fresh product, read the information below carefully.

How to freeze fresh eggplants for the winter:

1. Peel the eggplant, cut off the stem.
2. Fill the container with water, add 50 grams of salt.
3. Soak clean vegetables in salt water for 30 minutes.
4. Rinse thoroughly by removing salt from the surface of the vegetable.
5. Spread out paper towels, spread the eggplant on top of them.
6. Cover the top with a linen towel or napkins.
7. While the fruit is drying, prepare a cutting board and baking paper. Cover the board with paper.
8. Place dried fruits on a board and send them to the freezer for an hour.
9. Take out the vegetables after an hour, wrap each one in plastic wrap, put in a container or two plastic bags.
10. Send vegetables to the freezer for the winter.

Such fruits are suitable later for making stews or salads. They are unlikely to keep their shape, so they cannot be beautifully baked or fried.

You can stack not whole vegetables, but cut into circles or cubes. The choice is yours. The entire preparatory procedure is similar. Just before sending the eggplants into salt water, you need to cut them as you wish.

Attention! Experienced housewives warn that with this method of freezing there is a great risk of getting an inedible product.

Blanched

Let's find out what lies behind this beautiful word.

What you need:

• eggplant;
• salt;
• two containers with water;
• colander.

So, let's begin:

1. Cut the eggplants into thin slices, cubes, circles or sticks.
2. Place them in a container, salt and leave for half an hour. Can be filled with salt water.
3. Boil water.
4. At the same time, prepare a container with very cold or even ice water in advance.
5. Place the vegetables in a colander.
6. As soon as the water boils, dip the vegetable colander in boiling water for 2 minutes.
7. After 2 minutes, immediately immerse the vegetables in ice water.
8. After 5-10 minutes, lay out the vegetables to dry. Linen towels, napkins, cutting boards will do.
9. Place dry vegetables in a container or several bags. Check again for tightness, send to the freezer for storage.

Dried

For this method, you will need an oven and vegetable oil:

1. Turn the oven to 200 degrees.
2. Chop the vegetables as desired.
3. Grease a baking sheet with vegetable oil.
4. Arrange the vegetables, keeping a few centimeters between pieces.
5. Place in the oven for 10 minutes.
6. Get your vegetables out.
7. Wait until they are at room temperature and place them in a bag or container.

Important! In 10 minutes, you should open the oven twice or even three times, turn the vegetables over. This is important for even cooking. Also, do not get distracted while drying vegetables. If the eggplants are left in the oven for more than 10 minutes, they will become unusable.

Fried

What you need:

• salt;
• vegetable oil;
• vegetables;
• pan.

With this simple set, start frying:

1. Cut the soaked and dried fruits into circles or cubes.
2. Pour 2-3 tablespoons of oil into the pan.
3. Fry on both sides until golden brown.
4. Place on wipes to remove excess grease.
5. Put the slices in a bag and send them to the freezer overnight.
6. In the morning, take out the vegetables, transfer them to containers.
7. Place in the freezer.

Reference. A night in the freezer is needed to remove excess oil and grease. If you freeze eggplants right from the oven for the winter, you run the risk of getting a sticky lump of oil.

Boiled

There are several nuances when preparing in this way:

• whole eggplants are boiled, so do not rush to cut them;
• before sending the vegetable to salt water for soaking, pierce each eggplant with a toothpick;
• the soaking time is increased to 1.5 hours.

How to boil:

1. Dip the soaked eggplants in a saucepan with boiling water. You can add a spoonful of salt.
2. Cook for 20 minutes.
3. Take out the eggplant. If the peel has shrunk, it's okay, this is a normal reaction.
4. Slice the cooled eggplant.
5. Pack tightly.
6. Send it to the freezer.

Reference. Choose small to medium sized eggplants so they fit entirely in the pot. Partial heat treatment is inadmissible.

Stewed

How to Freeze Stewed Eggplant:

1. Cut the vegetable into cubes.
2. Remove the bitterness from the fruit by soaking.
3. Pour vegetable oil at the bottom of the stewpan, place vegetables.
4. Salt.
5. Cover and simmer until cooked.
6. Cool, remove excess moisture.
7. Place in a bag, refrigerate.

Further use of frozen eggplant

So, you have frozen the eggplants by all the rules. Winter has come, you wanted something tasty, and then you decided to get a vegetable. But how do you defrost it?

Defrosting rules

It is important to defrost eggplants gradually. To do this, they just need to be transferred to the refrigerator, where they will thaw slowly.

What not to do when defrosting:

• use a microwave;
• fill with water;
• re-freeze the product.

If you are in a hurry, you can also cook frozen food, it will thaw during cooking.

