Armenian cuisine is loved by many for its addiction to vegetables, herbs, fragrant spices. Not the last place in it is pickled and salted peppers. Armenian women prefer to harvest vegetables for the winter without using vinegar, but not everyone in the house has a cold cellar for storing fermented foods. In this case, the products are marinated. Hot pepper in Armenian for the winter can be closed according to several recipes, but whatever type of canned food you choose, they will be juicy, fragrant, with a spicy taste and seductive look.
Cooking Features
For the winter, hot pepper in Armenian can be prepared whole or halved, cut into small rings, with or without seeds. The choice of appetizers depends on the culinary preferences of the chef, but when preparing pepper in Armenian, he needs to take into account several points that remain important regardless of the recipe used.
- Armenians prefer to harvest hot peppers of a special sort for the winter, which they call “tsitsak”. It has long fruits of yellow-green color and moderately burning taste. He is usually kvass, occasionally marinated. For the same recipes, it is possible to prepare a snack of more acute varieties of pepper. If you plan to peel the pepper before pickling to get a more refined dish, it is advisable to use red pepper, from which it is easiest to remove the skin.
- Pepper marinated together with the seeds is made more sharp, since it is they who have the most burning taste, and not the flesh. If you want to prepare a snack with a mild taste and prefer not to close the pods along with the seeds due to the fact that they are not very convenient and pleasant to eat, then the seeds can be removed without cutting the pod. To do this, you need to roll it on the table with your palm, then cut the stem and knock the pepper on the table - the seeds will fall out themselves. If the integrity of the pods is not important to you, it is more convenient to clean them of seeds by cutting them in 2 halves.
- By working with hot peppers and garlic, you can get a skin burn. To prevent this, hands must be protected with gloves. It is better to use thin, made of latex, which do not hold down movements.
- Pepper is a preservative, but if it is difficult to wash or sterilize the jars for it, the snack will quickly deteriorate anyway. The lids are also sterilized, usually by boiling. It is permissible to cover the pepper with plastic covers only when it is stored in the refrigerator or in a cold cellar. If he will stand in a normal room, it must be rolled up with metal lids, ensuring tightness.
The storage conditions of pickled or salted pepper and its shelf life depend on the recipe used.
The classic recipe for hot pepper in Armenian for the winter
Composition (3 liters):
- green hot pepper (tsitsak) - 3 kg;
- water - 5 l;
- rock salt - 100 g;
- water - 5 l;
- fresh dill - 100 g;
- garlic - 50 g.
Method of preparation:
- Wash peppers. Without clearing seeds, pierce in several places with a fork or make cuts near the stem and closer to the tips of the pods.
- Dill wash, dry, chop with a knife.
- Crush the garlic cloves with the flat side of a knife, finely chop, mix with dill.
- Place the peppers in a saucepan, each layer sprinkled with garlic dill.
- Dissolve salt in clean boiled water.
- Pour pepper over cooled brine. Place a press on top. Marinate 10 days. During this time, the pepper will change color from green to yellow.
- Drain the brine, put the pepper tightly in sterilized jars.
- Boil the brine for 10 minutes, fill it with pepper.
- Cover the jars with pepper, put them in a saucepan, at the bottom of which you should lay a cloth.
- Pour warm water into the pan so that its level reaches the hangers of the cans.
- Sterilize the jars for 10-30 minutes in a water bath, spending 5 minutes for every 0.5 l, but not less than 10 minutes in total.
- Roll banks, flip.
After the jars of pepper have cooled, they should be taken to a cool room or put in a refrigerator. This appetizer is prepared without vinegar, so it cannot be stored at room temperature. Shelf life snacks - six months.
Armenian pickled hot peppers
Composition (1 l):
- hot pepper - 1 kg;
- garlic - 20 cloves;
- water - 0, 5 l;
- salt - 30 g;
- sugar - 60 g;
- table vinegar (9 percent) - 30 ml;
- refined vegetable oil - 150 ml.
Method of preparation:
- Wash peppers, dip into boiling water, blanch for 8 minutes. Catch the fruit with a skimmer and then immediately transfer it to a container with cold water.
- When the pepper has cooled, clean it from the skins. Cut off the tips of the fruit from the side of the stalk. Cut the fruit from one side along, remove the seeds from the pods.
- Peel and chop the garlic cloves, preferably with even plates.
- Wash the jars, let them dry.
- Fill the jars with pepper and garlic, alternating these products.
- Boil water, dissolve sugar and salt in it. Pour in the oil and vinegar, bring to a boil.
- Pour marinade peppers. Cover the jars with the prepared lids and sterilize them along with the snack in boiling water. Sterilization time depends on the volume of cans. Half liter should be sterilized for 20 minutes, liter - 40 minutes.
- Remove the jars, cork them tightly, turn them over and wrap them up. Leave to cool in a steam bath for better preservation.
Hot peppers, closed according to the above recipe, can be stored at room temperature. It will not spoil for at least a year.
A simple recipe for pickled hot pepper in Armenian style (without oil and salt)
Composition (1 l):
- hot pepper - 0, 7-0, 9 kg;
- garlic - 10 cloves;
- fresh greens (cilantro, parsley) - 20 g;
- grape vinegar (6%) - 0, 2 l;
- sugar - 20 g (or an adequate amount of honey).
Method of preparation:
- Place greens on the bottom of the sterilized jar.
- Peppers wash, pierce a toothpick near the stem.
- Pack the pods in the prepared jar as tightly as possible by shifting them with garlic plates.
- Boil water, add pepper. After 10 minutes, drain the water. Repeat this manipulation 2-3 more times.
- Pour sugar into a jar, pour in vinegar. Boil clear water, fill the jar to the brim and roll up.
- Turning over the jar, wrap it and leave to cool in this form.
Although pepper in this recipe is preserved without salt and does not undergo sterilization, it costs well even at room temperature.
Hot pepper in Armenian can have a completely different taste, as the recipes for this snack vary greatly. However, regardless of the method of preparation of this dish, it turns out spicy and fragrant, is an excellent addition to meat. Even on a festive table, such a dish would not be redundant.
