In the second half of summer, when there is a massive harvest of vegetables, eggplants on the market are relatively cheap, and housewives are eagerly making harvested eggplant caviar or “mushrooms” for the winter - so-called fried eggplants with garlic, which, however, resemble mushrooms.
But with the advent of large refrigerators with roomy freezers, the hostesses increasingly prefer freezing. After all, this is a very convenient way of preparing for the future: you do not need to stand at the stove, roll an incredible number of cans, spending not only strength, but also a certain amount of banknotes. After all, in addition to eggplants you need to buy a lot of related vegetables and spices.
Freezing can not only save time, but also save almost all the nutrients in eggplants, which are already few.
True, in eggplants there is iron and copper, as well as a lot of cobalt, manganese, vitamins C and B1, carotene.
Elastic eggplants that have not reached their physiological ripeness are suitable for freezing. After all, the closer the matter comes to autumn, the harder the seeds become, and the flesh acquires a bitter taste due to the presence of solanine in it.
And if such eggplants are frozen, the bitterness will not disappear, and it will be impossible to eat eggplants.
There is also such an important nuance. The pulp of freshly frozen eggplants acquires a “rubbery” texture when defrosting and further cooking, which also adversely affects the quality of dishes.
Therefore, eggplants are necessarily subjected to any heat treatment before freezing. They are boiled, stewed, blanched, fried or baked. Eggplants can be frozen whole or cut into cubes, slices, straws, circles ...
How to freeze blanched eggplants
Eggplants are washed, remove inedible parts. If the skin is rough, then cut it off.
Eggplants are sliced at their own discretion. Pay attention to whether the eggplants are darkened on the cut.
If the eggplants quickly changed their greenish or light yellow to brown color, it means there is a lot of solanine in them. These eggplants will be bitter.
To get rid of bitterness, chopped eggplants sprinkled with salt, stirred and left in this form for 30 minutes. During this time, the eggplant will give juice, and all the bitterness will go there.
Eggplants squeeze well.
If the cut eggplants are not darkened, then there is no solanine in them. Such eggplants can be sprinkled with salt, and immediately proceed to further action.
Chopped eggplants immersed in boiling water and blanched for 5 minutes.
Then they are laid out in a colander and wait until all the water is drained.
Eggplant slices loosely laid out on a flat dish or tray and put into the freezer for 1-3 hours for the initial freeze.
Frozen eggplants are packaged in small bags - so that they are enough to cook one dish - they are tied up and put into the freezer.
How to freeze baked eggplants
This method of preparation is suitable if eggplant is not bitter.
Eggplants are placed on a baking tray, lightly oiled, and placed in the oven. Bake.
Then peel the skin off, especially since baked eggplants do it easily.
Baked eggplants can be frozen completely, wrapping each cooled eggplant in food film. This method is very convenient. You only need to get frozen eggplant, slightly defrost it and continue to cook according to the recipe. Baked eggplants without skin can be cut into slices, cubes, slices, folded into portion packets, close well and put into the freezer.
How to freeze fried eggplants
Eggplants are washed and cut into slices or cubes.
If eggplants gorchat, slices pre-sprinkled with salt, incubated for 30 minutes, then squeeze.
Chopped eggplants are fried in a pan in sunflower oil.
Then they are laid out in a colander to glass the excess oil.
After that, they are laid out in plastic containers or plastic bags, closed and put into the freezer.
These eggplants need only be heated, adding salt and spices to taste, and they are ready to eat.
Very tasty eggplants are obtained if you first boil them in salted water for 5 minutes before frying, then squeeze and then fry.
Chopped eggplants can be fried not only in a pan, but also on a baking sheet. To do this, pour the sunflower oil on a baking sheet, spread the prepared eggplants (raw or blanched) and bake for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally for even cooking.
Eggplants are cooled, laid out in containers, covered with lids and sent to the freezer.
How to defrost eggplants
Eggplants are thawed at room temperature or in the refrigerator. But most often they are used in cooking without defrosting.
