Stewed Vegetable Recipes
Stewed vegetables is a rather nutritious, hypoallergenic and, for the most part, low-calorie dish, so this product is prepared both in children's institutions and for people with digestive problems. It can be prepared from ordinary vegetables and fed to babies from a year old, or you can use unusual foods and spicy seasonings in the recipe. Stewed vegetables are also often present in the diet, because this dish is quite easy to prepare with a minimum amount of oil or its complete absence, and, therefore, the calorie content of this product will be very small.
There are many recipes for stewed vegetables. All of them are based on the use of boiling water, broth, sauce and the own juice of vegetables in which they are stewed in the cooking process.
cooking secrets
Stewing is in itself a combination of two processes - boiling and frying. In addition to the classic cooking option, there are also various other variations of this process, such as:
- languishing vegetables, when vegetables are stewed under the lid for a long time;
- poaching vegetables - a short-term processing process in the form of stewing, which uses a minimum of water;
- the so-called "confit" process, in which the medium for stewing products is oil.
The classic way of preparing this dish is that the available vegetables are washed, cut and stewed with a little water and broth in a pan. It seems to be simple, but any dish has its own cooking tricks, and stewed vegetables are no exception.
- If you cook this dish in a deep bowl - a cauldron and a saucepan, it will be much more aromatic.
- The preparation of vegetables is important: for example, cauliflower is dipped in salty cold water for 15 minutes in order to clean it of insects inside the inflorescences; all spoiled parts are cut off from potatoes. Beets are dipped in cold water for an hour before cooking. This will make her cook faster.
- Vegetable oil enhances the flavor of dishes.
- The most juicy and fragrant vegetables are obtained by stewing them in their own juice, and not in water and broth.
- If the preparation of the dish involves acidic additives in the form of tomato paste, vinegar and lemon juice, then they must be added at the end of cooking, as they increase the cooking time.
- Bay leaf as a seasoning is added 10 minutes before the end of cooking stewed vegetables.
- There is no need to defrost vegetables before cooking. This means that you can stew frozen cuts immediately, without wasting time defrosting.
How to properly cook stewed vegetables so that they do not boil in broth during stewing? There are vegetable cooking tables that indicate the stewing time for a particular vegetable.
The cooking time for the main vegetables of central Russia is as follows:
- eggplant - 25 minutes;
- zucchini - 25 minutes;
- cabbage - 60 minutes;
- potatoes - 50 minutes;
- onions - 20 minutes;
- carrots - 20 minutes;
- beets - 30 minutes.
Benefit and harm
Stewed vegetables are undoubtedly healthier than their fried counterparts. They have less cholesterol, fats and, with a certain cooking option, more useful substances, trace elements, vitamins.
Stewed vegetables, due to their usefulness and hypoallergenicity, are also used in the nutrition of preschoolers, as well as people suffering from gastroenterological problems, such as gastritis and ulcers.
For a child from 1 year old, you can already cook stewed vegetables, cut into small pieces, teaching the baby to chew food.
Stewed fruits are low in calories, so using them in a diet helps to lose weight. Thus, the fight against extra pounds in the presence of a wide variety of dishes from stewed vegetables becomes less stressful, and the body experiences less stress.
It would seem that stewed vegetables have no contraindications. However, recent studies by Scottish experts have identified a link between the consumption of, in particular, stewed zucchini and eggplant with the occurrence of tooth decay. It is assumed that these vegetables release acid during the quenching process, which negatively affects tooth enamel, so scientists advise to thoroughly brush your teeth and rinse your mouth after eating such food.
Classic ways
The classic recipe uses mostly ordinary vegetables that you can buy at the store and grow in the garden. These are potatoes, zucchini, onions, carrots and other no less nutritious and fortified ingredients. This dish can be used both as a side dish and as a base for cooking dishes with meat. In the latter option, you only need to add chicken or pork to the vegetables in the pan. The ideal frying pan for steaming vegetables usually has high sides. Well, the most delicious dish will turn out, of course, from young vegetables and herbs.
Ingredients:
- potatoes - 4 pcs.;
- eggplant - 1 pc.;
- zucchini - 1 pc.;
- carrots - 1 pc.;
- tomato - 1 pc.;
- onion - 1 pc.;
- garlic - 1 clove;
- olive oil - 2 tablespoons;
- salt, pepper, herbs - optional.
Cooking:
- all vegetables are washed and peeled;
- turn on the stove, pour oil into the pan and heat it;
- the onion is cut into half rings and sent to the pan;
- carrots are rubbed on a medium grater and added to the onion;
- eggplant and zucchini are cut into cubes (not small) and laid out for overcooking;
- after peeling the potatoes, they are cut and added to the vegetable mixture;
- the tomato is dipped for 15 seconds in a cup of boiling water;
- the tomato is peeled, cut into small cubes and added to the vegetables;
- after 7 minutes of frying, the vegetables are salted and finely chopped garlic is added;
- pour vegetables with water and stew after boiling for 10 minutes;
- at the end of cooking, you can pepper the dish and add chopped greens.
The original taste is obtained from vegetables that languish in clay pots for a long time. This side dish goes well with both meat and fish.
