Beetroot is a tasty and healthy product, but difficult to prepare. Everyone knows the taste of borsch or vinaigrette. In addition, raw beets and its juice are very useful. But most often it is used in boiled form.
Often, inexperienced housewives cannot cook it properly so that the vegetable becomes soft, but at the same time does not turn into pulp and remains elastic. There are a lot of questions around the preparation of this product. How to choose a sweet, tasty root vegetable; how much to cook beets until cooked; how to improve the taste during cooking and preserve all the useful properties of the vegetable, etc. In general, the preparation of beets has many features.
Average beet cooking time
It is difficult to indicate exactly how long it takes to cook beets. It depends on several factors: the age and size of the vegetable, as well as the method of its preparation. The average cooking time varies from twenty minutes to three hours.
There are three popular ways to cook beets:
- In hot water. Cooking time is one hour. It directly depends on the size of the vegetable. The smaller the root crop, the faster it will boil. But along with the positive side, there is a negative. A lot of useful substances are lost with this method.
- In cold water. The cooking time is two hours. It also depends on the size of the root crop. This method is the most common, since beets retain many useful substances after cooking, therefore it is very useful.
- Professional way. They are usually used by cooks in restaurants. Cooking time - half an hour, regardless of the size of beets. For cooking, you need to put the beets in boiling water for twenty minutes, then for ten minutes - in cold. A sharp temperature drop will allow the vegetable to become suitable for use as soon as possible. But at the same time, the root crop loses vitamin C.
How to cook beets until cooked in a pan?
As a rule, housewives cook beets in a pan. This cooking method is traditional. But despite this, many do not really know how much to cook beets in a pan. Experts say that it takes at least 50 minutes. At the same time, vegetables should be washed thoroughly with a brush so that there is no dirt left on them. Put in a container, pour a large amount of cold water and put cook on a strong fire.
After boiling add freshly squeezed lemon juice (from one fruit) to the water and reduce the heat.
After a few minutes, vegetables should be checked for readiness. To do this, pierce the beets with a knife or fork. If the root crops are still hard, they should be boiled for several minutes and checked again. When the beets are cooked, it must be poured with cold water for ten minutes. Now everything is ready!
Baking in the oven
This method is very popular, as baked beets are very tasty, besides they retain all their useful properties. Cooking time is 50 minutes.
First you need to thoroughly wash with a brush and dry the vegetables. Pre-cut the tops and tail. Baking is best in pure form on a baking sheet.
By the way, to calculate the required amount of the finished product, it is important to know that when baking, one third of the mass of the root crop is lost.
It is best to take medium-sized vegetables and first you need to preheat the oven at 200 ° C. At the same time, beets are placed on a baking sheet covered with foil so that the root crops are at a distance of 3-5 cm from each other.
Microwave cooking
Cooking in the microwave is the fastest way, so now many housewives use it. Vegetables must be washed with a brush and dried. Then put in a microwaveable deep container. Fill the container with cold water and cover it loosely. Set a timer for seven minutes. After this time, check the readiness with a knife or fork. If the beets are not ready, put in a few more minutes.
Despite the fact that in this case the cooking technology is the same as when cooking, the taste and appearance of the finished product, as when baking.
How to cook beets in a pressure cooker?
Nowadays, cooking with modern kitchen appliances cannot be ignored. Therefore, you should consider how and how much to cook beets in a pressure cooker.
First, root crops must be thoroughly washed with a brush. Then cut them into two halves and put in a pressure cooker. Pour cold water to the top and close the lid. Turn on the bean program.
Cooking time is 40-50 minutes. And the main advantage of this method is that root vegetables do not lose nutrients and retain their aroma, as before cooking.
Cooking Beets on Salad
Beets are used not only for first courses. Therefore, you can not help but consider how much to cook beets for salad. And first of all, it’s important to choose the right product. Buy should be no signs of lethargy beets dark red. Before cooking, thoroughly wash it with a brush, put in a pan and pour water.
Cooking time over medium heat is 1.5-2 hours (and if it is shallow, then an hour). So that when cooking the color of the root crop does not fade, it is recommended to add vinegar to the water at the rate of: 7 grams per 1 liter of water. An alternative to this is lemon juice (per liter of water - 20 grams).
Useful Tips
And finally, we offer some useful recommendations that will help housewives cook root crops quickly and without loss:
- In order for the beets to retain nutrients, it must be brought to a boil at maximum heat, then the temperature should be switched to minimum.
- To reduce the cooking time, you should add twenty-five to thirty grams of sodium chloride in boiling water without vegetables and stir it for five minutes. Oxygen evaporates and beets can be added. To preserve the sweetness of root vegetables, a little vinegar and sugar are added to the water.
- To remove the beetroot smell, you need to put a crust of rye or black bread in boiling water half an hour before the products are ready.
- Cooked vegetables in a pan with a lid are stored for no more than two days. With longer storage, they lose useful properties.
- If, from prolonged storage, raw root crops shriveled and became dry, they should be rinsed with boiling water and put in warm water for swelling.
- The liquid remaining after cooking can be used as a diuretic or laxative. To do this, add a couple of spoons of lemon juice or a pinch of cinnamon to the broth.
- Before cooking, the tails of root crops do not need to be removed. They do not allow juice to leak. If they are cut, the root crop will lose its beneficial substances, color and taste.
- When washing a vegetable, it is important not to damage the peel. Therefore, wash with a brush carefully.
- In addition to the root crops themselves, you can use young beet tops. These leaves contain many vitamins. In addition, they give a special taste to salads and cold soups.
There are many ways to cook beets. When using each of them, the main thing is to preserve all the beneficial substances contained in the root crop and its taste. Then any dish made from it will be great!