Ankle Bens For The Winter: Recipes With Zucchini, Eggplant And Other Vegetables

2025 Author: Bailey Albertson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2025-01-23 12:41

Homemade Ankle Bence for the winter: much tastier than the store

Long ago, when the remnants of the Iron Curtain fell and goods from far abroad poured into the Russian market, one of the first swallows in their ranks was the products of the American brand Uncle Bens, specializing in instant rice and aromatic vegetable sauces. The latter were so fond of Russian housewives that, without hesitation, they began to prepare their own Ankle Bens for the winter, based on the approximate composition of a foreign snack and their own ingenuity. It worked out very well. Do you want to be convinced?

Content

• 1 How to make an Uncle Bence snack for the winter

  • 1.1 With zucchini and bell peppers
  • 1.2 With carrots and cucumbers
  • 1.3 With rice
  • 1.4 In a multicooker
  • 1.5 Video: zucchini salad and eggplant for the winter

How to make an Uncle Bence snack for the winter

A characteristic feature of the famous brand's vegetable snacks is the presence in the majority of them of tomato sauce, in which an appetizing mishmash of chopped vegetables is stewed. Therefore, the classic Uncle Bens will always contain either tomatoes, or tomato paste, or, at worst, tomato juice. Well, the set of other components can be anything: during the time that has passed since the 90s - and it was then that the finest hour of "Uncle Bens" in our country struck - the recipes for the famous appetizer have multiplied, overgrown with dozens of different options, and now each hostess prepares this delicious snack as it sees fit. Choose what you like best.

With zucchini and bell peppers

It is believed that this semi-semi-salad is the closest to the original recipe. Whether this is so, we cannot vouch, but the appetizer turns out to be excellent.

You will need:

• 2 kg of zucchini;
• 0.5 kg of sweet pepper;
• 1 kg of onions;
• 3-4 cloves of garlic;
• 200 ml tomato paste;
• 1 liter of clean water;
• 250 ml of vegetable oil;
• 60 ml vinegar;
• 5-6 Art. l. Sahara;
• 20 g of salt.

Cooking.

1. Prepare the zucchini, peppers and onions: wash, remove the stalks, peel the onion, remove the seeds from the pepper and zucchini and cut the flesh into small cubes.

   

   Prepare vegetables

2. Combine water, tomato paste, vegetable oil, salt and sugar in a deep saucepan. Heat everything over medium heat until the mixture boils, stirring occasionally with a spoon until the sugar and salt dissolve.

   

   As soon as the pasta boils, put the vegetables in it

3. Put the zucchini in a boiling brew, boil the mass again, reduce the heat and simmer the vegetables for 10-12 minutes.

   

   Stir the zucchini pasta well

4. Place the peppers and onions in the pot. Continue simmering for another 10-12 minutes.

   

   Watch the liquid level, it should not boil off too much

5. Pass the garlic cloves through a press, mix with vinegar and pour into an almost finished snack.

   

   Garlic will add a pleasant tang to your snack, and vinegar will extend the shelf life.

6. Another 10-12 minutes, and you can lay out the ready-made vegetable salad-appetizer-sauce in sterilized jars and seal for the winter.

   

   Pieces of summer packed for the long winter

Pumpkin will make your snack especially bright and appetizing

With carrots and cucumbers

Since there are not many vitamins, we suggest enriching the taste of a traditional snack with cucumbers and carrots. And at the same time add more fragrant herbs to it so that in winter, barely opening the jar, you drown in the aromas of sunny summer.

You will need:

• 2.5 kg of tomatoes;
• 1 kg of fresh crispy cucumbers;
• 1 kg of carrots;
• 1 kg of bell pepper;
• 1 kg of onions;
• 3 heads of garlic or, optionally, 1 head and 1 chili pepper;
• 1 large bunch of parsley and dill;
• 100 ml of vegetable oil;
• 100 ml vinegar;
• 150 g sugar;
• 50 g of salt.

Cooking.

1. Pour boiling water over the tomatoes, peel them and finely chop or mince.

   

   Scalded tomatoes get rid of the peel without difficulty

2. Collect the juice and place it along with the pulp in a large saucepan on the stove. Wait until it boils, reduce the flame, and then cook the resulting mass for another 10-12 minutes.

   

   Watch out for tomato sauce, if it boils down too much, it will start to burn

3. While the tomatoes are simmering over the fire, wash, peel and cut the remaining vegetables into cubes, strips or thin slices. Sequentially send carrots, onions, peppers and - last of all - cucumbers to the pan, observing the 10-minute interval before laying the next vegetable.

   

   Solid carrots are sent first to the pan, and watery cucumbers last

4. As soon as the cucumbers are in the saucepan, mark for 5 minutes, and then add butter, sugar, salt and vinegar and simmer the vegetable crumbs over the fire for another 20-30 minutes. When checking the readiness of a snack, be guided by the carrot: if it has become soft enough, you are there.