Ingredients:
- eggplant - 1 pc.;
- zucchini - 1 pc.;
- onions - 3 pcs.;
- carrots - 1 pc.;
- garlic - 1 clove;
- sweet pepper - 2 pcs.;
- olive oil - 3 tablespoons;
- sour cream - 180 g;
- salt, pepper, herbs - optional.
To prepare a tasty and fragrant dish in pots, you first need to prepare the vegetables by cutting and peeling them. Then the vegetables are cut - not small, but not very large pieces. After cutting, carrots and onions are pre-fried in olive oil, without forgetting to add salt.
Fried vegetables are placed in the base of the pots, and then other ingredients are sent there, layer by layer, salting each layer. After, sour cream is diluted with a small amount of water and pots are poured with this sauce on ? their entire volume. You can also add herbs to it, such as dill and parsley.
It is not necessary to fill the entire volume provided.If you fill the pot to the brim, you can just stain the oven while boiling the sauce.
The oven is heated to a temperature of 200 - 220 degrees and pots with sliced \u200b\u200bare sent there. The dish is ready in 40 minutes.
The number of pots depends on the volume of products. To prepare a dish from the proposed volume of ingredients, you will need 4 pots.
Dietary meals are usually prepared without the use of vegetable oils, thus excluding fats from their composition.
To prepare a dish without oil, there are a number of recommendations.
- You need to have a good deep frying pan with a non-stick coating.
- To begin with, dishes with a non-stick coating are checked for readiness by dropping a little water: if it evaporates quickly, then you can proceed.
- Before you send vegetables to a pan without oil, you must first pour broth and water into it. Thus, the possibility of burning vegetables is excluded.
- According to all the rules for preparing stewed vegetables, onions, carrots, tomatoes are first sent to the pan, and then green vegetables - cabbage, zucchini and peas.
Also, stews prepared without the use of oil are also recommended for people with high cholesterol levels in the blood.
Stewed vegetables are often cooked in a saucepan. Its large volume makes it possible to cook a considerable amount of vegetables step by step, which can be added to several dishes at once.
Ingredients:
- potatoes - 500 g;
- carrots - 3 pcs.;
- turnip - 2 pcs.;
- onions - 2 pcs.;
- tomato - 2 pcs.;
- oil - 20 g;
- flour - 10 g;
- chicken broth - 400 ml;
- salt, pepper, cloves, cinnamon, herbs - optional.
Cooking:
- wash, peel and cut potatoes, carrots, onions, tomatoes and turnips;
- turnips and carrots are stewed in a pan, and potatoes and onions are fried in oil in another pan;
- fry the flour, adding to it the vegetable broth obtained during the stewing of turnips and carrots;
- add tomatoes to the flour and heat the mixture;
- all vegetables are put in a pan in layers, each layer is salted;
- sauce of flour, broth and tomatoes is poured over the laid vegetables, spices are added, covered with a lid and cooked over medium heat for 20 minutes.
exotic recipes
Ajapsandal is the most popular dish of Georgian and Caucasian cuisine in Russia, which is loved not only in Georgia, but also in our country. The national flavor of this dish, which is a classic stewed vegetables, is given by the national spices of the peoples of the Caucasus. There are several variants of ajapsandal. The most popular of them are ajapsandal in Armenian and ajapsandali in Georgian.
Ajapsandali in Georgian
Ingredients:
- eggplant - 2 pcs.;
- Bulgarian pepper - 3 pcs.;
- onions - 2 pcs.;
- tomatoes - 4 pcs.;
- small carrots - 1 pc.;
- garlic - 4 cloves;
- sunflower oil - 20 ml;
- cilantro - 1 bunch;
- basil - 1 sprig;
- parsley - 1 small bunch;
- ground coriander, chili pepper, ucho-suneli;
- granulated sugar, salt.
This recipe involves cooking a dish in a more dietary version, since here the eggplants are not fried in oil, but are cooked in the oven. So the calorie content of the dish is reduced, and the taste from such a replacement does not deteriorate at all.
Cooking:
- eggplants are washed, cut into rings 0.5-1 cm thick, salted and left for 30 minutes;
- send the rings to the oven for 20 minutes, after moistening all the liquid from them with a napkin and lubricating them with oil;
- tomatoes are peeled using the blanching process and chopped in a blender;
- onions and carrots are fried in a pan, then chopped bell pepper and tomato puree are added;
- as soon as the mixture of vegetables boils, add ucho-suneli, chili and coriander, salt, a little granulated sugar;
- the mixture is stewed for 15 - 20 minutes;
- cilantro is finely chopped, combined with garlic and ground to the consistency of gruel;
- eggplant, and then after 5 minutes and gruel, sent to the rest of the vegetables;
- simmer the mixture for 15 minutes.
Ajapsandal is good not only hot. The cold version also tastes great. The real aroma of this dish is revealed in a day, when the smell of spices has saturated all its components, and the vegetables have absorbed each other's juices.
Other national seasonings can also add exoticism to ordinary stewed fruits.
