Canning is good for preparing for the winter, but in order to eat salted or pickled vegetables here and now, quick pickling is suitable. Lightly salted tomatoes are just as beautiful and tasty as their main competitors, lightly salted cucumbers. If desired, you can even pickle them together and you will get a lightly salted vegetable salad. This appetizer is already ready and can be served immediately.
To be honest, I prefer to pickle cucumbers and tomatoes separately, they have their own taste very well. In addition, we must take into account that cucumbers are salted faster and most often they only need no more than a day, and sometimes a couple of hours, until they are ready. But tomatoes are salted on average for at least a day, and sometimes up to three. Tomatoes are larger, meatier than cucumbers and their skin is thicker; it must be cut to achieve good salting.
To prepare lightly salted instant tomatoes, you can take large tomatoes and cut them into slices, you can take medium ones, pierce their skin or cut them into halves, or you can pickle small cherry tomatoes and you will get a very quick and tasty treat.
There are several ways to pickle tomatoes, the main ones are in liquid, that is, brine, and the dry method, when the tomatoes are rubbed with a mixture of salt, spices and herbs. In any case, the tomatoes need to be left for pickling in the refrigerator for at least a day. Due to the fact that this is not a method of preservation with mandatory sterilization and a lot of preservatives, lightly salted tomatoes need to be prepared in the quantity that you can eat in 1-2 days. That is, one jar if for yourself for lunch and a larger container if for the arrival of guests for a holiday.
Even in the refrigerator, lightly salted tomatoes do not last long and begin to ferment. So be careful. Better eat them right away, because they are very tasty.
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Let's move on to recipes for preparing lightly salted tomatoes, and I will try to tell you about a variety of them.
How to cook lightly salted tomatoes with garlic and herbs in a bag a day in advance
For such a simple pickling, you will need a day of time and a durable plastic food bag. As I mentioned at the very beginning, there is dry pickling of tomatoes. This is what she is. As with cucumbers, the situation is quite simple - mix the tomatoes and spices in a bag and leave to pickle. The salting is not very deep, and the tomatoes retain a lot of flavor and nutrients, because we will not pour boiling water over them and boil all the vitamins. I recommend you try this simple recipe.
You will need:
- small strong tomatoes - 1 kg;
- dill greens - 1 bunch;
- garlic - 3-6 cloves (to taste);
- salt - 1 tablespoon;
- sugar - 1 teaspoon.
Preparation:
1. Lightly salted tomatoes that you are going to cook in a bag should not be too large. Dense, fleshy varieties of cream or medium-sized round ones are good choices. Wash the tomatoes and dry them so that there is no excess water.
2. Pierce each tomato with a knife or fork with a cross in the place where the stalk was. This will allow the salt to pass through.
3. Finely chop fresh dill.
4. Squeeze the garlic through a press. The smaller it is, the brighter the taste will be, since it will give off a lot of juice.
5. Place the tomatoes in a bag and add herbs and garlic. Then add salt and sugar.
6. Tie the bag tightly and mix the contents thoroughly. Garlic, herbs and salt with sugar should be distributed over each tomato.
7. Leave the bag of tomatoes in the refrigerator to chill. They can be left at room temperature for several hours, for example, if you want to take the product with you to the dacha or to the countryside. You can keep the tomatoes in the bag longer, then their salinity will increase.
After 24 hours, the lightly salted tomatoes will be ready, you can take them out and serve them with potatoes and kebabs. It will be very tasty!
Some more tips
In order to diversify your quickly salted tomatoes, make them sharper, brighter, and piquant, you can add some ingredients to recipes. For example, a little hot pepper . 1-2 circles per three liters of tomatoes is enough. Thanks to the addition of hot pepper, the taste of your dish will be bright and rich.
If you prefer marinated rather than salted tomatoes, you can add vinegar. One tablespoon will be enough for a three-liter jar . Mustard. It will make the usual taste of salted tomatoes piquant. Dry mustard can simply be dissolved in brine, or the powder can be placed at the bottom of the jar.
Another great for quick pickling is bell pepper. Before putting tomatoes in a jar, you need to put it on the bottom. It will be enough to take one ring of pepper - large, wide and dense. It will need to be cut into ribbons. You can complement the taste of salted tomatoes with a nut leaf. One or two leaves can be placed on the bottom of the jar.
These simple tips and recipes will be useful for you to make quick-cooking salted tomatoes with your own hands. Follow all the rules , experiment with the ingredients, choose your favorite recipe and you will be able to delight yourself and your loved ones with goodies that you won’t have to wait long for.
