This dried vegetable can be given a completely different taste, depending on how it is prepared. Any are suitable for drying. You can make an imitation of bacon and enjoy thin crunchy slices in winter, which will be a great snack. Here's how to do it.

Two large or 4 small eggplants are peeled and cut into very thin strips. This can be done with a vegetable cutter or a sharp knife. Depending on the size of the vegetable, you can previously cut it in half or 4 parts. Next, the marinade is prepared:

You need to mix the marinade with chopped vegetables and leave for 2 hours. Then all this is laid out in the dryer, where the future snack should spend about a day at a temperature of 40 ° C. In winter, crispy spicy stripes will perfectly decorate the sandwich, or go as an independent dish. In the classic American version of the BLT sandwich (Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato), they perfectly replace bacon.

How to dry eggplant for the winter

If the house has a special gadget for drying vegetables, the instructions for it contain detailed instructions on the drying time and temperature. Those who have not yet acquired such a device will have to use the oven or dry vegetables naturally. The latter, of course, takes more time, but for those who have a summer cottage or a spacious loggia, this method is quite affordable.

• Vegetables are pre-washed, the stalks are removed and cut into pieces of the same thickness. The latter is important for uniform drying.
• Eggplants are spread on a spacious surface (if dried in the oven, then on a baking sheet) in one layer. Between the pieces should be free space.
• The oven is heated to a temperature of 200 ° C and chopped vegetables are left there for about an hour.
• After this, the temperature is reduced by half, and the fruits are dried for another 4 hours.

When drying in a natural way, a tray with cut blanks is placed in a calm place, protected from direct sunlight. The process will end no sooner than after 5 days, and you need to remember to periodically turn the pieces on the tray.

Eggplant mushrooms

Another way to stock up on dried eggplants will result in a product that is very reminiscent of mushrooms, both in taste (if you add the appropriate seasoning) and in appearance.

Ready-made drying is stored in cloth bags or glass jars. To cook a tasty dish in winter, just soak them in water for a while, and then cook them like mushrooms - fry, stew with sour cream, etc. And if you take white varieties of vegetables, or, which in their fresh form resemble mushrooms to taste, then no one will actually understand that they are eggplants.

The cure for hypertension

Dried eggplant can be harvested not only to feast on them in the winter, but also to alleviate the condition in some diseases, for example, with hypertension and gout.

Powder from dried eggplant peel helps well against hypertension. It is taken before meals, 1 teaspoon. The same powder will be useful for rinsing weak gums. Make a solution - 1 tablespoon will go to 1 cup of hot water. powder and 1 tsp sea \u200b\u200bsalt.

If desired, even residents of small apartments may well procure an impressive amount of their favorite vegetable for the winter. Drying eggplant is not at all a difficult process, but how much fun it will be with the onset of cold weather to try dishes that are usually available only in the summer.

Eggplant is a popular vegetable. But not everyone knows how to properly store them. A great option is freezing, but the fruits are voluminous and you can’t put a lot of them in the freezer. In this case, drying will help. A step-by-step recipe with photos of dried eggplant for the winter. Video recipe.

Many housewives in the fall think about how to keep eggplant for the winter. They are harvested in a variety of ways: canned, made caviar, frozen and even dried. The latter method of harvesting is less rare, although at the same time a large amount of useful substances is stored in the vegetable. You can dry them, like other vegetables, in a city apartment, and the process is completely not complicated. It is worth noting that it has been scientifically proven that with competent drying (at a moderate temperature) of vegetables, almost all useful substances are stored in them. In dried eggplant, the concentration of nutrients increases due to a decrease in fruit mass.

In addition, eggplant can make dried preparations with all kinds of tastes. For this, special marinades and spices are used. And gourmets can make dried eggplant with bacon flavor. In the winter season, they are delicious to serve as a snack. Before cooking, dried eggplant must be soaked in water, like dried mushrooms, and then cook as usual. In 30 minutes, the vegetables will absorb enough liquid to recover. They can be used for cooking dishes according to the usual recipes, as from fresh vegetables.

Only ripe eggplants are suitable for drying, without damage or signs of decay. It is desirable to choose fruits of the same degree of ripeness with a thin skin, and in overripe blue it becomes hard flesh and large seeds. Therefore, mature eggplants for drying in the winter are not suitable, it is better to choose young fruits.