What to cook

What dishes are frozen eggplant used in?

Fried potatoes with vegetables

Ingredients:

• 250 grams of frozen vegetables;
• 0.5 kg of potatoes;
• oil;
• salt;
• pepper;
• greenery.

The cooking method is simple. Fry the potatoes the way you are used to. Fry the defrosted vegetables in a separate skillet. When the potatoes are almost ready, add the eggplants to them, salt and mix. You can decorate the finished dish with herbs.

Vegetable stew

What you need:

• eggplant;
• 1 tomato;
• onion;
• carrot;
• bell pepper;
• oil.

Cooking method:

1. Prepare the vegetables: defrost the eggplant, grate the carrots, onions, garlic, tomato slice.
2. Fry the onion in vegetable oil until cooked through.
3. Add carrots to the finished onion, fry until half cooked.
4. Next, send eggplants to the pan, then tomato.
5. Fry everything until half cooked.
6. Season with salt and pepper.
7. Transfer the vegetables to a baking dish in the oven.
8. Place the dish in the preheated oven for 35 minutes.

Eggplant caviar

It can be made with frozen vegetables. For this you will need:

• 0.5 kg of frozen eggplants;
• 1 carrot;
• 1 onion;
• 2-3 tomatoes;
• 1 Bulgarian pepper;
• salt;
• oil.

How to cook:

1. Fry chopped onions and grated carrots until half cooked.
2. Add the eggplant.
3. Pre-cut the bell pepper into large cubes, send to the pan, cover and leave for 5 minutes.
4. Chop the tomatoes, preferably to remove excess moisture.
5. Add to vegetables, salt.
6. Cover for another 5 minutes.

Council. For a richer taste, do not defrost the eggplants completely before cooking the caviar.

Stewed vegetables in sour cream

The dish has a pleasant mild taste. For cooking you will need:

• 400-450 grams of vegetables;
• 300 grams of sour cream;
• 1 onion;
• salt;
• oil;
• water;
• greenery.

Cooking method:

1. Grate the carrots on a coarse grater, cut the onion into cubes.
2. Send vegetables to a frying pan, fry.
3. Add thawed eggplant.
4. Cover and simmer.
5. Are the vegetables completely ready, soft? Add sour cream. There is a risk that the sour cream will curdle, so dilute it with 50 ml of water.
6. Simmer for five minutes.
7. Add salt and herbs at the very end.

Useful Tips

Let's summarize all the nuances of freezing and thawing eggplant:

1. Vegetables must be removed from the bitterness by soaking them in salt water. The time depends on the size of the fruit and varies from 30 minutes to several hours.
2. Do not put wet vegetables in the freezer.
3. The tails must be cut off.
4. If you are freezing sliced ​​vegetables, pay attention to the color inside the fruit. If it is dark, then the fruit is bitter.
5. Do not use a microwave oven or hot water for defrosting.
6. Vegetables are not re-frozen.

Reviews

We offer you to read the reviews of those housewives who have already tried frozen eggplant.

Valentina Orlova, Perm: “I have been cooking frozen eggplants for several years. I really like their taste. Before freezing, I blanch vegetables, I think this is the fastest and most convenient way. In general, I am a big fan of frozen foods, so I bought a freezer with small compartments. I store eggplants not in a container, but in packages. I cook vegetable salads. And on the New Year's table is a wonderful vegetable stew with chicken breast. "

Larisa Yampolskaya, Ulyanovsk: “At the dacha we shared the harvest with neighbors. I don't grow eggplants myself, but here they brought a whole basket. I didn't know what to do with them, and part of them decided to freeze them. Unfortunately, I didn’t know if fresh raw fruits could be frozen. They turned out to be bitter and watery. Now I will know that heat treatment is required. I bought eggplant seeds, I will grow it myself. "

Olga Menshikova, Irkutsk: “I have a big family, pickles are always needed at the table. I froze eggplants this summer for the first time, initially dried them in the oven with pepper. Now we prepare meals with frozen eggplants once a week. We have already tried stew, buckwheat porridge, vegetable salad, stewed vegetables with cheese. Delicious!"

Let's sum up

Eggplants can and should be frozen. They retain 80% of useful properties, do not lose their taste. An exception is fresh eggplants that have not undergone preliminary heat treatment. The most popular processing methods are frying, boiling, stewing. Before processing, in any case, be sure to soak the fruits in salt water. So bitterness will disappear from them. It is better to store frozen vegetables without "neighbors", in an airtight container. Defrosting is optional before cooking. Frozen eggplants are an excellent addition to potatoes, meat dishes and as a component of vegetable salad.

Have a good harvest and bon appetit!