Beets are part of many dishes, without which it is difficult to imagine a casual and festive table. What lunch without borsch and new year without vinaigrette? Beets are useful for salads and for herring under a fur coat. It would seem that cooking it, like other vegetables, is a simple task. But only experienced chefs know how to cook beets in a delicious way. At the same time, so that the root crop does not lose its attractive appearance and dietary benefits. After all, beets contain many vitamins, minerals and trace elements, including vitamin C.
How to cook red beets correctly: tips
1. The best result will be with small root crops - not more than 10 cm in diameter, large ones are often loose inside and tasteless. The vegetable should be without damage, traces of mold and rot, thoroughly washed. Try not to damage the skin so that the beneficial substances do not collapse during cooking.
2. Do not cut the tails and do not peel the beets so as not to lose juice. Do not salt water, because the vegetable contains a lot of sodium in itself, excess salt will ruin its sweet taste. If necessary, beets can be salted after cooking.
3. To maintain a bright red color, sweeten the water or add a little vinegar or lemon juice to the pan.
4. Try to cook root vegetables of the same size so that they simultaneously reach readiness.
How and how much to cook beets?
To cook beets, choose a pan that is slightly larger than vegetables - about 1 cm should remain between them and the walls. Traditionally, root crops are boiled in cold water, more vitamins are stored, but cooking time also increases. The process can be accelerated by placing vegetables in boiling water. The water level should be about a finger above the level of beets. Cover the pot and place on high heat.
After the water in the pan boils, we continue to cook the beets on a quiet fire, adding water as necessary. Cooking time can vary from one to three hours, depending on the size, number of vegetables.
Root crops are ready when a fork, a toothpick or a thin knife pierce them easily.
Cooking beets in a slow cooker
A slow cooker provides ample opportunities for cooking beets. Built-in programs will allow you to cook vegetables without loss of taste and aesthetic qualities and will enable the hostess to do other things. There are different ways to cook beets in a slow cooker.
The most common and most useful is steaming. Everything is extremely simple: thoroughly wash small root vegetables and put on a plastic lattice-double boiler. Or cut large beets into pieces. Pour water into the multicooker bowl to the bottom mark, put the vegetables. Close the appliance and select the “Steamer” mode for 40 minutes. As a rule, vegetables are perfectly cooked at the end of the timer.
There is one small trick how to cook beets in a multicooker for salad. Vegetables that have cooled and lay down for 10-12 hours are best suited for slicing. Therefore, you can put a slow cooker to cook beets at night, and in the morning it is beautiful to cut vegetables.
Cooking in the “Soup / Cooking” mode is not much different from traditional cooking. We add washed vegetables into the bowl, fill with water and select this mode for 60 minutes. Then we check the readiness, if necessary, we cook for 20 minutes.
How to cook beets in a slow cooker in the "Stew" mode? Pour water into the bowl, put washed vegetables. Here it is better to take more beets, because the larger the vegetables, the less vitamins they will lose when cooking. Water should cover the root crops by 2-3 cm. We set the timer for 3 hours. Cooking time is long, but the taste of beets is very delicate and juicy.
Baked beets
Another interesting way is how to cook beets in a slow cooker, which is best for young vegetables at the beginning of the season, when they are juicier and tender. To prepare the vegetables, wash, dry with a paper towel, each wrapped in foil, pre-dripping inside vegetable oil. With it, grease the bowl of the multicooker and put the beets in it. Turn on the Baking program for one hour.
How to cook beets in a pressure cooker?
A pressure cooker reduces cooking time by 3-5 times. After all, this miracle pan does not lose heat during evaporation, and the food in it is cooked under steam pressure. If you have such an assistant in your kitchen, you don’t need to think long about how to quickly cook beets on a vinaigrette.
Before you start cooking, make sure that the pressure relief valve is not clogged, the o-ring is inserted correctly, and the pan lid is snug. Pour at least 250 ml of water, be guided by the size of the pan - it should not be filled more than 2/3.
Put the washed vegetables and start cooking them. At the end of cooking, be sure to let off steam, otherwise the root crops can boil badly.
So how much to cook beets in a pressure cooker? The answer depends on seasonality, a young vegetable is boiled for 10-15 minutes, depending on size, an old one is 25-30 minutes.
Many modern multicookers also have such a pressure cooker function. For cooking, pour one multicooking glass of water into 1-2 root vegetables in the bowl, if the kit includes a metal stand for vegetables - it is better to use it so that the vegetable does not stain the device. Put the beets on the stand and close the lid. If you want to quickly reach the desired pressure, fill in hot water. Set the "Soup / Cooking" mode for 30 minutes. When the timer goes off, gently blow off steam, be careful not to burn yourself. In order not to spoil the wallpaper and ceiling in the kitchen, do it under a hood or in front of an open window.
Microwave beetroot
Another new way to quickly cook beets on a vinaigrette will require the use of a microwave. Of course, this option is very different from the usual pan on gas, but in speed it significantly overtakes it.
Contrary to popular belief, beets do not need to be punctured before cooking in the microwave, it does not burst in the process. You need to cook either in a glass dish with a lid, or under a regular microwave lid. Plastic containers with a valve for releasing steam are also suitable. No water is needed.
Cooking time depends on many factors: the size of the vegetables, their moisture, the power of the device, the material of the dishes, the volume of products. Tentatively, a small amount of beets with a microwave power of 1000 watts is boiled for 10-15 minutes. It should be borne in mind that beets belong to those vegetables that are cooked by themselves, so you do not need to overexpose them. It is better to get them when they seem slightly undercooked.
If many vegetables are cooked at the same time, then put the smallest root crop in the center, since microwaves will act worse on it.
Please note that if the beets were cooked in a glass dish, you can not fill it with cold water, the glass may burst.
An unusual way to cook beets in the microwave
But modern housewives and these innovations are few. They know how to quickly cook beets on a vinaigrette and not even dirty dishes. In the microwave, beets can be prepared in a plastic bag. To do this, washed vegetables are placed in a large enough bag and tied tightly to achieve airtight packaging. The method is not for the timid, but it works, and you don’t need to wash anything after cooking.
How to save time when cooking salads?
Many dishes, vinaigrette, for example, contain different vegetables that need to be boiled before cooking. Of course, many housewives want to save time and decide to weld them together. How to cook beets and carrots so that both vegetables have a presentation? The main thing is not to forget that their cooking time is different. While the beets are still hard, the carrots will boil for a long time and will be unsuitable for cutting into a salad. There are two ways to solve this problem:
1. Start cooking carrots when the beets are already cooked, that is, a maximum of half an hour before you plan to get it. Both vegetables are cooked synchronously.
2. Start cooking everything at the same time, but do not forget to check the carrots with a fork and a toothpick so as not to overexpose it. It is better to put beets on the bottom of the pan, and carrots on top.
Accelerated beet cooking
In the New Year's eve, and not only, the question arises of how to quickly cook beets on a vinaigrette. The vegetables will be ready most quickly if they are peeled and cut.
Cooking time - that in a conventional pan, that in a slow cooker (both when cooking and steaming) - is halved. But since beets are lost almost all vitamins and nutrients, the color and taste will be poorer, therefore, it is better to resort to this method only in extreme cases. And the chopped beets will stain the saucepan or wire rack of the double boiler.
And if you need to speed up the traditional preparation of a particularly large specimen of a vegetable, then do this: cook it for an hour, then remove it and pour over it with cold water. After that, cook another 20 minutes and again “bathe”. Beets will be ready for slicing.
In general, the smaller the root crops, the faster they cook.