• Calories per 100 g - 35 kcal.
• Servings Per Container - any quantity
• Cooking time - 30 minutes of active work, plus time for removing bitterness (if necessary) and time for drying

Ingredients:

• Eggplant - any quantity

  Step-by-step preparation of dried eggplant for the winter, recipe with photo:

1. Wash the eggplants, dry and cut the stalks.

2. Cut the fruit into bars, cubes, rings, half rings, or any other shape. If you use ripe fruits, then they contain harmful solanine, which gives bitterness. It must be deleted. To do this, sprinkle the chopped fruits with salt and leave for half an hour. Droplets will appear on the surface of vegetables, along with which bitterness will come out. Then wash the vegetables under running water and dry with a paper towel.

3. Place the eggplants on a baking sheet evenly and place in a heated oven to 60 degrees. Dry the fruit with the door slightly open to allow steam to escape. Drying time may take 2-3 hours. Turn eggplant periodically to dry evenly on all sides.

4. Ready dried eggplant for the winter should be dry but soft. Store the workpiece in a paper bag or glass jar at room temperature.

Eggplants can also be dried in an electric dryer at a given temperature of 55 degrees for 25-27 hours. The temperature in the room where the electric dryer will be located should be +28 degrees.

You can still use the old grandmother's method and dry the fruits outdoors in the shade. In this case, cover the eggplant with gauze so that flies and dust do not land on them. At night, bring the fruits into the room, and in the morning again take them outside.

See also a video recipe on how to cook dried eggplant for the winter.

Kira Stoletova

Harvesting vegetables for the winter is a laborious process. An alternative to preservation is drying the product. It is most convenient to dry eggplant in an electric dryer. So the product does not lose its beneficial properties after cooking.

Useful properties of a vegetable

Eggplant is a favorite treat for many. This vegetable has exceptional taste. Unique sweet and sour notes perfectly complement both the first and second courses.

Harvesting vegetables for the winter, they most often lend themselves to conservation or freezing. But each of these storage methods has disadvantages, for example, the loss of summer freshness and taste characteristics. The amount of nutrients contained in the product is also reduced. It is better to dry the eggplant to maximize the nutritional and biological value of the product.

Dried vegetables contain more than 80% of all substances contained in fresh. The composition of the vegetable in dried form:

• vitamins A, B, C, P;
• natural sugars, organic acids and pectins.
• calcium, potassium, iron, phosphorus, sodium, magnesium, copper, etc.

The use, even of a dried product, favorably affects the work of the digestive tract, cardiovascular system, liver and kidneys. Only young fruits should be used. The old ones contain solanine, the use of which threatens intoxication of the body.

Eggplant Selection

The taste of the dried product is affected not only by the cooking method, but also by the quality and characteristics of the vegetable itself. It is better to buy still young fruits, as they have a more delicate taste, are not bitter and have small seeds.

For drying eggplant, it is better to take fruits with a thin but whole skin. There should be no signs of damage. Color should also be uniform.

Drying the product in an electric dryer

When vegetables for drying are already selected, it remains only to prepare them for cooking. They are thoroughly washed, wiped with a napkin or a kitchen towel, and the stalk and wide base are also removed. If desired, peel the vegetable.

You need to choose a method for slicing dried eggplant. You can dry both rings and slices, cubes. The thickness of the sliced \u200b\u200bproduct should not exceed 1 cm. Usually oriented to the size of the dryer cells.

To avoid bitterness in the taste of dried eggplant, the chopped vegetable should be washed in salt water. Advise him 1-2 minutes. to cook.

Vegetable drying

Sliced \u200b\u200bvegetable is loaded into the trays of the appliance. Before loading the product, it is worthwhile to study the operating rules of the dryer. The weight of the eggplant in the electric dryer must comply with the norm specified in the document.

After studying the instructions and placing slices or cubes of eggplant in an electric dryer, begin cooking.

Eggplant is dried like this:

1. The temperature is set (55-65 ° C).
2. The device is plugged in.
3. The product dries up to 12 hours. Time depends on the power of the device, as well as on the size of the cubes or slices of the vegetable; thin pieces are easier to dry.

It is easy to dry eggplant in an electric dryer. The main thing is to monitor the preparation of the product, turning the pieces every few hours and swapping the pallets. Cooking time is always easy to increase or decrease, focusing on the state of the vegetable.

