How to boil beets and what to cook?

Beets are known all over the world for a long time, and at first they used only tops to eat. Today, along with the root crop, it allows to enrich the body with vitamins, iodine, iron. However, to save all the benefits and taste of the vegetable can only be properly cooking it.

Beetroot is an annual, rarely biennial plant of the amaranth family. The food is used as a ripening root crop of maroon-red hue, as well as young green leaves with a reddish border on wavy edges.

There are 3 main types of culture - table, sugar and fodder. Eating a canteen, which can be of several varieties. For cooking or baking, many people prefer to use the Bordeaux variety, which is characterized by medium, slightly flattened, richly burgundy roots.

The vegetable contains tocopherol (vitamin E), vitamins of group B, vitamin P and PP, as well as iodine, iron and zinc. Beetroot refers to low-calorie vegetables, nutritional value per 100 g - 40 kcal. The main part of the composition accounts for water and carbohydrates, proteins and fats are presented in small quantities. In addition to carbohydrates, beet and sugar, fructose and glucose are high.

The high content of iron, as well as a substance called betaine (it causes the bright shade of the vegetable), has a beneficial effect on the circulatory and vascular systems. Beet helps to increase hemoglobin levels, which, in turn, improves the nutrition of organs and tissues. Betaine in combination with vitamin P makes the vascular walls stronger and more elastic, improves the absorption of vitamin B.

This vegetable is especially useful for people suffering from anemia, it is the prevention of the development of atherosclerosis, varicose veins, and heart attack. With its ability to increase pressure, the root vegetable helps hypertensive patients to normalize and stabilize pressure.

Due to the antioxidant properties of beets, it is recommended for liver diseases, helps to eliminate toxins and slags from the body. The bactericidal action of the root makes its use effective in the treatment of external injuries, long healing wounds, abrasions. Taking beet juice inside is one of the measures for the treatment of gastritis and ulcers.

Possessing dietary fiber, beetroot stimulates intestinal motility, improving digestion, speeding up metabolism. It has been proven that regular consumption of this vegetable is one of the preventive measures against intestinal cancer.

To prepare you should choose young soft root vegetables, then the finished dish will be softer, tender. It is better not to use too large root vegetables, they will be dry and fibrous. Too large purchased vegetables may well be fodder, not table. The best option is medium beet with a red-burgundy thin skin without traces of damage and decay.

The cooking time of a root crop depends on its size and method of cooking. Small root vegetables are cooked 40-60 minutes, and if you cut them into pieces - no more than half an hour. However, in the latter case, they may lose color, and at the same time become tasteless.

The larger the root vegetable, the longer it prepares. Small boil for about 50 minutes, medium - an hour and a half, large - up to two or more hours. The time is indicated for the preparation of the whole root, when cutting it into pieces, the cooking time is shortened, but its useful properties almost disappear.

Traditionally, beets are boiled in water, which takes about an hour. You can reduce this process to 20-30 minutes, but, unfortunately, to the detriment of the usefulness of the vegetable - it will lose ascorbic acid.

Roasting of root vegetables takes place a little faster - about 40 minutes for medium beets. However, this method is the destruction of vitamin C and some others.

Reduce the cooking time allow some "helpers" in the kitchen - microwave oven and pressure cooker. The first allows you to cook vegetables as quickly as possible - in 8-20 minutes. In a pressure cooker, beets are cooked for 8-10 minutes, but the device cannot be opened immediately after the specified time. You should wait another 10 minutes, which increases the total cooking time.

Cooking in a slow cooker in time is not much different from the same process on the stove or in the oven. In the bowl with water, the beets are brewed for at least an hour, a couple - a little less (50-60 minutes), in baking mode, as in an oven, - 50-60 minutes.

While cooking in a saucepan, cover it with a lid. This will reduce the cooking time and reduce the loss of useful components. In addition, the characteristic odor will spread to the room to a lesser extent. Another method to shorten the cooking time is to add butter to boiling water. It will take a little - 2-3 tablespoons.

