How to quickly cook beets and carrots. How to cook beets in a double boiler

Beetroot is a vegetable that is rich in vitamins and minerals. Plucked from the garden, it can be stored in the basement all winter, and the beneficial substances contained in it will not decrease at all. Beetroot is very useful for all age categories of people, it cleanses the body, normalizes defecation, helps with stomach diseases and cardiovascular problems. This is not the last role sweet vegetable plays in hematopoiesis. How long to boil beets? It all depends on its variety and method of preparation, but first things first. If you want to make the taste of the product a little spicy, you can put a small pinch of cumin, which will improve the safety of many vitamins. How to cook beets and for how long, this article will help you figure it out.

Important choice

It is not uncommon after purchase to find that beautiful vegetable it doesn't taste the same at all. This indicates that when buying, the seller offered the buyer a fodder variety, and not a table variety. Naturally, it is unsuitable for cooking any of the dishes. Here are a few obvious differences between beet varieties, by which you can determine the necessary vegetable.

How to cook beetroot?

To get started, you need to choose the right one, here are the signs suitable variety vegetables:

table beets are much smaller in size compared to fodder beets;
the variety we need has a darker and more saturated shade;
a good vegetable will never have bumps and cracks, which may indicate a stale product.

Boiling in a saucepan

Often we wonder how to properly cook beets. It will take about 50-60 minutes to cook. If the vegetables are small, it may take a little less time. In any case, the cooking process is accompanied by samples, more precisely, by piercing the beets with a knife or fork. This is done in order to find out how well the vegetable is cooked. Classic method does not include anything complicated. The ingredients are washed (the tails are not cut off, only the leaves, but without skin damage) and placed in a pot of water. The beets will boil until cooked, and this is an average of about an hour. Never cut a root vegetable to make it cook faster, this will only allow everything to evaporate beneficial substances. If you add a spoonful of vinegar or lemon juice at the beginning of cooking, the vegetable will not lose its color during cooking, and it will also release less juice when cut.

How to cook beets: a quick way

Sometimes there are times when vegetables need to be cooked quickly. In this case, they are washed and placed in a fireproof container with water that is already boiling. All 20 minutes are cooked, then the vegetables are pulled out and poured over cold water five minutes. For greater effect, some housewives then put them in the freezer for 15 minutes. Such a temperature difference softens the beets, and you can continue to cook the necessary dishes from it. Many supporters of steaming argue that freezing destroys all the useful elements in the product, and advise their own cooking method. By the way, one more piece of advice: if you are a supporter of a salt-free diet or just don’t really like salt, you don’t need to add it to the product, since beets already contain sodium salts.

How to cook beets in a double boiler

There are similar devices in almost every kitchen, they make it easier for housewives to cook. various dishes, including cooking beets. So, draw water into the main container, put a sieve for steam on top. Put peeled beets cut into slices or strips on it and turn on the double boiler. Usually it is enough to cook beets for 15-25 minutes, but it all depends on the density of the root crop and the thickness of the cut pieces.

Conclusion

The article lists only a few ways that answer the question of how to cook beets, but there are others. For example, you can cook it in the microwave or in the oven (baked on a baking sheet), you can use a pressure cooker or a slow cooker. There are many similar options, and each hostess chooses the method that she likes best.

How long does it take to cook beets until tender? Young housewives mainly think about this. The answer to this question is given experienced housewives and suggest how to speed up the cooking process.

How long to cook beets in a pan

Beets, harvested in autumn, are boiled for 2 to 3 hours - it all depends on the variety and size of root crops. If this is too much for you, then read the tips for reducing the cooking time. Young beets, plucked from the ground at the beginning of summer, will cook in a saucepan for 30-40 minutes - this is already quite fast.

How to quickly cook beets in a pan - little tricks

Smaller beets will cook much faster, so choose the smallest root vegetables. Small beetroots will cook twice as fast as large ones.
When buying beets from a store or market, look for one that is slightly flattened. The small thickness of the root crop will also reduce its cooking time by 50%.
If you bought round or large beets, then you can quickly cook it this way. Cover the beets with cold water and bring to a boil. Boil the beets over low heat for exactly 1 hour. Then quickly drain hot water and fill the beets with ice water - you can even add ice from freezer. After an hour, drain the cold water.
If you have a pressure cooker at home, then boil the beets in it - it will take you only 30 minutes to cook.

