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Red beet is a biennial herbaceous plant with a dark purple hue. Since ancient times, farmers have grown it to get a vegetable suitable for food. Today you can use beets as raw materials for sugar production, as well as in cooking.
Learn how to cook it properly and create culinary masterpieces for your family and friends!
What’s So Great About Beets
Beetroot is an excellent vegetable because of its nutritional qualities. Raw beets contain betaine, calcium salts, iodine, and fiber. These substances have a beneficial effect on human health:
- remove heavy metal salts and radionuclides from the body (purify the blood)
- restore liver function
- balance the metabolic processes
- improve the condition of capillaries, strengthen the walls of blood vessels
- lower blood pressure
- make up for the lack of iodine
- improve the absorption of proteins and the transport of hemoglobin in the blood (prevent oxygen starvation)
Include this amazing vegetable in your diet and start getting the full range of vitamins and minerals.
How to choose red beets
To cook a delicious dish from beetroot, pay attention to the rules for choosing this vegetable:
- Check the condition of the skin, it should be dense, reddish, without visible damage and signs of rot.
- If the color of the vegetable varies from dark red to dark purple, then the product contains a lot of betaine.
- Pay attention to the beets in the section. Inside it should be bright, juicy, and uniform in color. If the structure has a pale core or white inclusions, and the color is unsaturated red, there is no doubt – you are looking at an unsuitable variety.
Do you peel a beet before cooking?
If you decide to cook red beets, then be sure to pre-peel the vegetable. The cleaning technology is simple:
- Cut off the top and tail.
- Rinse the beetroot under running water with a vegetable brush to remove dirt, then cut off the peel with a vegetable peeler. To facilitate cleaning, you can first fry the beets.
You can also rinse the beets under cold water and remove the peel with your hands. If you decide to clean the already cooked beets, then you will need beets, water, a knife, and a saucepan. Rinse the beets and boil until tender. Next, use a sharp knife to peel the skin.
Is it better to boil or roast beets?
There are various technologies for cooking red beets. The most popular of them are boiling and roasting. However, which one is the best? Professional chefs note the high content of starch and sugar.
To make the product more useful, it is better to choose boiling beets. To do this, bring water to a boil in a saucepan, add a little salt and place the vegetable there for 10-15 minutes.
Choose the duration of cooking depending on the size of the vegetable. The bigger the beetroot, the longer you have to cook it.
How to cook beets on the stove
The main method of cooking red beets is cooking on the stove. To cook the vegetable properly, follow the instructions:
- Rinse the beets well under running water, without cleaning or removing the tails.
- Place the beets in a saucepan, cover with cold water so that the tubers are completely covered. Start cooking.
- Cook the beets for an average of 30-40 minutes. You can check the degree of readiness by piercing the vegetable with a fork – the finished beetroot is soft in the center.
- Drain the water. Clean the finished beets hot – under a stream of cold water, or before cleaning, put them in a saucepan with cold water for 10 minutes.
How long to boil beets
The cooking time of beets depends on many factors. You can cook beets in 2 hours or 8-10 minutes. It all depends on what you use: a stove, a slow cooker or a microwave. Pay attention to the time of preparation when choosing a technology:
- In a saucepan: 30-40 minutes
- In the slow cooker: 35-40 minutes
- In the steamer basket: 1 hour
- In the oven: 30-40 minutes
- In the microwave: 10-12 minutes
- In slow cooker slices: 15 minutes
How to steam beets
Beetroot in a steamer is a great way to cook a tender and juicy dish. Just prepare a steamer and follow the step-by-step procedure:
- Wash the vegetables from the ground. After that, cut off the top and tail, and also cut off the skin. Rinse the beets again.
- Put the peeled vegetables in a steamer or in a special steaming bowl if you cook in a slow cooker. In order to preserve all its useful properties in beetroot as much as possible, it is best to cook vegetables whole.
- Pour the required amount of water and set the time from 30 to 50 minutes, depending on the size of the beet pieces.
- When the timer goes off, open the steamer and check the readiness of the vegetables. Pierce the beetroot with a knife. If it enters easily, then the beetroot is ready. Take it out of the steamer and cool it.
What to put on cooked beets
Beetroot is a versatile vegetable from which you can cook many wonderful dishes. Boiled potatoes with fillings are a popular dish in many restaurants. You can make the same dish with beetroot.
The most common filling is a mixture of eggs, onions, grated carrots, prunes, olive oil, cream and cheese.
Another common option is a mixture of goat cheese, tomatoes, milk, lemon juice, spices, salt and pepper.
You can also simply put grated cheese and black pepper on the beetroot. This will be a good option for a snack.
How to make beets taste sweet
Sometimes beets don’t taste sweet enough. What should you do in this case? Listen to tips from professional chefs:
- do not digest the beetroot, so it will turn brown and unsweetened
- if the beetroot is not particularly sweet, then you can add a little sugar to the water
- choose medium sized beets, such root vegetable usually has the brightest taste
How to cook beets in microwave
Roasted beets or boiled beets are really good variants for dinner, but such cooking methods take much time. If you are in a hurry, choose a faster option – roasting beans in the microwave.
To get everything right, follow the instructions:
- Use a knife to make punctures in the beetroot in some places. This is necessary to speed up its preparation.
- Pack the beets in a microwave safe dish or package. In the upper part of the package, make several through holes without touching the lower part of the package.
