"Favorite" Eggplant Salad for Winter

Cooking method

1. Step 1:

   

   Wash all the vegetables well and trim the stems off the eggplant and tomatoes.

2. Step 2:

   

   Cut the eggplant into rounds about 3/4 inch (1.5–2 cm) thick.

3. Step 3:

   

   Arrange them on a baking sheet greased with vegetable oil, brush the tops with oil too, and put them in the oven.

4. Step 4:

   

   Cut the onion into half-moons, add it to a skillet, and fry until golden.

5. Step 5:

   

   Grate the carrots on a julienne (Korean-carrot) grater.

6. Step 6:

   

   Add the carrots to the onion and keep frying until they're tender.

7. Step 7:

   

   Grate the celery root on the julienne grater as well.

8. Step 8:

   

   Add the celery root to the skillet and cook for another 5 to 7 minutes.

9. Step 9:

   

   Season with salt.

10. Step 10:

    

    Cut up the tomatoes, seed a red hot chili pepper, and run them both through a food grinder.

11. Step 11:

    

    The eggplant should roast in the oven at 400°F (200°C) for 30 minutes.

12. Step 12:

    

    Stir the salt and sugar into the pureed tomato-and-pepper mixture.

13. Step 13:

    

    Chop the parsley and dill.

14. Step 14:

    

    Add them to the sautéed vegetables.

15. Step 15:

    

    Pour a ladle of the tomato juice and a tablespoon of hot vegetable oil into the bottom of each jar, then add a layer of eggplant followed by a layer of the vegetable sauté. Keep alternating the layers, pouring tomato juice over each one.

16. Step 16:

    

    Leave about 3/4 inch (2 cm) of headroom at the top of each jar. Set the jars up to sterilize for 1 hour.

17. Step 17:

    

    Start timing the sterilization once the water in the pot comes to a boil. The water should come up to the necks of the jars, and line the bottom of the pot with a towel. Cool the sealed jars under a blanket for a day or two — the more slowly the preserves cool, the better your winter batch will keep.