How to freeze eggplants for the winter? TOP-6 recipes for freezing fruits in different ways: boiled, baked, stewed, fried, fresh, whole, cut into cubes, bars and rings. Culinary advice. Video recipes.
A rich eggplant crop? You are tired of cooking caviar, rolls or stews from these vegetables, but you don't know where to attach them? Freeze eggplants for the winter, and you can use them to prepare a variety of delicious homemade dishes throughout the year. You can freeze eggplants for the winter with a variety of options: whole and chopped, blanched and stewed, fried and baked … It is not recommended to freeze them without preliminary processing, because they will turn out to be tough like rubber and will taste bitter. In this review, we will learn in detail how to properly freeze eggplants for the winter so that they remain tasty and preserved for a long time.
Frozen eggplants - secrets and cooking features
- Choose fresh, good quality and fresh looking fruit for freezing. The rind should be soft but firm, glossy and smooth. It cannot have scratches, cracks, stains, holes and other defects.
- The stalk of a ripe eggplant is fresh, green, not wrinkled, and the pulp is elastic and quickly restores its shape when pressed.
- Fresh fruit is always heavy. The specimens are 15 cm long and weigh approximately 0.5 kg.
- Eggplants must be thermally processed before freezing. Otherwise, they will be tasteless, rubbery and with a bitter taste.
- To freeze fried eggplants, cut them into slices, cubes of any size, cubes, thin slices. For blanching, the first 3 types of cuts are suitable. You can bake vegetables of any type, incl. whole.
- When slicing eggplants, think about what you will cook from them. For example, whole fruits can be cut in half and stuffed, from plates - to make lasagne or tape measures, cubes and cubes - to stew, circles - to season with garlic, pour over with sauce and serve on their own.
- The same dishes are prepared from frozen blue ones as from fresh fruits.
- After slicing the eggplants, taste them. If they are bitter, remove the bitterness before cooking. To do this, sprinkle the pieces with salt, mix and leave for half an hour. Drain the released liquid, rinse the vegetables thoroughly, dry them and start cooking.
- You can remove the bitterness from eggplant in another way, by dipping pieces of vegetables in saline and leaving for 1 hour. The solution is prepared at the rate of 1 liter of water 1 tbsp. salt.
- You can freeze eggplants in bags, plastic containers, or any other sealed package that does not allow air to pass through.
- It is not necessary to defrost frozen eggplants beforehand. This can only be done if required by a prescription. To do this, first put them in the refrigerator for a couple of hours, then bring them to full defrost at room temperature.
- Frozen eggplants are stored in the freezer under all conditions for no more than a year.
See also how to make eggplant caviar for the winter.
How to freeze blanched eggplant in chunks
It is not difficult to prepare cut eggplants for future use by freezing them in the freezer. Frozen fruits in this way are suitable for cooking stews, sautés, roasts.
- Caloric content per 100 g - 25 kcal.
- Servings - 2
- Cooking time - 55 minutes
Ingredients:
- Eggplant - 2 pcs.
- Salt - a pinch
- Lemon juice - 1 tablespoon
Cooking frozen blanched eggplant in chunks:
- Rinse the eggplants, dry them and cut them into cubes, bars or other shapes.
- Remove the bitterness as needed in any convenient way.
- Put the pieces of vegetables in a saucepan, cover with cold water, add salt and lemon juice.
- Bring to a boil and blanch over low heat for 2-3 minutes. If the eggplant floats, press down with a spoon or slotted spoon.
- Using a slotted spoon, remove the blue ones from the boiling water and immerse them in ice water with ice for one minute so that they cool completely.
- Throw the vegetables in a colander to drain excess liquid and pat dry well with a paper towel.
- Place the eggplants in one layer on a plank wrapped in cling film so that the frozen product can be easily removed, and place in the freezer.
- When the pieces are frozen, place them in airtight bags or containers and send them to the freezer for further storage.
How to freeze fried eggplant for the winter
In winter, it is very easy to prepare any dish from frozen fried eggplants. After defrosting, it is enough to lightly fry the blue ones. The dish will turn out to be no less tasty than fresh fruits.
Ingredients:
- Eggplant - 2 pcs.
- Vegetable oil - for frying
- Salt - a pinch
Cooking frozen fried eggplant:
- As in the previous recipe, rinse the eggplants, dry them, cut into any shape and remove the bitterness. If you plan to cook rolls or lasagne from fried vegetables, cut the fruits into slices of length, for pizza and stews - into cubes or bars.
