Vegetables are one of the most healthy foods. They can be used both as a side dish and as a main course. They are prepared in many ways. For example, you can consider how to stew vegetables in a pan. There are many secrets and subtleties in this matter that you need to know in advance in order for the finished dish to be as tasty and useful as possible.
Unique method
To begin with, it should be noted that stewing is a procedure that is a cross between boiling and frying. In fact, two fundamentally different processes are combined here. In the first case, the products are subjected to heat treatment in water, and in the second, in the presence of fat. This partly explains how to stew vegetables in a pan. In addition, it must be noted that the process must take place under a closed lid. This enhances the thermal effect and allows you to achieve the desired result in a relatively short time. When dealing with how to stew vegetables in a frying pan, it is necessary first of all to pay attention to the fact that such work requires very specific dishes. It should be deep enough so that not only the products themselves, but also a small amount of water and some kind of fat can freely fit inside.
When figuring out how to stew vegetables in a pan, you also need to know that in this process, in addition to the classic version, there are several more varieties:
- Languor. Processing takes a long time on low heat.
- Squash. Products are stewed just a few minutes in a small amount of water.
- "Confit." In this case, the main processing medium is oil.
Any of these options can be carried out in a pan. It all depends on what kind of result you ultimately need to get.
Practical use
Stew is consumed by people who try to lead a healthy lifestyle. After all, this processing method allows you to maximize the preservation of the beneficial substances contained in the products. One of the main factors in this process is time. It is known, for example, that many vitamins are destroyed gradually during heat treatment. And that means that every extra minute of boiling adversely affects the finished dish. This is especially true for vegetables. People have long appreciated their benefits. Take, for example, eggplant. Humanity learned about their existence more than a thousand years ago. During this time, the vegetable has been carefully studied. Scientists have found that eating it allows you to:
- increase blood levels of red blood cells and hemoglobin;
- improve kidney and liver function;
- Stimulate the work of the stomach and intestines, preventing the formation of constipation.
To preserve these unique properties in a finished dish, you need to know in advance how much to stew eggplant. Of course, you should not exclude other types of processing (frying, canning, and others). But the maximum benefit, according to experts, is stewed foods. There are a huge number of recipes that will help turn an ordinary purple fruit into a real celebration of taste. If we talk about how much to stew eggplant, then the temperature at which the heat treatment takes place plays an important role. If the products are cooked on a stove, then boiling should be barely noticeable. It is necessary to create conditions so that vegetables practically languish in a small amount of liquid. In this case, the temperature must be maintained no higher than 82 degrees. On medium heat, this will take 10-15 minutes, and on low - no more than half an hour. In the oven, the conditions are somewhat different. There, the temperature can reach 170 degrees, and the time frame remains the same.
General rules
When choosing stewing as the main method of cooking, you need to understand how much to stew vegetables so that they are not only tasty, but also remain healthy. Any housewife knows that a product is considered finished when it reaches a certain degree of softness. This means that it can already be eaten. You should not wait until fragrant pieces turn into a multi-colored “mess”. They will not become healthier and tastier from this.
In addition, the heat treatment time depends on the density of the tissues. It is known that carrots and onions are stewed for the longest time. Next on the list are potatoes, cabbage, zucchini and eggplant. The average time period is from 10 to 30 minutes. In some cases, to speed up the cooking process, a combined method is used, when the products are preliminarily lightly fried and then stewed in the presence of a small amount of moisture. Among other things, this technique allows you to make food more flavorful.
Vegetable stew
Stewing vegetables is most often used to make soup or stews. And as additional ingredients can be used meat, legumes or mushrooms. It all depends on the chosen recipe and the desire of the hostess. For example, you can consider how to stew cabbage with vegetables in a pan.
This is a fairly popular dish, for the preparation of which you may need:
4 potatoes, 1 carrot, salt, 6 tomatoes, 200 grams of cabbage, pepper, onion, 2 cloves of garlic, 250 grams of zucchini and a little vegetable oil.
In this case, the following procedure should be:
- First you need to chop the vegetables. To do this, cabbage, zucchini, tomatoes and potatoes should be cut into cubes, onions - rings, and grate the carrots using a grater with large holes. You can just chop the garlic with a knife. The pieces of food should be approximately the same size.
- Now part of the vegetables must be laid in the pan. You need to do this in the following order: potatoes - cabbage - carrots.
- Pour them with water and simmer for 5 minutes with a slight boil. The liquid should cover only the lowest layer.
- Add tomatoes, zucchini, a little salt, water and continue processing for another 3 minutes.
- Lightly fry the onions separately in oil, and then add to the vegetables and stew until fully cooked.
- Turn off the heat, add the garlic, mix and cover. In this condition, the products should stand for 6-7 minutes.
After that, they can be safely served to the table.