Preparation of the root for cooking involves thorough washing it. But to clean the root in the raw form is not recommended, it will lose its bright shade. If the beets are still peeled, a tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice, added to the water during cooking, will help to maintain its intense color. By the way, the same method can be used even if you want to preserve the shade of unpeeled root vegetables.

There are several ways to cook beets, differing in cooking time, technology, tools and equipment used. One of the simplest is traditional cooking in a saucepan on the fire. However, there are several options.

Beets need to be washed, put in a large pot or pot, pour cold water so that it completely hides the vegetable, and put on maximum heat. As soon as the water boils, the intensity of the fire should be reduced and the root crop should be left to languish for 2-3 hours.

The following method is similar to the first, but you need to pour the vegetable with boiling water, to which 2-3 tablespoons of vegetable oil are added. In this case, the cooking time will be reduced to 60 minutes.

Professional cooks usually resort to the third method of cooking. It involves boiling a root vegetable over high heat with the addition of vegetable oil (a couple of spoons) for half an hour. After the specified time, the vegetable is removed from the boiling water, poured with ice water and left in it for 10 minutes. With this method, beets are cooked the fastest, but vitamin C from its composition is completely lost.

You can use a microwave oven for baking beets. First you need to wash it, lightly dry it and wrap it in baking paper. Cooking time will be 35-40 minutes with a unit of at least 800 watts.

In a similar way, you can bake the root vegetable in the oven by setting the temperature in it to 200 degrees. Contrary to popular belief, when roasting, the beets completely lose vitamin C.

The microwave oven allows you to cook beets in another way, while taking this record-breaking amount of time. With a power of 1000 W or more, it takes 8-10 minutes to cook medium-sized beets. If you use a less powerful microwave, the time is increased by 2 times.

Washed beets should be put in a glass dish. Larger vegetables - in the middle, small - at the edges. Pour 3-4 tablespoons of water in the plate, it should be at the bottom of the dish. Then put the bowl in the microwave, closing it with a glass or a special lid for the microwave.

Instead of a plate and a lid, you can use a plastic bag, tightly tied it. When the root is cooked, it must be removed from the stove and left to cool in room conditions. It will taste the same as that cooked in a saucepan on the fire.

You can cook beets in a multicooker for a couple. The prepared root crop should be put in a special steaming tank, and filled into the bowl with water. Install the unit, close it with a lid and enable steam boiling.

As a rule, most programs in this mode automatically set the cooking time to 40 minutes. It will be enough, although the exact time depends on the model of multicooker. After the specified time, you should check the readiness of the beets, if necessary, hold over the steam a little more. In this case, do not forget to make sure that there is enough water in the bowl.

With the help of a multicooker, you can cook beets in the classical way - in water. However, the use of a multicooker provides several advantages - no need to adjust the intensity of the fire and there is no risk that the water will “run away” by pouring over the stove.

So, for cooking in a multicooker, the root crop should be washed, you can shorten the tail a little. Put it in a bowl, add cold water to the maximum mark and set the mode “Cooking”, “Quenching” or “Soup”. The duration of the process - an hour. After a while, you should check the root crop, if necessary, put it to cook for another 10-30 minutes.

Young vegetables with high moisture content and juices are best baked. If there is a multicooker, it can be done right in it. Prepared root should be laid in foil, pre-lubricated with vegetable oil. If at the same time you bake several vegetables, then each must be wrapped separately. In this form, the root vegetable is placed in a multicooker bowl and baked for 60 minutes in baking mode.

Pressure cooker will also be useful for cooking vegetables. It needs to be washed, cleaned with a brush and put on the bottom of the pressure cooker, add water and set the “Cooking” mode. For medium-sized root crops, 10 minutes is enough, for those that are larger, 15 minutes. After the specified time, the beets should be held in the pressure cooker for another 10 minutes, so that the pressure subsides and the unit can be opened.

