A very elegant and tasty appetizer made from eggplant “Peacock Tail” will decorate your holiday table and add a festive mood!
Products:
1. eggplants - 2 pcs.
2. hard cheese - 150 g
3. garlic - 4-5 cloves
4. mayonnaise - 3 tbsp. spoons
5. vegetable oil for frying eggplants
6. flour for breading (optional)
7. large cucumber - 1 pc.
8. tomatoes - 2 pcs (if there is no tomato, you can take red bell pepper)
9. pitted olives for decoration - 1/2 jar
10. salt and pepper - to taste
11. a little dill and (or) parsley
How to prepare an eggplant appetizer:
1. Cut the eggplants diagonally into oval slices, approximately 8 mm thick. Then add salt and set aside for 20 minutes. Next, blot the eggplants with a napkin to remove any juice. and let's move on to frying.
There are three ways to prepare eggplants:
Method 1: Place the eggplant pieces in a frying pan with vegetable oil and fry on both sides over medium heat until golden brown.
Method 2. Before you start frying, bread each slice in flour and only then put the eggplants in a frying pan with oil.
3 way. If you want your snack to be less high-calorie, then line a baking sheet with a sheet of parchment, lightly coat the eggplant slices with oil using a silicone brush and place them on the baking sheet. Bake at 180 degrees for 20-25 minutes.
2. Grate the cheese on a fine grater, pass the garlic through a press. Mix cheese, mayonnaise, garlic, salt and pepper in a cup.
3. Cut the cucumbers diagonally, into slices 3-5 mm thick
4. Cut the tomatoes into circles 3-5 mm thick
5. Place the cheese mixture on the hot eggplant slices, then a tomato slice, a cucumber slice and half an olive. If there is no tomato, you can make a small rim of bell pepper (look at the photo)
Description
Eggplant appetizer “Peacock tail”- This is an excellent vegetable dish prepared according to a home cooking recipe. To prepare it, you only need fresh vegetables, so this snack will be most delicious in the summer. Preparing this dish is not at all difficult, and if you add a little imagination, you can end up with a culinary masterpiece. This eggplant appetizer will look great on any holiday table, and will delight you not only with its appetizing appearance, but also with its wonderful taste.
The main advantage of eggplant snacks is the huge amount of vitamins and nutrients it contains, which are so necessary for the normal functioning of the body, including almost all vitamins B, PP, A, E, as well as substances such as pectin, calcium, potassium, selenium , phosphorus, magnesium, etc. This useful set has a positive effect on the entire body. In addition, in combination with meat, this dish will remove cholesterol that is unnecessary for our body, which is found in large quantities in meat. People who care about their appearance can safely try eggplants. Due to the fact that the dish consists entirely of vegetables, it is low in calories.
The recipe for the eggplant appetizer “Peacock Tail” is very simple, and step-by-step photos accompanying each stage of cooking will help you understand it better.
Ingredients
-
(1 piece) -
(1 piece) -
(1 piece) -
(3/4 tbsp.) -
(1 bunch) -
(1 tbsp.) -
(to taste) -
(to taste)
Cooking steps
We use only the freshest vegetables for cooking. First, wash them thoroughly under running water and let them dry slightly.
After the eggplant has dried, cut it into small circles with a knife. The width should not exceed 1 cm.
Place them in a plate, lightly sprinkle with salt and leave for 10 minutes so that the vegetable releases its juice. After this, dry it slightly with a dry cloth.
Take a baking tray and put special parchment or just foil on top. Grease each piece of eggplant with olive oil and place on a baking sheet. Bake the eggplants in the oven for about 20 minutes at 200 degrees.
While the vegetables are baking, prepare the remaining ingredients. Using a knife, cut the olives lengthwise into 2 parts.
We cut off the “butt” of the cucumbers and cut them into small slices using a knife.
Cut the tomato into thin slices and lightly blot with a napkin so that there is not too much juice.
Checking the readiness of the eggplants. They should have a slightly brown crust. Remove the finished eggplants from the oven.
Let's take a large dish on which we will form an appetizer. Form it based on the photo. First, lay out eggplant slices in the shape of a peacock’s tail, tomatoes on top, and then cucumbers.
We begin to place halves of olives on top of the cucumbers. As a finishing touch, place one sprig of parsley on each piece. The festive eggplant vegetable appetizer is ready.
Bon appetit!
Peacock tail
An easy, incredibly tasty and beautiful appetizer for the holiday table.
Doesn't require any special expenses.
- 3 small eggplants, approximately the same size
- 2 processed cheese
- 2-3 tablespoons mayonnaise
- clove of garlic, if you like it spicy, add more
- approximately two tomatoes and small cucumbers, keep in mind that they should be smaller in diameter than fried eggplant slices, refer to the photo
- pitted olives, about half a jar
- three tablespoons each of flour and vegetable oil
Recipe
- We cut the eggplants into oval slices, the knife should be at an angle of approximately 45 degrees, as they cut sausage in stores.