   

   The snack will have time to boil down a little

5. Before turning off the stove, pour finely chopped herbs and garlic through a press into the almost finished vegetable mixture.

   

   The final touch is fresh herbs

6. After 5 minutes, pour the snack into pre-prepared containers and seal.

   

   Each jar can hold a whole collection of vegetables

With rice

Do you remember that initially "Uncle Bens" offered his customers not only vegetable spices, but also instant rice? We also offer you not to restrict yourself to purely vegetable preparations, but to cook up a richer meal in the best traditions of a world brand.

You will need:

• 2 kg of zucchini;
• 700 g of tomatoes;
• 700 g bell pepper;
• 700 g carrots;
• 700 g of onions;
• 1 chili pepper;
• 1 cup rice
• 150 ml of vegetable oil;
• 60–70 ml of vinegar;
• 2/3 cup sugar;
• 1.5 tbsp. l salt.

Cooking.

1. For squash, cut off the stalks, scoop out the seeds with a spoon and cut the flesh into medium-sized cubes. You don't need to peel vegetables unless you have a particularly overripe and thick-skinned specimen.

   

   The pieces should be neither too large nor too small

2. Remove the stalk and seeds from the bell pepper, and chop the flesh into pieces slightly smaller than the courgettes.

   

   Nothing extra, just juicy ripe pulp

3. Peel the carrots and grate on a coarse grater, remove the husk from the onion and chop finely.

   

   Since the carrot cubes take too long to cook, it is wiser to use a grater

4. Peel the garlic, pass through a press and put in the oil.

   

   For the spiced oil, it will come a little later.

5. Cut the chili peppers into thin slices. If you like a savory snack, do it with the seeds, if not, remove them first.

   

   With seeds, the bitterness of chili doubles

6. Remove the skin from the scalded tomatoes and puree the pulp with a blender or meat grinder.

   

   The meat grinder will make the tomato puree perfectly smooth

7. Place all vegetables in a saucepan and season with garlic oil, salt and sugar. Simmer over medium heat for half an hour.

   

   Reduce the fire, the appetizer should be stewing, not boiling

8. Rinse the rice, add to the vegetables, stir and leave on the stove for another 30 minutes.

   

   With rice, the dish will move from the category of snacks to the category of independent meals.

9. At the end, pour in vinegar, wait 5-10 minutes and proceed to canning.

   

   Remember to cool the jars by turning them upside down

In a multicooker

Have you already acquired a multicooker and have fallen in love with it for its ease of use and freedom that it gives to the cook? Then the following recipe is definitely for you.

You will need:

• 1 kg of tomatoes;
• 150 g white cabbage;
• 3-4 bell peppers;
• 2 carrots;
• 1 onion;
• 2-3 cloves of garlic;
• a couple of bay leaves;
• a few sprigs of parsley or dill (some prefer basil);
• 75 ml of vegetable oil;
• 2 tbsp. l. vinegar;
• 1 tsp salt.

Cooking.

1. Wash all the vegetables, peel the onions and carrots, remove the stalk from the pepper, and then cut everything into small cubes or slices.

   

   take a multi-colored pepper, the dish looks more interesting with it

2. Put the vegetables into the multicooker bowl along with the oil, set the "Stew" mode and simmer for 5-7 minutes without closing the lid.

   

   Some people prefer "Fry" or "Multi Cook" modes

3. During this time, it is quite possible to have time to chop the cabbage, which will also need to be sent to the multicooker bowl and detected for another 5-7 minutes.

   

   Chop thinner cabbage

4. While the miracle of modern technology is trying, pour boiling water over the tomatoes, remove the skins and chop the pulp in mashed potatoes. Pour it into the bowl as well.

   

   If it seems to you that the mixture is not juicy enough, pour 100 ml of water into the bowl

5. Now chop the herbs and peeled garlic, and then stir it all over the languishing vegetables along with bay leaves and salt.

   

   Garlic can be pressed or chopped - whichever you prefer

6. Close the lid and let the vegetable mixture rise for 30-40 minutes.

   

   What is good about a multicooker - it can work without your supervision

7. Pour the vinegar into the bowl 5 minutes before the end of cooking.

   

   vinegar is added when the food is almost ready

8. Distribute the sauce in glass containers, seal and store.

   

   And tasty, and healthy, and without unnecessary hassle

Video: zucchini salad and eggplant for the winter

The days when conservation was one of the few ways to provide seven vitamins for the winter are long gone. Today housewives do it more for the soul. Although not without benefit, because not a single store blank can boast such a natural composition as a homemade one. And it remains to be seen who will taste better - the famous Uncle Bens or you.