Indian-style stewed potatoes with cabbage
Ingredients:
- potatoes - 3 pcs.;
- cauliflower - 1 pc.;
- onions - 1 medium head;
- olive oil - 50 g;
- mustard seeds - 0.5 teaspoon;
- zira - 5 g;
- ground cardamom - 5 g;
- sweet pepper - 1 pc.;
- turmeric - 3 g;
- chopped coriander - 5 g;
- table salt - 5 g;
- chopped cilantro - a tablespoon;
- hot chili pepper - optional.
Cooking:
- wash vegetables, peel onions;
- send the potatoes for cooking in their skins;
- dip the cabbage for 2 minutes in boiling water and disassemble into inflorescences;
- peel the potatoes after cooking and cut into medium cubes;
- put the pan on the stove, pour oil into it and pour the mustard;
- as soon as the grains click, add cumin, pepper and cardamom;
- chop the onion and put in a pan with seasonings;
- put the inflorescences to the onion and cook for 7 minutes under the lid;
- put potato cubes, salt, coriander and turmeric into the pan, close the lid and simmer for 2 minutes;
- Sprinkle the finished dish with cilantro.
Originality of the recipe can be given not only by dried spices, but also by various sauces. You can fill any dish of stewed fruits with Asian flavor by adding a little soy sauce to them.
Ingredients:
- eggplant - 2 pcs.;
- carrots - 1 pc.;
- sweet Bulgarian pepper - 2 pcs.;
- tomatoes - 2 pcs.;
- sour cream - 10 g;
- soy sauce - 5 tablespoons;
- garlic - 1 clove;
- olive or corn oil - 30 ml;
- cream 20% - 5 tablespoons.
Cooking:
- vegetables are washed, peeled, carrots and eggplants are cut into cubes, onions - into half rings;
- carrots are fried in oil in a pan with high sides;
- after 2 minutes add pepper and eggplant;
- after 5 minutes, add chopped tomatoes and pour the vegetables with cream, and after a minute - with soy sauce;
- simmer the mixture for 5 minutes over low heat;
- add sour cream, mix vegetables, stew for another 7 minutes;
- after adding chopped garlic, vegetables are removed from the stove and served hot as a main dish or as a side dish.
Diet meals
The benefits of stewed vegetables for those who follow diets are due to the following factors:
- properly prepared dietary stewed vegetables can be eaten in any quantity, because they contain a minimum of calories;
- vegetables contain in their composition a huge baggage of fiber, which favorably affects the accelerated digestion of food and the activation of the gastrointestinal tract;
- many vegetables contain a minimum number of carbohydrates that cause weight gain;
- vitamins and microelements are present in excess in raw fruits and are stored in a properly prepared dish, so a person does not deprive himself of the opportunity to supply his body with the necessary substances while on a diet.
From the foregoing, it follows that a diet of stewed vegetables can be very healthy and nutritious. Throwing off excess weight, a person still receives the necessary amount of useful substances that he needs daily.
To make a dietary dish, you need to give up only vegetable oil in the recipe. The amount of fat in this case will decrease dramatically, and thus the calorie content of the dish is reduced.
Recipe for diet vegetables in a pan
Ingredients:
- zucchini - 1 pc.;
- tomato - 1 pc.;
- bell pepper - 1 pc.;
- dill, parsley, basil - 1 small bunch;
- salt - to taste.
Cooking:
- wash all vegetables, peel and cut;
- heat the cauldron without oil and put the pepper first, frying it for 2 minutes;
- put the zucchini to the pepper and, stirring, fry for another 5 minutes;
- add tomatoes, herbs to vegetables and simmer vegetables for 6 minutes;
- cover with a lid, reduce the heat and cook the dish for 8 - 10 minutes;
- salt is added at the end of cooking.
Preparations for the winter
Stewed vegetables are a fairly common dish, especially in summer. Another thing is in winter, when vegetables can only be bought, and not cheap at all. Therefore, if there is a desire to enjoy delicious vegetable dishes in the winter, then you can prepare raw vegetables for the winter by freezing them in the freezer from the summer or cook stewed vegetables and roll them into jars. You can salt stewed vegetables for the winter without sterilization.
Winter harvesting of vegetables without sterilization
Ingredients:
- eggplant - 1 kg;
- pepper - 0.5 kg;
- onion - 0.5 kg;
- granulated sugar - 200 g;
- vegetable oil - 200 ml;
- tomato paste - 400 g;
- vinegar 9% - 65 g.
Cooking:
- peppers and eggplants are washed, the peppers are cleaned of seeds;
- onions are peeled, peppers and onions are cut, sent to a deep frying pan with oil;
- add tomato paste, granulated sugar, salt and vinegar to vegetables;
- the mixture is stirred and stewed for 25 minutes;
- while stewing vegetables, cut the eggplant and add it to the mixture, increasing the stewing time by another 15 minutes;
- at the end of cooking, stewed vegetables are distributed in sterilized jars and rolled up;
- jars are turned upside down, covered with a blanket and left for 12 hours;
- clean the blanks in a dark closet or closet.
Enjoy your meal! Eat right and be healthy!
For information on how to cook vegetables baked in the oven, see the following video.