And one more helpful advice, not related to the cooking time of beets. Quite often, after the root vegetable for vinaigrette is already cooked and cleaned, it turns out to be completely unsweetened. To avoid this, with any method of cooking and for any variety of beets, put a couple of tablespoons of sugar in the water (per 1 liter of liquid). Sugar will bring out the taste of the beet, and if it is not initially sweet, it will help it become so.

How to cook beets quickly and correctly is a question that is asked not only by "teapots" from cooking. There are enough subtleties and tricks in the preparation of beets. Their knowledge will facilitate the achievement of the result, make it tasty and healthy. So, how to cook beets quickly and easily?

How long does it take to cook beetroot?

Beets are cooked from 20 minutes to 3 hours depending on the method, size and age.

What is here:

Boil 2-3 hours

If you put it in a pot of cold water and just put it on the stove, the cooking time will be 2-3 hours (depending on the size). Cook beets quickly it will not work, but, nutritionists say, some vitamins will remain.

Cook in 1 hour

If in boiling water - then an hour. But the process can be accelerated.

Professional approach to cooking beets

Professional chefs cook beets like this: after it has boiled for 30 minutes, drain the water and put it under a stream of cold water (the colder the better) for 15 minutes. The temperature difference brings the beets to readiness. So, the whole process takes 40-50 minutes.

Boil beets in 15-25 minutes!

If you want to cook the beets even faster, put them on a large fire without reducing or covering the pan with a lid. (True, in this case, nothing will remain of vitamin C). But then there should be a lot of water, it should cover the root crops 8 centimeters higher, otherwise it will boil away before the vegetables are cooked. 15 minutes later - under ice water minutes for 5-10. Everything, the beets are ready.

Boil 40 minutes +

"Long-playing" method: large fire (if thrown into cold water) to a boil - medium fire (40 minutes) - quiet fire (until cooked). At the same time, we pour water 5 centimeters above the level of the beets.

Always end the process with cold water. Then the beets, in addition to what "reaches", are easily peeled.

Not fast, but tasty - in the microwave

Not the fastest, but very tasty way cooking beets - do not boil, but bake in a microwave or oven at a temperature of 200 degrees, placing in a baking bag. It will take 25-30 minutes; if the temperature is not so high or the beets are large and old, then it will take more time.

Important! Vitamin C is destroyed at 190 degrees C.

By the way, baked beets are sweeter than boiled beets. And it is it that is recommended to be used in recipes for salads and vinaigrettes.

More about the nuances of quick cooking beets:

Choose small, flattened, thin-skinned burgundy roots that are tastier, prettier, and cook faster.

Pour a spoonful of vegetable oil into boiling water along with beets (I found a recommendation on the Internet, I haven’t tried it myself).

Barbaric way: peel the beets, cut into pieces, in a word, do as with potatoes. In a pressure cooker, they cook it for 20 minutes, after cutting it into strips.

10 secrets on how to cook beets correctly, and not only

1. Clean not clean. Firmly, with a brush, wash. We do not remove the peel, we cook with it. We do not cut off the tail. If you break the integrity of the beets, juice will flow out of it and it will turn out watery and whitish. Beetroot is peeled if it is intended for stewing.

2. Salt-do not salt. We do not salt the beets at the beginning of cooking, since the salt will evaporate anyway, and there is no point. In addition, salt will make the vegetable hard, which means it will increase the already long cooking time. Salt directly beetroot dish. But not all hostesses will agree with this. Some people think that it is necessary to add salt at the beginning of cooking, otherwise it will turn out tasteless.

4. How to neutralize the smell. Not everyone likes the smell of beets. To neutralize it, throw a crust of bread into the saucepan.

5. How to check readiness. The readiness of the beets is checked with a fork: it should gently and easily enter the vegetable.

6. If you have peeled fresh beets, it can not be kept in the air, so as not to destroy vitamin C.

7. If the beets are dry. If your beetroot has dried up, do not rush to throw it away: scald it with boiling water, fill it with water room temperature and let it swell. Then put it on fire without changing the water.

8. How not to "color" vegetables in a vinaigrette. WITH going to make a vinaigrette? Cut boiled or baked beets into pieces and drizzle immediately vegetable oil, then other vegetables (potatoes, for example) will not stain.

9. About the benefits of beetroot broth. Do not pour out the beetroot broth that remains after cooking the beets! Better add it to equal amounts lemon juice, cinnamon and ginger (how much - adjust yourself, depends on the amount of broth). You get a tasty and healing refreshing drink, no worse, the preparation of which is more troublesome. With diuretic, laxative, antihypertensive and action.