- Sprinkle with salt (there should be a little more of it than when adding salt to the dish) and leave for twenty to thirty minutes so that excess bitterness comes out.
- To prepare the filling, mash the processed cheese with a fork. Another option is to lightly freeze and grate on a coarse grater. Add mayonnaise and chopped garlic.
- Shake the eggplants from the released liquid, bread them in flour, fry on both sides over medium heat until cooked. Place on a paper towel; if you are concerned about the high calorie content of the dish, the excess fat will go away.
- Cut tomatoes and cucumbers into thin, even slices.
- Cut the olives in half lengthwise.
- If you have red or yellow bell peppers, cut them lengthwise into quarters and cut lengthwise into thin slices.
- All that remains is to decorate the appetizer beautifully.
- Lay out the eggplants.
- Spread the cheese filling on them.
- Next - a tomato ring, cucumber, olive. You can add bell pepper or a ring of red onion if desired.
Tasty, affordable, beautiful. Guests will appreciate the snack.
Not sure what to cook with eggplant? Check out the recipe
The vast culinary arsenal includes dishes that are simple to prepare, but extremely impressive thanks to their beautiful presentation. The multi-colored “peacock tail”, formed from vegetables laid out in a fan, flavored with cheese and garlic spicy sauce, always attracts attention.
Let's look at sample recipes for making this simple snack, outline its dietary effects and possible composition options.
Eggplant “Peacock Tail” appetizer – recipe with photo
A good base for an impressive peacock tail is thinly sliced eggplant, baked or pan-fried. They are fanned out on an oval dish, brushed with a sauce containing pressed garlic and finely grated cheese, and then covered with thin slices of tomatoes, cucumbers and suitable colorful vegetables. The characteristic “eyes” of a peacock’s tail are the halves of black olives. In general, the display turns out to be very picturesque and decorates the table on holidays and weekdays. There is an option in which the eggplant is cut into longitudinal slices no more than a centimeter thick. The cuts go almost to the “pole” with the stalk, which serves as the basis of the “fan”. The slices are pulled apart, keeping the common stalked top, coated with sauce, layered with thin slices of tomatoes, slices of cheese, baked until cooked and decorated with herbs.
With all options for preparing “peacock tails” based on eggplants, you need to pay attention to the selection of quality products:
- Eggplants should have an even color without dark brownish spots, a smooth shiny skin, a green stalk, elastic, light flesh that does not turn brown in the air. Particularly dangerous are overripe fruits with dull, sometimes wrinkled skin, dried stalk and darkening pulp with many formed seeds. Such eggplants accumulate toxic solanine, leading to food poisoning.
- The best tomatoes are richly colored inside and out. Their flesh is quite elastic, and the peel is not too thick. Extensive whitish areas in the core indicate that the fruit was picked unripe, and an overly thick skin grows if the tomatoes contain excess nitrates.
- Medium-sized cucumbers with pimples are considered the best in taste. Their color can be any shade of green; only yellow color should be alarming - a sign of excess nitrates.
In addition, fans of healthy eating should keep in mind that baking is a more dietary way of preparing eggplants than frying, and ready-made mayonnaise, often used for coating ingredients, is rich in calories, but poor in useful components. The sauce that holds the “peacock tail” mosaic together can be made from low-fat sour cream and include not only garlic and cheese, but also finely chopped herbs and suitable spices.
Let's look at sample dietary recipes for colorful snacks.
First - with partial baking:
Preparation:
- Wash the eggplants, dry them, remove the stem, cut into oval slices diagonally, sprinkle with salt. After half an hour, rinse, dry, place on a baking sheet greased with vegetable oil and bake for 15 minutes in an oven preheated to 180ºC.
- While the eggplants are being prepared, mash the cheese with sour cream, mix with peeled pressed garlic. Cut washed, dried tomatoes with the stem removed and cucumbers with their ends cut off into thin slices. Cut the olives in half.
- Fan out the baked eggplant slices on an oval platter. Grease each with cheese, sour cream and garlic mixture, place tomato slices on top, grease them as well, then arrange cucumber slices and decorate each with half an olive. The final touch is to place lush feathery branches of washed and dried dill between the “peacock eyes”.
Second - fully baked:
Preparation:
- Wash the eggplants, dry them and arrange them into “fan cuts” into longitudinal slices about a centimeter thick, without cutting to the “pole” with the stalk. Rub each oblong “petal” with a mixture of salt and pressed garlic.
- Cut the cheese into thin slices, and the washed and dried tomatoes with the stems removed into the same thin circles.
- Layer the eggplant “fan” slices with cheese and tomatoes, spreading them apart.
