CAULIFLOWER STEAMED: ITS BENEFITS AND HARM, FEATURES OF PROCESSING THE PRODUCT, HOW TO COOK AND HOW MUCH THE VEGETABLE, AS WELL AS OPTIONS FOR RECIPES AND SERVING DISHES

Useful substances that are part of cauliflower, and its taste qualities make this vegetable popular among people choosing a healthy diet.

Since after steaming the cabbage practically does not lose vitamins and microelements, this method of preparation is recommended for the dietary and children's menu.

In the article you will learn how tasty, quickly and simply make steamed cauliflower, as well as how much this dish is prepared, how it can be supplemented and how to diversify.

Where can I cook?

Steamed cabbage can be prepared using:

steamer (for recipes for cooking cauliflower in a double boiler, you can find here);
a slow cooker with the program "Steam" or equipped with a special container-double boiler (how to cook cauliflower in a slow cooker in general, read here);
a pan with a metal strainer installed on the bottom or a special grill (steam basket).

Features

For cooking steamed cabbage should not be too finely chopped. Otherwise, at the end of cooking, you can get a homogeneous mass instead of individual inflorescences.

You should also know that a spoiled vegetable when steaming can get an unpleasant taste, so you need to pay attention to the quality of the selected product before choosing the method of its preparation.

The benefits and harm of dishes

The following advantages of steaming cabbage can be distinguished. This method of heat treatment saves the maximum amount of vitamins and minerals. compared to other cooking options.

In the composition of cauliflower:

Vitamins of group B, which help the proper functioning of the nervous system and energy metabolism, affect the state of the digestive system.
Vitamin Cstrengthening the immune system; he also participates in the processes of regulation of metabolism, bile secretion, elimination of toxins.
Reference. 100 g of cauliflower contains 70 mg of vitamin C. The daily rate for an adult is 50-100 mg.
Vitamin K1that a person can only get with food. It affects blood clotting and protects blood vessels from calcification.
Vitamin PPinvolved in the formation of hemoglobin, the production of digestive enzymes, the synthesis of hormones, the functioning of the nervous system.
Potassiumaffecting the regulation of water balance and normalization of heart rate.
Iron, without the presence of which in the body, blood formation and cell activity can be disrupted.

Cauliflower has a low calorie content - 30 kilocalories per 100 grams. For cooking, oil and fat are not used, so the calorie content of the prepared dish is lower than, for example, during frying, but the nutritional value of the vegetable is preserved. Therefore, steam cabbage is a valuable dish for those who want to lose weight.

Do not often use cauliflower for people with high acidity of the stomach or peptic ulcer.

How to cook?

To cook the cauliflower for a couple, you can take fresh cabbage grown on your own, or bought in a store. Choose cabbages better dense, medium size, without brown spots. You can also make frozen cauliflower from different manufacturers. When buying a freeze, you must check the shelf life of the product and the absence of pieces of ice in the package (ice indicates a repeated freeze).
If the cabbage is fresh, then the knife should be removed green leaves.

Next, the head must be divided into inflorescences and thoroughly rinsed them under running water, paying attention to possible accumulations of dirt at the junctions of the inflorescences.
In addition to cauliflower, water and salt are required. Water should be poured into a double boiler (a multicooker bowl, at the bottom of the pan). At 800 grams of cabbage will need about a liter of water.
Top mounted containers or a metal sieve, depending on the selected cooking utensils. Cauliflower should be placed in a container (on a sieve). It is desirable in a single layer, and if it does not work, then as evenly as possible, distributing the inflorescences over the grid.
Further actions depend on the selected dishes:
- The pot should be closed with a lid, boil water, reduce heat and cook until ready. How much time to cook? On average, after boiling water takes 10-15 minutes.
- The boiler must be closed with a lid and set the required time (depending on the model of the boiler). As a rule, it is 12-18 minutes.
- After installing the container with cauliflower, the slow cooker should be closed and the program "Steam" (or "Cooking") should be selected. If the model allows the choice of product, then click "Vegetables".
  Attention! Some multicooker models set the time automatically. If this does not happen, the time timer must be set to 20 minutes.
It is recommended to salt the dish after cooking before serving. In a number of variations of the recipe, it is allowed to salt water and add spices to it (bay leaf, black pepper peas).

Variants of recipes

With butter. When serving hot cauliflower can be filled with butter.
With greens. While the cabbage is cooked, you can make a sauce of greens and sour cream. To do this, finely chop the greens, add salt and mix with sour cream.
For kids. Cauliflower is a good complementary food for a child of the first year of life. Mix the steamed cabbage with a blender into a smooth mashed potatoes. Dense mashed potatoes can be diluted with a small amount of boiled water.
With cheese. The finished dish can be sprinkled with grated cheese before serving.
You can also make cheese sauce:
1. In a saucepan, melt 30 g of butter and gradually pour 2 tablespoons of flour, without stopping stirring.
2. When the mixture becomes homogeneous, add 300 ml of hot milk to the pan.
3. Keep the pot on fire until the contents are homogeneous.
4. Then the pan should be removed from the heat and add 100 g of grated hard cheese (you can take parmesan).
5. Stir until the cheese is completely dissolved.
6. In the finished cauliflower add the sauce and serve.

Options for serving dishes

Cooked cauliflower spread on a la carte plates. Serve sauce separately.
The finished dish is poured over with sauce and served to the table.
Before serving, sprinkle cabbage with finely chopped greens.
Put the finished cabbage on a plate and sprinkle with finely grated cheese.
Blender the mashed cabbage into mashed potatoes and serve as a side dish, for example, instead of mashed potatoes (how to make cauliflower mash, read here).

We offer to read what other dishes can be prepared from cauliflower: in a creamy sauce, scrambled eggs, salad, in breadcrumbs, cutlets, pancakes, with mushrooms, stews, in batter, pie.

Properly steamed cauliflower is a tasty and healthy dish that can either become a side dish or be an independent dish.