10. About beet tops. Be sure to learn how to cook dishes from beet tops, pkhali, for example, add it to borscht and beetroot, because beets are healthy, and beet tops even more useful - it has a shock dose of vitamins. Only young tops will go into food, the old is not good.

Beets for cooking should be of medium size (no more than 10 cm in diameter), with a thin dark red skin, without damage and rot. One of the best is the Bordeaux variety.

Regardless of the method of preparation, the beets must be thoroughly washed, cut off the tops (if any) and shorten the tail a little.

Beets are not cleaned before cooking.

If you remove the skin, the juice will flow out of the beets. The vegetable will become pale and tasteless.

Method 1. Classic

Cooking time: 2 hours.

Put the beets in a saucepan and cover with cold water. The water should completely cover the vegetables. It is not necessary to salt the water. The sodium will firm up the beetroot and slow down the already slow cooking process.

Place the saucepan with the beetroot over medium heat. When the water boils, reduce the heat, cover the pan with a lid and leave for a couple of hours.

In order for the beets to retain their bright red color, you can add to the water lemon juice: ½ teaspoon per litre.

Readiness can be checked with a fork. If the beets are easily pierced, you can drain the water and cool.

Beets are not cleaned before cooking, water is not salted

Method 2. Express cooking

Cooking time: 45-60 minutes.

To speed up the process, some housewives run the beets into already boiling water and do not reduce the heat to a minimum. And to make the water temperature even higher, add 2-3 tablespoons of vegetable oil.

When the beets boil for about 30-35 minutes, they are removed from the fire and sent under running cold water for another 15-25 minutes. The temperature difference brings the vegetable to readiness and at the same time cools it.

Method 1. In the "Steaming" mode

Cooking time: about 40 minutes depending on the multicooker model.

Wash the beets and put them on a special steaming rack. Pour a glass of water into the bottom of the bowl. Close the appliance, set the steamer mode, and you can go about your business for 40 minutes.

Be sure to pour water into the bottom of the bowl.

Please note: for this method to work, the beets must not be dry. If the root crop is wilted, it is better to soak it first for several hours in cold water. When the beetroot absorbs moisture again, it can be boiled. But better on the stove or in the following way.

Method 2. In the "Extinguishing" or "Cooking" mode

Cooking time: 60-80 minutes depending on the multicooker model.

Everything as in classic way, just do not need to regulate the fire. Just put the washed beets in the multicooker bowl, fill with water and turn on the “Stew” or “Cooking” mode (sometimes called “Soup”) for 60 minutes.

After an hour, check the readiness of the beets with a fork. If it is still harsh, turn on the same mode for another 20-30 minutes.

Method 3. In the "Baking" mode

Cooking time: 60 minutes depending on the multicooker model.

This method is good for young vegetables when they are tender and juicy. Beets should be washed, dried with a paper towel and wrapped in foil greased with vegetable oil (each root separately).

Then put it in the multicooker bowl and cook in the “Baking” mode for about an hour.

Cooking time: 20–25 minutes.

In the same way as in the previous method, wrap each root vegetable in foil and bake at 190 ° C.

In the oven, beets are convenient to cook when you need a lot of it. For example, immediately for vinaigrette and herring under a fur coat.

Do not forget to grease the foil from the inside with vegetable oil

By the way, there is a small life hack for making salads with beets. If you want it not to color other ingredients, cut it and sprinkle with vegetable oil, and only then combine it with other products.

In my family, beets are cooked in. This is the easiest and fastest way.

Cooking time: 8 to 20 minutes.

The time depends on two factors: the size of the beets and the power of the microwave. In microwave ovens with a power of 1,000 watts or more, beets will cook in 8-10 minutes. If you have a less powerful model, double the time.

Beets need to be washed (do not peel!) And put in a glass dish. Try to put large root crops along the edges, and the smallest ones in the center. At the bottom of the container you need to pour 3 tablespoons of water, and on top - cover with a glass or special lid for the microwave.

To shorten the cooking time in a low power microwave, place the beets in plastic bag for baking and tie tightly. In this case, the cover is no longer needed.

This method not only saves time, but also leaves dishes clean.

It is not necessary to pierce or cut the beets: they will not explode. It is not necessary to interrupt the process and turn it from side to side. Also, do not pour vegetables after cooking with cold water. Better to let it cool down at room temperature.

The taste of beets from the microwave is exactly the same as with conventional cooking in a saucepan.

Ready beets can be stored in the refrigerator for no more than two days.