- Place the formed “tail” on a baking sheet lined with greased foil. Bake in the oven at 180ºC for half an hour. Sprinkle with grated cheese 10 minutes before cooking. Serve on a platter garnished with rinsed and dried cilantro.
Features of use in slimming diets
Peacock tail consists of low-calorie vegetables. True, when forming the appetizer, a more or less high-calorie binding sauce is used. Therefore, the final calorie content of a dish can be either below 100 units or above 150.
To limit the “energy” of food, you can use a sauce based on half a glass of low-fat sour cream with half a teaspoon of salt, ground black pepper and a pinch of sugar. In this case, the “peacock tail” will acquire a very moderate calorie content, while maintaining a rich mineral and vitamin composition. Such a snack will improve the body's health and, at the same time, will not add extra calories. Ingredient Options
In addition to the ingredients listed in the sample recipes, the beautiful and healthy snack also includes:
- Other colored vegetables - primarily red, yellow and green, as well as thin slices of fresh and lettuce.
- Spicy fresh herbs – , .
- and eggs. They are most often boiled and cut into slices, which further enliven the “tail”, slightly increase its calorie content and replenish the protein component of the food.
The second video clearly shows vegetables that are almost ideal in quality - a shiny, dense, deep purple eggplant with snow-white flesh, evenly colored tomatoes and a very green cucumber. True, during the cooking process, eggplant slices are rolled in flour and fried, and mayonnaise is used to hold the “eyes” together. Supporters of an extremely healthy diet can make adjustments to this recipe by replacing frying with baking, and mayonnaise with low-fat sour cream sauce.
“Peacock tail” based on cooked eggplants is a beautiful, tasty and healthy snack with a rich mineral and vitamin composition. The total calorie content of the dish can be adjusted due to the composition of the components that complement the vegetables. Moderately high-calorie options fit well into the slimming menu, decorating the diet table.
Do you cook peacock tail with eggplant base? What additional ingredients do you use to decorate this colorful dish? Do you use it in dietary practice? Share your experiences and culinary discoveries with us in the comments!
It is best to prepare an eggplant appetizer at the height of the season, that is, in the fall. But both in summer and winter you can find strong, tasty vegetables. Therefore, the recipe will be useful for the New Year's table or any other festive feast. The eggplant appetizer got its name “Peacock Tail” due to its external resemblance to the object of the same name. She is as bright and colorful as the most elegant bird in the world.
“Peacock tail” - eggplant appetizer in the oven
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Number of servings: 6
Ingredients:
- Eggplant 2 pcs.
- Cucumber ½ pcs.
- Bell pepper (red) 1/3 pcs.
- Pitted olives 8−12 pcs.
- Olive oil
- Processed cheese 180 gr
- Chicken egg 2 pcs.
- Garlic 3 cloves
- Mayonnaise 2 tbsp.
- Green salad for decoration
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Peacock tail appetizer - recipe
- Boil the eggs for 10-12 minutes (hard-boiled).
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Cut the eggplants into slices, place on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, make a cheese salad for an appetizer. Finely grate the processed cheese and eggs, add chopped garlic and 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise, mix well.
- Cut the cucumber into slices and the pepper into small strips. Cut the olives into 2 equal parts.
- Remove the eggplants from the oven. If there is excess oil, blot it off with paper towels.
- Place a teaspoon of lettuce on each eggplant. Next, place a cucumber and half an olive on the edge of the eggplant circle, forming a pattern like on a peacock’s tail. Top the eggplants with a slice of pepper.
- Place a few green salad leaves on a plate and arrange the vegetables and salad on top in the shape of a peacock's tail. Ready! Time to surprise your guests!
Try this Peacock Eggplant Appetizer! The recipe can be modified, giving room for your imagination.
Appetizer "Peacock tail" from lavash
There is another version of the dish with the same name. It is made even without eggplants - if in the previous recipe for the blue “Peacock Tail” appetizer they played the main role, then in this case they will not be needed at all. The dish also got its name due to its external resemblance to the tail of a peacock, since pita rolls are laid on a plate in layers and begin to resemble it. By the way, this recipe is even easier and faster than the previous one!
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Number of servings: 6
Ingredients:
- Armenian lavash (thin) 1 pc.
- Cream cheese 100 gr.
- Lightly salted trout or salmon 150 g
- Lettuce leaves
Peacock Tail Lavash Appetizer: Recipe
- Open the pita bread and spread with cream cheese.
- Place smoked or lightly salted fish (in thin slices) on top, and a couple of lettuce leaves on top.
- Roll the pita bread with contents into a roll.
- Place in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes (optional).
- Cut the roll into portions and place on a plate in the shape of a peacock's tail. Ready!
Photo: Fotodom, Pinterest, fotoimedia / Ingram.