This vegetable is very popular in cooking. It can be prepared in hundreds of different ways - pickle, fry, boil, as well as preserve and even dry. Blue ones, as they are called in common people, or eggplants, contain many nutrients and vitamins. Even after drying, they retain a useful composition. Therefore, we offer readers of the site “Popular about Health” to cook dishes from dried eggplant, the recipes of which are very simple, but it will still succeed in surprising gourmets.

It is very simple to prepare the little blue ones: cut several kilograms of vegetables into rings or plates along without removing the peel. Place on a dry baking sheet and place in the oven. We get a deliciously delicious component, from which in any weather you can come up with culinary masterpieces!

Korean Dried Eggplant Salad

This eggplant dish can be served as an ordinary dinner, as well as a festive celebration as an original snack. To make a salad, we need:

300 g dried eggplant;
- 2 cloves of garlic;
- 2-3 pieces of sweet bell pepper;
- 2 medium tomatoes;
- mayonnaise;
- seasoning for dishes in Korean;
- greens to taste.

Directly recipe dishes. The cooking technology is very simple. To begin with, put the blue ones in boiling, slightly salted water, leave to cook for 15 minutes. We discard the vegetables in a colander, let cool to room temperature. At this time, you can do marinade.

We mix chopped garlic with Korean seasoning, add coarsely chopped greens (ideally parsley, cilantro, green onion). Add blue to the mixture, let it brew for 2 hours. Then add half-sliced \u200b\u200btomatoes and bell pepper. Fill all components with mayonnaise, add salt as desired.

Dried Eggplant Fried with Vegetables

This dish can be served as a cold appetizer, salad, or as hot. We will need the following ingredients:

150 g dried eggplant;
- 1 large onion;
- 2 bell peppers;
- 2 tomatoes;
- garlic;
- 1 tablespoon of soy sauce;
- black and red pepper powder;
- dill, parsley and cilantro.

Soak the blue ones in salted cold water for 2-3 hours, or throw in boiling water for about 15 minutes. We discard the vegetables in a colander. In vegetable oil, fry the onion rings together with bell pepper, cut into large pieces (strips or half rings). Fry vegetables for 2-3 minutes, send eggplants to them. We cover the pan with a lid and leave everything to simmer for 15 minutes. At the end, chop the tomato, put the chopped garlic and pour all the soy sauce. Stew for another 5 minutes.

Lastly, sprinkle the dish with red and black pepper, add chopped greens, after 2 minutes turn off the stove. The dish turns out to be surprisingly fragrant, satisfying, it can be used as a sauce for spaghetti or rice. Many claim that the taste of blue resembles mushrooms.

Dried Eggplant Sauce

Pre-soak the eggplant or throw in boiling water. In butter, fry the onion, cut into half rings. We send blue ones to it, salt and pepper to taste, and if desired, you can add seasoning or herbs. Simmer over low heat under a closed lid, stir occasionally.

When the vegetables are well softened, they need to be crushed or beaten with a blender until smooth. In another pan, brown the flour, then add a little butter and add warm water. Mix everything well and quickly remove from heat after boiling.

Stir the flour mixture, add the eggplant puree and mix everything. Serve this sauce with pasta or just with bread.

Recipes with eggplant meat casseroles

This dish is very nutritious and nutritious. We restore the dried vegetables in water, then fry them in vegetable or butter.

Fry minced meat with onions in a separate pan, add chopped garlic to taste. Chop greens, add medium-sized strips of bell pepper, salt and mix everything with mayonnaise. Now we start laying the casseroles.

Lightly grease the mold, lay a layer of tomato rings. The second layer is minced meat, then again tomatoes, then eggplant. Pour all the sauce with greens and mayonnaise, and sprinkle with cheese on top. As soon as a golden crust forms, the dish is ready!

Useful properties of dried eggplant

This product is not only used in cooking. It is recommended to eat as often as possible with gout, with diseases of the cardiovascular system. The beneficial components of dried blue are effective in preventing the formation of cholesterol plaques on the walls of our blood vessels.

Blue ones help reduce swelling by removing fluid from the body, from tissues. At the same time, the kidneys are cleaned well, and the risk of urolithiasis is reduced. it’s good to eat just one tablespoon of eggplant powder per day so you don’t encounter liver disease.

