Beets are a useful and very picturesque product. The saturated color of this root crop is betaine, which reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease. Her bright beauty is used by culinary experts around the world to prepare and decorate dishes. One of the most famous dishes with beets is borsch. It is impossible to count recipes. Often during heat treatment - cooking, frying, stewing - beets lose their brightness and become brown. Because of this, the look of the whole dish turns out to be careless and unappetizing. You can save the "primordial" color of borsch, knowing some tricks.
Pick your recipe
You will need
-
- vinegar (table or grape);
- lemon acid;
- lemon juice;
- sugar;
- vegetable oil;
- water;
- bouillon;
- tomato paste or tomatoes;
- salt.
Instruction manual
1
Grate the beets and sprinkle well with salt, mix. Leave it until the salt has dissolved. Salt the broth quite a bit or do not salt at all. To fix the color, add vegetable oil. Stew prepared beets separately from vegetables. Add to the borsch simultaneously with potatoes.
2
Sprinkle finely chopped or grated beets with table vinegar diluted with water.
3
Cook the beets in slightly acidified water. Peel, chop finely. Add to the borscht about 10 minutes before the end of cooking.
4
Stew the beets with the addition of tomato paste. The pasta can be replaced with fresh tomatoes, but the effect will be less, because they have a lower concentration of lycopene, which causes the tomatoes to “blush”.
5
When stewing, you can add a little vinegar (table or grape), lemon juice or citric acid.
6
Try adding sugar instead of acid. Approximately 1 tsp for 2 liters of water. Add only to boiling water, but it is better to put it in chopped beets before stewing. The taste of borsch will become more interesting.
7
Color the beetroot soup with beet kvass - fermented beet juice. You can cook it in advance. Wash and peel the beets. Cut it into slices of medium thickness. Fill with cold water and clean in a warm place. After 6 days, put in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. Juice should become thick and have a bright saturated color. Strain and add to the finished borsch, immediately close the lid and remove from heat. You can make such kvass in haste. To do this, grate the peeled beets on a grater, transfer to a small pan. Add 200 ml of broth and lemon juice or acid. Bring everything to a boil, stirring often. Boil for 2-3 minutes, cover and remove from heat. After 30 minutes, strain and add to the borsch.
note
If you use beet kvass to preserve color, do not add any other acid.
Useful advice
The best varieties for heat treatment are those that have a slightly flattened root crop and darker skin.
Beets are best cut along the straws.
Cooked beet kvass for future use can be stored in small plastic containers in the freezer.