Cooking instant tomatoes in a jar with horseradish and dill umbrellas
This recipe is very similar to the classic preparation of tomatoes for the winter, but we will be eating them in a couple of days. Due to the time spent in brine, the tomatoes turn out lightly salted. You need to cook these tomatoes in the amount that you can eat in 2-3 days. This is a hot method of salting, since we will be pouring the brine that has just been removed from the stove. For taste, add horseradish root, but you can also use the leaves if you have them.
You will need:
- medium-sized firm, strong tomatoes - 1.5 kg;
- horseradish root - 1 piece;
- garlic - 5-6 cloves;
- umbrellas or dill - 1-2 pieces (or a bunch);
- bay leaf - 2 pieces;
- black peppercorns - 10 pieces;
- salt - 3 level tablespoons;
- sugar - 2 teaspoons.
Preparation:
1. Wash and clean all required products. Dry the tomatoes. Prepare everything in advance so you have it on hand.
2. Place half of the dill sprigs, chopped horseradish root and half of the garlic on the bottom of a clean jar.
3. Fill the jar with tomatoes. Lay them according to size so that more can fit, but you don’t have to try as hard as you do when wrapping tomatoes for the winter. For us, it is only important that all the tomatoes are in the brine; the jar may not be full.
4. Place the remaining half of the dill, garlic, and peppercorns on top. Add bay leaf.
5. Pour water into a saucepan, about 1.5 liters. Pour in soya beans and sugar and stir until they are completely dissolved. Place the saucepan on the stove and bring to a boil.
6. Pour hot brine over the tomatoes until it completely covers them. Cover the jar with a plastic lid and leave the jar to cool at room temperature. After it has cooled, you can put it in the refrigerator.
Delicious lightly salted tomatoes with horseradish will be ready in about three days. Enjoy your lunch!
Useful tips
During the cooking process, you need to follow some rules that will make your tomatoes tasty.
First of all, you need to carefully select the tomatoes that you will pickle. First, you need to take these vegetables of approximately the same size (small) and preferably they are of the same variety. This condition must be observed for the simple reason that if the tomatoes are very different, they will be salted unevenly. Those that are larger in size may remain lightly salted or not salted at all.
Tomatoes need to be chosen not only of the same size, but also of the same color. Because each color has its own taste . In addition, tomatoes of different colors will require different amounts of salting time. You will have to wait especially long for the effect of green tomatoes.
The best variety of tomato that is suitable for quick pickling is plum tomatoes. Firstly, they are ideal in size, secondly, they can fit perfectly even in small jars, and thirdly, they simply have a wonderful taste.
Another tomato variety suitable for quick pickling is cherry . They are very small, they have delicate skin and a delicate taste that even gourmets will appreciate. But you need to handle them very carefully so as not to damage them and not end up with tomato paste with skins floating in it instead of salted tomatoes. You need little salt to prepare them, as they are tiny and will quickly absorb the brine. And it is better not to use spices when preparing them.
also choose tomatoes that are firm, whole , and without any dents or damage. Because damaged fruits may squeeze out pulp or leak juice. If this happens, the desired dish will not turn out. During cooking, you should not add too many spices to the tomatoes, otherwise you risk not feeling the taste of the vegetable itself. It is strictly forbidden to pierce tomatoes during pickling, as is done with cucumbers. If you pierce the tomatoes, you will only ruin everything.
To make your tomatoes pickle faster, you need to add more salt to the brine and bring the brine to a boil. The hotter the brine , the faster the tomatoes will be salted. Therefore, it is best to pour boiling water directly over them. Jars of tomatoes salted quickly should be closed with regular lids and not rolled up. Since such tomatoes need to be eaten quickly and should not be stored for a long time. The quick salting method does not require long-term storage.
Delicious lightly salted tomatoes with honey, stuffed with garlic - video recipe
Do you know the little secret to delicious salting of any vegetables? Add not only salt, but also sugar to the brine. This secret is used not only when pickling to balance vinegar, but also when salting, because sugar enhances the taste of food in a special way and combines with salt. The main thing is that the proportion is correct: less sugar than salt.
In this interesting recipe, sugar is replaced with honey, which adds not only a slight sweetish taste to lightly salted tomatoes, but also a very pleasant note.
Instant lightly salted cherry tomatoes
Small cherry tomatoes are simply made for pickling and pickling. After all, it’s so convenient to eat, you put the whole thing in your mouth and the juice from the burst skin doesn’t flow down your chin. Due to their size, lightly salted cherry tomatoes turn out better than large tomatoes. At least you don’t have to wait three days for them to salt. You can eat it for a maximum of a day, but for those who are impatient, you can leave it for a few hours.
You can pickle cherry tomatoes according to any recipe for tomatoes, either hot or cold. Or you can do it dry, and here again the size gives them a certain advantage.