- Place the bag directly on the glass tray of the microwave and cook for two minutes at 800 watts.
- Then take a break in cooking for about a minute so that the oven cools down a little. Then turn the oven back on for two minutes. And again take a break for a few minutes.
- When the beetroot is ready, transfer it to the grill and cut the package with a knife. Carefully: the package is full of hot steam, do not burn your hands. Cool the beetroot completely, after which it is ready for cleaning and further work.
How To Cook Red Beets for salad
If you want to make a salad of tender beetroot, then learn how to choose beets, peel and slice them.
There are three convenient ways of slicing. Among them:
- For thinly sliced beets: place the peeled and cleaned beets on the root and use a sharp knife to cut a small piece from the side to make a flat side. Put the whole beets on the flat side and cut into thin slices until you reach the upper end of the vegetable.
- For beetroot wedges: peel beets and cut them in half. Now cut each half in half again. Continue dividing the beet slices until you reach the desired size.
- Extra thin beetroot slicing: place beets on a cutting board. Cut the beetroot into thin slices. Stack the slices and cut them into thin strips.
When preparing a salad, use only fresh beets. Any variety is suitable: yellow beets or golden beets. Also beet greens will be a good salad decoration.
Chop it finely and sprinkle on top of the dish.
How to peel cooked beets
Slicing already sliced beets is an easy and fast process. Follow the instructions:
- Drain the hot water from the pan. Add cold water or ice into a large pot.
- Start peeling beets with your hands without taking the vegetable out of the water.
- Rinse the peeled beets under a stream of cold water and use them for your dishes.
Peeled boiled beets are suitable for various beet recipes – salad, side dish, and julienne.
Stuffed beets recipe
Beetroot with stuffing is a great option for dinner or a snack. The cooking process is quite simple:
- Peel small beets, rinse under cold water and dry beets with a paper towel.
- Pre-defrost the chicken fillet and finely chop it.
- Pour soy sauce over the chicken and leave to marinate.
- Peel the onion, chop finely and add to the chicken.
- Fry the filling in a pan skillet. Drain the cooking liquid from the pan.
- Peel the beets by placing them in a rolling boil.
- Preheat oven and place a baking sheet with aluminum foil there.
- Put the filling on the beetroot and bake the product for 15-20 minutes. You can also sprinkle collard greens on top of the dish.
Beets and onion appetizer recipe
Beetroot is a great vegetable for making snacks. To prepare a quick snack, find the necessary ingredients:
- boiled or baked beetroot – 300 g
- onion – 120 g
- unrefined vegetable oil – 4 tablespoons
- lemon juice – 1 tablespoon
- sugar – 2 tablespoons
- ground cinnamon – 0.5 teaspoons
- ground black pepper – 1 teaspoon
- salt – to taste
Step-by-step technology of preparation:
- Peel the onion and chop it very finely.
- Grate boiled or baked beets on a coarse grater.
- Fry the onion in a preheated frying pan with vegetable oil until golden brown. Put the onion on a plate.
- Separately fry the beets in the same pan.
- Return the fried onion to the pan skillet with the beets and mix. Add salt, lemon juice, sugar, ground pepper, and cinnamon. Serve the appetizer with a fried baguette!
How to store cooked beets
When the beets are cooked you should store them correctly. You can preserve the nutritional value and taste of excess boiled beets by observing a certain temperature regime, properly selected containers and storage locations.
Ceramic and glass bowls covered with enamel are ideal for storage. Professional chefs do not advise using plastic dishes (coloring pigment, eats into the plastic, leaves indelible stains on the walls).
The best place to store boiled beets is a refrigerator. You just have to boil the vegetable, cool it, and then put it in an airtight package. It can even be an ordinary plastic wrap.
Do beets burn belly fat?
The best news for those who are on a diet is that beets will quench your cravings for sweets. It is a vegetable with natural sugars that are easily absorbed in the body.
This is a great diet food because it accelerates fat burning and is also rich in antioxidants. One serving of beetroot contains only about 38 calories. You can make juice from it or eat it as a salad.
Mistakes to avoid when cooking beets
To make the preparation of red beetroot not difficult for you, pay attention to the 3 most common mistakes among beginners. Among them:
- You cook beets too fast. To get fork tender favorite vegetables, you must choose the right cooking time.
- You peel the beets before serving. There are many ways to cook this product, however, you should remove beets out of the water or baking sheet (oven rack) and immediately serve warm. Do not peel the vegetable with a knife or peeler.
- Do not boil chopped beets in water. Large beets or medium beets, when sliced, emit a large amount of juice and red pigment. It contains all the flavor and aroma.The best option is to cook the vegetable with the skin intact, and then cut it.
Main cooking tips
Professional chefs have prepared a number of tips that will help you cook and peel beets quickly. Among them:
- If it is difficult for you to cut beets with a knife, then wipe it with a damp paper towel.
- Wear gloves when slicing beets. The red juice of the vegetable is quite concentrated and can slightly damage your skin.
- Before you start cook beets, learn how long to cook each beet size. If you use universal time, then the product will either be overcooked or it will be eaten raw.
Summary
Eating beets is a pleasant process. The delicate fibrous structure and sweet taste will appeal to anyone. Learn how to choose the technology of preparation for red beets and use different ways of cutting.
Don’t be afraid to experiment and surprise your loved ones!