How To Cook Vegetables In A Mouth-watering Way

When you want to cook vegetables, a great part of the success of the recipe lies in how you choose to prepare them. They will always be more appetizing if you take these tips into account.

Creativity and knowledge. This is the recipe for cooking vegetables in an attractive way in the daily diet. Indeed, the ideas are endless and so are the combinations.

“I don’t like it, I don’t want to eat it and I won’t eat it”. These are phrases children say just when they see the green, orange or purple color in vegetables.

However, convincing children to consume the vitamins and minerals in vegetables can become less complicated with a few tips.

Sauces, dairy products and pastries: the best camouflages

• Sauces and dairy products are great for masking flavors. But vegetable creams with cheese, macaroni with vegetables, green beans with eggs and ham or steamed broccoli with mayonnaise are also very useful.
• Patties are a good option. They can be garnished with vegetables and healthy foods, such as leeks, spinach or fish, among others.

When it comes to textures and smoothness

Attractive cooking of vegetables can be achieved in various ways. There are ingredients whose sweet taste is released when grilled or fried, like cassava.

• When the film that covers some tubers, root vegetables and pumpkins is made up of oil, when cooking them, it heats up quickly and evaporates moisture from the surface.
• This is called the Maillard effect, which increases the taste on the outside, with crunchy and caramelized areas, and softness on the inside.

Root vegetables for mashing soften faster if they are boiled than steamed.

Cooking with colors

1. Purple

Purple vegetables have high levels of antioxidants. Beans, potatoes, asparagus or purple cabbage contain anthocyanins, unstable, water-soluble molecules.

When they are boiled, they lose their color, so it is advisable to eat them raw or add acidic flavors to the water. Red cabbage, for example, is usually cooked with vinegar.

2. Red

It is betaine that gives beets its red color. It is water soluble and heat sensitive, so it is recommended to treat it as if it were purple.

3. Green

Chlorophyll is responsible for the green color of some vegetables, but it is also soluble in water.

It is recommended to boil briefly in a large amount of salted water and pass them in cold water. You can grill or fry them and season them with lemon juice.

• Dark green vegetables do not lose color so easily, due to carotenoids, which also give other foods their orange or red color.

4. White

Potatoes, artichokes, cauliflower or onions, white vegetables discolour when cut, due to enzymes that cause them to brown.

They can be stored in a bowl filled with diluted lemon juice. It is not recommended to bake or roast them for long periods.

Tips for cooking mouth-watering vegetables

• Salt makes tomatoes fresher and improves the taste of sweet dishes.
• Honey minimizes the bitterness of escarole, chicory and endives.
• In the case of bitter vegetables, like green leaves, or intensely salty vegetables, like mushrooms, be careful when adding salt.
• A tempting combination of bitter and sweet flavors: sweet and sour mint with peas, parsley salad with sweet sauces, cumin with roasted carrots …
• Olive oil is excellent in combination with sweet and bitter flavors.

The rich sweet flavor

Fresh peas, carrots and peppers have sweet flavors, which can be spiced up with honey, syrups, or alcohol.

Mixing sweet and fat is bold, but very appealing when trying to get someone to eat more veggies.

However, while potatoes with melted butter, soups or cream mash are real delicacies, they should not be overused.

Moderate spicy and acidic flavors

Hot peppers, black pepper or fresh ginger improve raw foods and soups or stews.

On the other hand, acidic flavors like lemon juice, vinegar, wine, rhubarb, sour cream or yogurt enhance the natural sweetness of vegetables. They should be used sparingly to achieve a balanced flavor.

A mouth-watering recipe to savor vegetables

This recipe is an example of how to make vegetables the most delicious dish.

Cheese vegetables

Ingredients

• Broccoli, cauliflower and carrot
• 3 tablespoons of butter (60 g)
• Gratin cheese (according to your taste)
• Salt and pepper (to taste)
• A little water

Preparation

• Pour water into a saucepan so that the vegetables do not burn with the steam.
• Add the broccoli, cauliflower and carrot, butter, salt and pepper.
• Over low heat and with the pan covered, leave for a few minutes until the vegetables are cooked but remain crisp.
• Finally, turn off the heat, add the cheese and cover the pan again to melt it.