You will need:
- cherry tomatoes - 1 kg;
- garlic - 1 head;
- black peppercorns - 10-15 peas;
- bay leaf - 1-2 pieces;
- sugar - 1 teaspoon;
- salt - 3 tablespoons;
- vinegar 9% - 2 tablespoons;
- celery greens - 1 bunch;
- dill greens - 1/2 bunch.
Preparation:
1. Cut the washed tomatoes into a cross at one end or cut into halves (if the cherry tomatoes are not too small).
2. Chop or tear celery and dill into large pieces.
3. Peel the garlic and cut each clove into 3-4 pieces.
4. Pour 1 liter of cold water into the pan. Put salt and sugar there, then add peppercorns, bay leaves for flavor and pour two tablespoons of vinegar. Turn on the stove and let the water boil. The brine must simmer for 3 minutes for the aroma and taste of the spices to develop.
5. Place all the tomatoes and herbs in a suitable glass or enamel container. Then fill with prepared brine.
6. Leave the tomatoes to cool in the room, and then put them in the refrigerator until completely cool.
In just a couple of hours, incredibly tasty small lightly salted cherry tomatoes will appear on your table. You can adjust their taste by salting time, but I assure you that you won’t need too much.
Pickle tomatoes with herbs and lemon juice - a quick super snack
And this option for preparing lightly salted tomatoes, in my opinion, is most suitable for a holiday table. At least for a birthday, at least for the New Year. It’s nice to put such beauty on the table in front of admiring guests. Spicy and tangy tomatoes will fly away the fastest. The most interesting thing about them is the way they are prepared and served. The tomatoes are stuffed with a mixture of aromatic herbs and garlic and salted in this form, and then served in the same way. I broke off a “petal” of such a flower and ate it. Beauty.
They are prepared in 5-6 hours, so you can stuff them in the morning for a holiday lunch or in the afternoon for dinner. It couldn't be simpler. It is only important to choose good and correct tomatoes. Meaty and flattened slightly like a pumpkin, with cream tomatoes it will be more difficult to make them stand up like a flower. You can also safely take large tomatoes and they will still be salted quickly.
You will need:
- large tomatoes - about 1 kg;
- dill, cilantro (or parsley) and green onions - a small bunch each;
- garlic - 1-1.5 heads;
- juice of one lemon;
- salt - 1.5 tablespoons;
- sugar - 1 teaspoon;
- Ground black pepper - 1 teaspoon.
Preparation:
1. To get such beautiful lightly salted tomatoes flowers, take large and round tomatoes, wash them, cut out the top stalk and make a cross cut almost the entire height. Leave 1 centimeter uncut at the bottom. The tomato should open slightly, but not fall into quarters.
2. Chop the dill, onion and cilantro. If you don't like cilantro, replace it with parsley, it will also be very tasty.
3. Grate the garlic on a fine grater or squeeze through a special press. Mix with herbs in a separate bowl.
4. In another bowl, mix salt, sugar and pepper. Then rub the inside of the tomatoes with this mixture. You can take it with a spoon or even with your hands and rub each “petal” of the tomato.
5. Squeeze the juice from one lemon and pour it over the tomatoes into the cut.
6. Then place the herb-garlic mixture in the middle of each “flower” so that it fills all the cuts in the tomato. You will get a tomato stuffed with herbs.
7. In this form, place the tomatoes in a large bowl or baking dish so that they all stand with their cuts facing up. Cover the container with cling film and refrigerate for 5-6 hours.
After this time, a delicious tomato appetizer will be ready. Bon appetit!
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With mustard
- Time: 30-40 minutes (+ 1.5-2 days).
- Number of servings: 7-10 persons.
- Calorie content: 33 kcal.
- Purpose: snack.
- Cuisine: Russian.
- Difficulty: easy.
Another interesting option for preparing tomatoes is to grind them with mustard. The recipe is simple and straightforward, so even a novice cook can handle it. If everything is done correctly, then within a day and a half to two days you will be able to please yourself with a fragrant, piquant appetizer made from ripe tomatoes. Based on the quantity of products, the pickle is designed for 8 servings.
Ingredients:
- dry mustard – 12 tsp;
- vegetables – 8 kg;
- salt – ½ tbsp.;
- allspice and bitter pepper (ground) - ½ tsp each;
- water – 5 l;
- bay leaf – 6 pcs.;
- black currant leaves - 5 pieces.
Cooking method:
- Place the cream in a large, deep container. Intersperse each layer with currant leaves.
- Boil water, add salt, then cool.
- Add mustard to the brine, mix thoroughly and leave until the marinade becomes clear.
- Pour over the tomatoes and place pressure on top.
- Salt in a cool place for 1.5-2 days.
