Main Page
Homemade preparations
Ancl bens of zucchini with tomatoes

Homemade "Uncle Ben's"-Style Zucchini and Tomato Relish

That same taste from childhood! A canned vegetable relish for winter! Anyone who lived through the '90s will remember "Uncle Ben's" — those rows of little jars of sauce that seemed so novel and exotic back then. Home cooks learned to make them just as well as the original. Homemade, this is both a relish and a great accompaniment to meat dishes.

katushafin

Recipe author

Watch the video

Composition / ingredients

Servings:

Zucchini

Bell peppers

0.5

Tomatoes

2.5

Onion

0.2

Vegetable oil

200

White vinegar (9%)

Salt

Sugar

200

Translation table of volumetric measures

Nutrients and energy value of the composition of the recipe

By weight of the composition:

Proteins 8 % 1 g

Fats 31 % 4 g

Carbohydrates 62 % 8 g

67 kcal

GI: 50 / 0 / 50

Cooking method

Step 1:

How do you make this zucchini relish? Gather your ingredients. Use a neutral, odorless vegetable oil. This relish is best made in the fall, when there's an abundance of cheap local produce — it tastes better that way. I made a small batch; the amounts in the recipe will yield about 5 liters (5 quarts) of finished relish. Wash the vegetables well before you start.
Step 2:

Peel the zucchini, and if they're large, remove the seeds (mine were small, so I left them in). Cut the zucchini into large cubes.
Step 3:

Seed the bell peppers and cut them into pieces about the same size as the zucchini.
Step 4:

Peel the onion and cut it into quarter-rings.
Step 5:

Halve the tomatoes and cut out the stem ends. Cut the tomatoes into rough pieces — we'll be blending them anyway.
Step 6:

Put the tomatoes in a deep pot. Purée them with an immersion blender — you could also use a food processor, a meat grinder, or even grate them.
Step 7:

Add the salt, sugar, and vegetable oil to the tomatoes and stir. Add the zucchini to the pot.
Step 8:

Set the pot over medium heat.
Step 9:

Once it boils, lower the heat and cook the mixture for 30 minutes.
Step 10:

Then add the peppers and cook for another 15 minutes.
Step 11:

Then add the onion and vinegar, stir, and cook for another 5 minutes. Turn off the heat when the time is up.
Step 12:

Ladle the hot relish into dry sterilized jars.
Step 13:

Seal the jars with lids. Leave them on the counter until completely cooled, then move them to a cool place.

I remember Uncle Ben's very well — we'd cook meat with it and it came out so tasty! This relish struck me as even better; it has a beautifully balanced flavor, both sweet and pleasantly tangy at once. I recommend giving it a try!
Keep in mind that ingredients like salt, sugar, and vinegar (or its substitutes) in canning recipes aren't just for flavor — they're first and foremost preservatives. So never cut back on the salt and sugar, and don't swap in a vinegar weaker than the recipe calls for, or the vinegar (and salt/sugar) won't preserve properly and the batch will spoil.