The following methods allow you to get tasty boiled beets and quickly prepare them for further use:

• You need to finish cooking with cold water, which will then allow you to quickly remove the skin from the root.
• When cooking beets need to control the water level - it should completely cover the vegetable. Add hot or boiling liquid as needed.
• Vegetable does not require the addition of salt during cooking, moreover, stitching makes the root hard and becomes the reason for the increase in its cooking time.
• If you do not like the smell that appears when cooking beets, you can get rid of it by throwing a bread crust into the water during boiling.
• If you cut the beets into a vinaigrette, then drizzle the sliced ​​pieces with vegetable oil. Due to this, other components of the dish will not be painted.

• Do not allow long-term contact of the peeled vegetable with the air, it will cause the destruction of vitamin C in its composition.
• The broth remaining after cooking the root is used as a delicate laxative and diuretic. To improve the taste, you can add to it lemon juice, ginger and cinnamon.
• Young beet tops contain 2-2.5 times more vitamins than the vegetable itself. It should be added to salads, cook soup with beet tops.
• Shelf life of boiled vegetables - 2 days in the refrigerator. On the third day, it begins to dry out, to lose its useful components, its consumption in food is not recommended.

To prepare the dish you need:

• 3-4 cooked beets of medium size;
• 3-4 potatoes;
• 1.5 liters of broth;
• 2 tablespoons of vinegar;
• salt, black pepper, herbs, spices - to taste.

Peel the boiled beets and grate on a medium grater, then stew in the pan with vinegar for 3-4 minutes. Put the broth on the fire, bring to a boil and throw the peeled and diced potatoes into it. Boil it for 5-7 minutes, then add the beets, salt, spices, herbs. Boil until boiling and then another couple of minutes.

Serve beet soup with sour cream.

To prepare the dish you need:

• 4 beets baked in the oven;
• 3-4 cloves of garlic;
• 3 cm slice of fresh ginger;
• thyme leaves;
• 150 ml of cream;
• cooking oil for frying.

All ingredients are cleaned and minced. Pour vegetable oil into a frying pan, warm it a little and put thyme leaves. After they give their flavor to the oil, remove them from the pan. Pour the cream in there and bring to a boil, then add the sharp beetroot mass. Mix everything thoroughly, bring to a boil again and then 7-10 minutes on the fire, stirring occasionally.

To prepare you need:

• boiled beets;
• 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and vegetable (olive) oil;
• pinch (on the tip of the knife) dried marjoram;
• salt and black pepper to taste.

Peel and chop the cooked beets into slices or cubes. Pour oil-vinegar mixture, salt and pepper, in the last turn - sprinkle with marjoram.

To prepare you need:

• 1-2 small boiled beets;
• 1-2 carrots;
• 2 pickled cucumbers;
• 150 g fresh or pickled, sauerkraut;
• 1 onion;
• salt pepper;
• 2-3 tablespoons of vegetable oil.

Wash beets, carrots and potatoes, brush off the dried ground and boil until ready. Cool and peel, then cut into small cubes.

Peel and chop the onion. Cucumbers cut into cubes, chop cabbage and a little mash hands. Mix all ingredients, salt, pepper, fill with oil.

To prepare the dish you need:

• 2 beets;
• 4 potatoes;
• 2 carrots;
• jar of canned peas;
• 2 teaspoons of mustard;
• 3 cloves of garlic;
• 1 onion;
• 5 tablespoons of olive oil (can be replaced with vegetable oil);
• 2 teaspoons of vinegar;
• 1 teaspoon honey;
• salt pepper.

Peel potatoes with carrots, cut into cubes and bake on a greased butter baking sheet until cooked. Beets also send in the oven, pre-washed and wrapped in foil. Please note, carrots with potatoes will need to get out of the oven much earlier than the beets. On average, their baking takes 15-17 minutes.

While vegetables are being cooked, you can make a dressing. To do this, mix the honey, butter and mustard, make squeezed through a press or finely grated garlic, salt and pepper. Onions cut into rings, half rings or quarters and marinate in vinegar for a quarter of an hour.

Put the finished carrots and potatoes in a salad bowl, add to them baked and peeled, sliced ​​beets, pickled onions and green peas.Pour the resulting dressing.