- Heat vegetable oil in a skillet and place the sliced eggplants in one layer. Cook lots of vegetables in batches.
- Fry the fruits over medium heat for a few minutes on each side to brown.
- Transfer the sauteed vegetables to a paper towel to remove excess fat.
- Then put the eggplants in one layer on a tray with plastic wrap and send them to the freezer for several hours. If there are a lot of vegetables, cover them with plastic wrap and lay out the next layer.
- Sort the frozen eggplants into sealed trays and continue to store in the freezer.
How to freeze braised eggplant in the freezer
Frozen eggplant stew is already a complete dish that can be consumed on its own. But they can also be added to various other foods.
Ingredients:
- Eggplant - 2 pcs.
- Vegetable oil - for frying
- Salt - a pinch
- Ground black pepper - a pinch
- Tomato sauce, sour cream, broth or water - 2 tablespoons for extinguishing
Cooking frozen eggplant stew:
- Cut the washed eggplants into cubes, bars or half rings. Remove bitterness from them if necessary.
- In a frying pan with heated oil, lightly fry them until golden brown.
- Season the eggplant with salt and black pepper and add any stewing sauce (tomato, sour cream, broth, water).
- Stir the vegetables and simmer, covered, until tender, stirring occasionally.
- Arrange the stewed eggplant in portioned trays and send to freeze in the refrigerator. Pack them into one portion, exactly as much as you need for one time, because vegetables cannot be re-frozen.
- Stewed vegetables can be chopped with a blender, turned into mashed potatoes and eggplant caviar can be frozen in portion molds.
How to freeze baked eggplant
Depending on the further use, you can cut the eggplants for baking in any shape: into circles, slices, cubes, or whole. But if you bake whole eggplants, first make several punctures on them with a toothpick or knife. Then the skin will not crack during heat treatment.
Ingredients:
- Eggplant - 2 pcs.
- Salt - a pinch
- Vegetable oil - for greasing the baking sheet
Cooking frozen baked eggplant:
- Wash the eggplants, cut and remove the bitterness if necessary.
- Spread vegetables on a paper towel and pat dry.
- Grease a baking sheet or baking dish with vegetable oil and place the eggplants in one layer. Although you can bake the fruits on a greased wire rack, then they will have beautiful toasted strips, like from a grill.
- Bake the eggplant at 180 ° C for 30-40 minutes, depending on the size of the vegetables.
- Put the finished fruits on a tray, flat dish or cutting board and put them in the freezer to freeze them.
- Then sort them into bags or containers and send them further to be stored in the freezer.
How to freeze fresh eggplant
In most cases, it is not recommended to freeze fresh eggplants. But if you first remove all the bitterness from the fruits (even from dairy ones) and boil for a couple of minutes, they will be well stored, and their taste will not differ from vegetables harvested in another way.
Ingredients:
- Eggplant - 2 pcs.
- Salt - 1 tablespoon
Cooking frozen fresh eggplant:
- Wash young ripe eggplants. Cut off the tip on one side, and the stem with a tail on the other.
- Chop any blue shapes and place in a bowl.
- Sprinkle them well with coarse salt and leave for half an hour.
- Then discard the fruits in a colander and rinse off the secreted juice under running water, with which all the bitterness will go away.
- Put a pot of water on the fire and boil.
- Dip a colander with eggplant in a saucepan, cover and leave to simmer for 1-2 minutes.
- Remove the colander, rinse the fruit with cold running water and leave the liquid to drain.
- Place the eggplants on a towel and let dry.
- Put the blue ones in one layer on a board wrapped in polyethylene and put in the freezer for 4 hours.
- Remove frozen vegetables, place in special freezer bags, close tightly and put in the freezer.
How to cook whole frozen eggplant
The most convenient way to freeze eggplants is whole. Making them is easy, but you can use them for stuffing or caviar. Even slightly frozen, but still hard, fruits can be cut into any size and used for stews, roasts, etc.
Ingredients:
- Eggplant - 2 pcs.
- Vegetable oil - for greasing the baking sheet.
Cooking Whole Frozen Eggplant:
- Wash the eggplants and cut off the ends on both sides.
- Dip it in saline and let it sit for 1 hour to remove all the bitterness.
- Rinse the vegetable under running water and dry well with a paper towel.
- Grease a baking sheet with vegetable oil and lay out the whole eggplants.
- Send them to a preheated oven to 180 degrees to bake for 30 minutes.
- You can also bake whole eggplants without peeling in a slow cooker, grill, or boil.
- After cooling, wrap each vegetable in several layers of cling film and store in the freezer.
