Carlos Solis
Once you’ve mastered a few winter recipes, try this hot salad of tomatoes and rice to take your preserving skills up a notch. The vegetables blend with onions and round rice, while sunflower oil, sugar, and salt serve as natural preservatives in this vinegar-free method. A thin layer of sunflower oil on the surface slows oxidation and helps prevent microbial growth, extending shelf life. Salt inhibits bacteria and fungi by reducing water activity in the food, making the environment inhospitable for microbes. Sugar’s hygroscopic nature locks up water and limits moisture available to microorganisms. In this winter salad recipe, those traditional preservation methods are reinforced by thermal processing; in other recipes, adding acid can further enhance their effectiveness.
Ingredients: tomatoes – 3 kg; carrots – 1 kg; sweet peppers – 1 kg; onions – 1 kg; round dry rice – 200 g; sunflower oil – 500 ml; sugar – 1 cup; salt – 1 tablespoon.
Pass the tomatoes through a meat grinder. Finely chop the carrots, onions, and sweet peppers. Rinse the rice.
In an enameled pot, pour in the sunflower oil, add the sugar, salt, vegetables, and rice. Bring to a boil, then simmer over low heat for one hour, stirring occasionally.
Distribute the hot salad into sterilized jars and seal them.
Life Hack
You can also prepare this winter salad with pearl barley, but it will require a longer cooking time—about 1 hour and 20 minutes.