Ingredients:

• 1 fat salted herring;
• 3 potatoes;
• 2 medium beets, pre-boiled;
• 2 carrots;
• 1 onion;
• egg yolks for decorating salad;
• mayonnaise.

First of all, you need to put steamed washed potatoes and carrots. At this time, you can do fish - split it in half, remove bones and skin, finely chop the resulting fillet.

At the bottom of the plate you need to lay out the pieces of fish and close them with a layer of chopped onions. It is recommended to pre-soak it in water for 5 minutes. Put the mayonnaise on top of the onion and spread it. It should make a thin mayonnaise layer.

Boiled potatoes cool, peel and cut into cubes. Put them on top of the previous layer, on top - mayonnaise mesh. You can make it, bay mayonnaise in a pastry syringe, and in the absence of such - in a regular plastic bag, which has a corner cut off. The mesh does not need to smear.

Peel the boiled carrots, grate and lay them on top of the netting on the salad, make a similar one on the carrot layer. The last will be a layer of peeled and grated beets, which is completely covered with mayonnaise. For decoration usually use egg yolks. You can supplement them with greens, rosettes rolled out of carrot or beet strips. Instead of herring you can use iwashi.

Instead of the usual serving in a salad bowl, you can make small portioned “coats” using a culinary ring. You can put the salad in the form of small strawberries, adding "tails" of greens, and doing the points from egg yolks.

Another popular form of filing - in the roll. For its preparation all the same ingredients will be required, but the sequence of their calculations will be somewhat different.

On the table you need to lay a clean polyethylene and lightly lubricate it with water. It is better to wet your hands and just hold your palms over the polyethylene. Lay a grated beet on it. It should be tight, not have "cracks". Spread a layer of mayonnaise, then lay out carrots and potatoes. It is better to rub both vegetables on a grater, to coat each layer with mayonnaise. After the potato is laid onions, on it - herring.

Now, gently, starting from one edge, you should roll a roll using a package, tighten it and send it in the refrigerator for at least 3-4 hours, preferably overnight. After a specified time, roll out of polyethylene rolls, put on a plate. Decorate.

To prepare the dish you need:

• 2 boiled beets;
• 3 cloves of garlic;
• 100-150 g pitted prunes;
• sour cream or mayonnaise for dressing;
• handful of walnuts.

Simple to prepare, but refined and delicious salad. Beets need to be cleaned and finely grated, nuts - coarsely chopped, peeled garlic and pass through the press. Mix all ingredients, add sour cream or mayonnaise.

Peel the boiled beets and cut into cubes. Add finely chopped green onions. It is better to take feathers of senchik or very young green onions. Fill with sour cream.

To prepare you need:

• 1 baked beets;
• 150 g of spinach and arugula;
• 1 tomato and carrots;
• 1.5 tablespoons of olive oil and apple cider vinegar;
• 5 g basil;
• a small bunch of dill;
• salt pepper.

Coarsely grind beets with carrots (you can use Korean-style carrots), you must first cut the tomato in half and then thin into thin slices. Spinach, arugula and dill tear hands, put everything in a salad bowl. Then add the mixed carrots, beets and tomato plates. Mix the basil, olive oil and vinegar, season the salad. To taste salt and pepper.

Ingredients:

• 1 baked beets;
• 100 g of Adyghe cheese;
• a teaspoon of sesame seeds;
• lemon;
• olive oil.

Peel and chop the beets, put into a plate and season with olive oil mixed with a tablespoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice. Crumble the Adygei cheese on top, decorate the dish with sesame seeds.

For the dish you need to prepare:

• 1 small boiled beets;
• 3 eggs;
• 150 g boiled sausage;
• 1-2 fresh cucumbers;
• bunch of radish;
• bow;
• greenery.

The cooler is a cold soup like okroshka. To make it, beets need to be peeled and grated finely. Sausage and onions - diced, cucumbers - straws. Finely chop the onion and greens, chop the garlic into quarters and then slices.

Mix all the ingredients, pour strained and chilled broth, which was prepared beets. To the broth, you can add a pinch of citric acid, salt, pepper.

To learn how to cook beets quickly, see the next video.