Squash puree resembles squash caviar to taste and consistency, but it turns out to be more liquid and tender. Preference for this snack give people who care about their health. The product is also recommended for baby food. If it is made without the addition of salt and sugar, it can be given even to babies as one of the first complementary foods. Difficulties in order to prepare this dish in the summer, usually does not arise, but zucchini puree can not only be made during the harvest season, but also harvested for the winter. This task is a little more difficult, but any hostess can cope with it if she knows the details of the technology.
Cooking Features
In order to cook for the winter tasty and healthy squash puree, you need to know and take into account a few points.
- More tender on the consistency of mashed potatoes is obtained from young zucchini. You need to clean them before cooking in two cases: if you are preparing mashed potatoes for a child or are not sure that vegetables were grown without the use of harmful chemicals that can accumulate in the peel. Overgrown fruit cleaned in any case. If the seeds have had time to form, they should also be removed before preparing the snack.
- Usually, for making mashed potatoes, zucchini is cut into pieces and boiled in a small amount of water, then crushed with a blender. If you want to keep as many nutrients as possible in vegetables, boil them better for a couple. Tinker with it is worth it if you make a meal for the child.
- When preparing mashed potatoes for babies, they do not add salt, sugar, and especially vinegar, oil, spicy seasonings and similar ingredients. To improve the safety of snacks, you can make a mixed mashed zucchini and apples, or zucchini and tomatoes. You can add a minimum amount of salt - no more than a teaspoon per liter of vegetable puree. Canned food made without salt is stored in the refrigerator. If salt has been added to the puree, you can store it in any cool place: cellar, basement, unheated storeroom.
- When cooking mashed zucchini for adults, you can add other vegetables, tomato paste or mashed potatoes, salt, sugar, vinegar and even vegetable oil, which will make the taste of the dish more pleasant, but you shouldn't get carried away with these additives. and helpful. If for squash caviar products are often fried, for mashed potatoes this is not necessary. Boil down the vegetable mass, too, should not be so much as for the preparation of squash caviar.
- No matter for whom mashed zucchini is prepared, the banks under it must be cleaned with soda and sterilized. The lids are also sterilized by boiling. Canned food can be closed only with metal lids, ensuring tightness, plastic for this purpose will not work. Metal covers can be taken any: and screw, and under seaming key.
- After seaming, the jars of squash puree are turned over and covered with a blanket. Cooling in the conditions of the steam bath, canned food undergo additional sterilization, which increases their resistance to adverse storage conditions.
Squash puree can be eaten as an independent snack, used for spreading sandwiches, added to puree soup, and made a side dish for the child.
Zucchini puree for the child for the winter
Composition (for 0, 6-0, 7 l):
- zucchini - 1 kg;
- water - 0, 25 l;
- salt (optional) - 3 g.
Method of preparation:
- Zucchini thoroughly wash, peel and large seeds. Cut the squash flesh into small cubes, put into the pan. Pour a glass of water into it, put it on the stove.
- Bring water to a boil over low heat, put the courgettes under a lid until they are soft.
- Flip out to a colander to remove excess liquid.
- Slightly cool the boiled zucchini, place in a blender bowl, grind to a puree state.
- Mix mashed potatoes with salt if you decide to add it.
- Put on a slow fire, cook for 5 minutes.
- Wash with soda and sterilize the jars and lids that fit them. For baby food, it is better to use small-volume jars, as after opening the mashed potatoes can only be stored in the refrigerator and not longer than 24 hours.
- Fill jars with squash puree, cover them with clean lids.
- At the bottom of the pan lay a towel, put a jar of mashed potatoes on it.
- Bring the water in a saucepan to a boil over low heat, sterilize the jars in it for 5 minutes, if their volume does not exceed 0, 2 l, 10 minutes - if it is no more than 0, 5 l. For larger cans, the sterilization time will have to be increased, but it is not practical to close the baby mash in them.
- Remove the jars of squash puree from the water, cork them tightly.
- Turn the jars over, cover with a blanket and leave it for 12 hours.
After a specified time, the jars of mashed potatoes must be placed in a refrigerator or a cool room. You can store them for six months.
Zucchini puree with onions and carrots
Composition (for 2-2, 5 l):
- zucchini - 3 kg;
- tomato paste - 60 ml;
- carrots - 0, 3 kg;
- onions - 150 g;
- water - 0, 6 l;
- salt - 10 g;
- sugar - 10 g;
- Acetic essence (70 percent) - 5 ml.
Method of preparation:
- Zucchini wash, dry, if necessary, clean from skins and seeds. Cut into cubes about 1, 5 cm in size, cover with water and put stew. Stew them on low heat. It takes 20 minutes after boiling water.
- Scrape, wash carrots, chop them on a grater.
- Free from the husk and finely chop the onion.
- Mix onions and carrots, add a few spoons of zucchini decoction and tomato paste to them, stew for 5-10 minutes.
- Chop boiled zucchini with an immersion blender, add carrots with onions and tomato paste to them, add sugar and salt, and mix.
- Bring the vegetable mass to a boil over low heat, boil to the desired consistency. Cooking time should not be less than 10 minutes.
- Pour in vinegar essence, stir, remove the puree from the heat.
- Spread vegetable mass in pre-sterilized cans.
- Roll up the cans, turn them over, wrap them up, and leave them in that condition for a day.
After cooling, mashed zucchini, prepared according to this recipe, can be removed to the pantry or any other place where you used to store such supplies. It will not deteriorate during the year.
Mashed courgettes in a slow cooker
Composition (2 liters):
- zucchini - 3, 5 kg;
- tomato paste - 0, 25 l;
- salt - 20 g;
- sugar - 20 g;
- table vinegar (9 percent) - 40 ml;
- garlic (optional) - to taste.
Method of preparation:
- Peeled and peeled zucchini seeds cut into small pieces, turn through a meat grinder.
- Mix in tomato paste, salt and sugar. Put the multicooker in the bowl.
- Turn on the unit by selecting the “Quenching” program, set the timer to an hour.
- 5 minutes prior to readiness, enter garlic passed through the press.
- After completing the program, add vinegar to the puree, mix the mass.
- Spread the mashed potatoes over the prepared jars, close them tightly.
The puree prepared according to this recipe is well worth it at room temperature. The minimum shelf life of these canned food is 1 year.
Squash purée turns out to be softer than caviar from squash, it is a more useful product. Mashed potatoes recipes for children and adults vary, but they are all quite simple.