Dried blues help smokers who decide to quit a bad habit. Their daily use in food contributes to the habit of weaning from tobacco and makes it easier to endure the rejection of cigarettes. The explanation is simple: the product contains nicotinic acid, which neutralizes the feeling of breaking without smoking in the body.

Try it and you will surely find a dish that will become a favorite for your entire family.

Drying 15 kg of eggplant. Sharing practical knowledge

In case of acute toothache, it is necessary to moisten gauze with water, dip in eggplant powder and apply to a diseased tooth. After 10 minutes, rinse your mouth with water. If the pain persists, then repeat the procedure after an hour. Usually two or three procedures are enough to relieve toothache.

Eggplant - Persian Culinary Miracle

Eggplant is one of the most popular vegetables for cooking a wide variety of culinary dishes. He was brought to Russia from Persia in the 17th century. Initially, the vegetable was planted in the southern regions. There was a real paradise for eggplant, as it is very thermophilic. When the “little blue one” appeared in Russia, the local chefs easily decided on the methods of its preparation. And it quickly became clear that the eggplant is ideally combined with meat dishes.

But it turned out that this vegetable has a seasonal nature of growth, limited to summer and early autumn, and with prolonged storage fresh, the eggplant begins to deteriorate quickly. We decided to try making preparations for the winter by drying. Until now, eggplant is not so often dried at home in Russia, in contrast to countries of the world such as Turkey or Italy.

Regardless of the choice of vegetable drying method, the fruits for this operation are selected in small sizes with small seeds. At the time of purchase, eggplant for drying should pay attention to their degree of maturity. Experts recommend choosing young, but already ripened fruits. The thing is that overripe “blue ones” have an unpleasant bitterness, as a result, it remains in dried fruits.

Another important point that should be emphasized is the freshness of the vegetable. In vegetables long removed from the bed, spots appear on the skin, it wrinkles, and the stalk becomes brown. Fresh eggplant has a smooth peel and good pulp density.

Dried blue ones are used as a treatment for gout. People who regularly eat this vegetable are less likely to suffer from cardiovascular disease. Useful substances found in eggplant, perfectly help cleanse the walls of blood vessels from cholesterol plaques.

With the help of eggplant, the human body is freed from excess fluid, thus, swelling is reduced. In addition, due to the beneficial properties of the “blue ones”, the kidneys are perfectly cleaned, and the risk of urolithiasis is reduced.

If you grind dried eggplant into a fine powder, then it can be used to very effectively treat hypertension. In addition, tincture can be prepared from such a powder to strengthen the gums and teeth.
   Remember, just one tablespoon of dried eggplant per day will perfectly protect your body from liver and kidney diseases.

Heavy smokers who want to get rid of their bad habits can eat eggplant daily and thus facilitate the process of weaning the body from nicotine. This is due to the fact that nicotinic acid is present in the vegetable, due to which the unpleasant sensations associated with quitting smoking are significantly reduced. Eggplant in this case has no less effective effect on the human body than a nicotine patch.

What can be made from dried eggplant?

Dishes from dried eggplant are obtained better if you choose the right method of drying this vegetable.
   Vegetable stew or eggplant caviar is prepared from vegetables dried in small cubes. To obtain dried foods, you can use a dryer for vegetables and fruits. Before boiling or frying eggplant in a pan with the addition of herbs and garlic, dried pieces must be soaked in heated water for half an hour or forty minutes.

A delicious dish of dried eggplant turns a casserole. Before you start cooking, you should restore dried vegetables in water. Then the "little blue ones" must be fried in vegetable oil, separately fry the onions and minced meat. Then finely chop the garlic, herbs and pour it all with mayonnaise and mix. Next, lay on a pallet greased with oil, a layer of tomato, then a layer of fried minced meat, another layer of tomato and eggplant on top. Do not forget to salt and coat each layer with mayonnaise sauce. Sprinkle the top layer with cheese and put in the oven. Bake until a brown crust appears on the surface.

The method of drying eggplant for the winter preserves in the vegetable all the useful substances that the human body needs so much in the cold season to maintain its vital energy.
   In addition, thanks to dried vegetables, you save your money and get an environmentally friendly product. You do not have to buy expensive vegetables stuffed with chemical fertilizers in the supermarket in the winter. Dishes in the winter on your table will be varied and delicious.