With the advent of spring, each of us wants to buy as many fruits and vegetables as possible, because after winter we develop a terrible beriberi. One of the desired and long-awaited products in the markets is cauliflower. This is a very interesting and healthy product, similar to broccoli. If we talk about taste, then cauliflower is special and unique, and it is almost impossible to explain what exactly you feel when you use it. If we talk about the nutritional value of cauliflower, then it is rich in minerals and vitamins that are necessary for the human body. However, not every housewife knows, since the product is rather capricious, then if you cook it for a long time, the taste can deteriorate very much. Already today you can find thousands of ways to cook cauliflower for a child, how much to cook it and how to serve it. Due to the fact that it has a huge amount of vitamins, it is used as a side dish, added to salads, hot dishes and even soups. The most important thing is your imagination, because it will be delicious in almost any dish. You just need to know how to cook cauliflower correctly.
Before we start talking about how to cook our vegetable, we note that it is perfect for people on a diet, because it contains a small amount of calories. Cauliflower can be used by girls who want to lose weight, and people who suffer from diseases of the digestive tract.
Cooking process
Having talked about all the pros and useful properties, let's talk about how to cook cauliflower. Naturally, before the cooking process, you need to choose a good head of cabbage. To do this, hold it in your hands. A good cauliflower should have a pleasing color and also be fairly tough, otherwise it will fall apart when cooked and lose its flavor and therefore nutritional value.
Second step
The next step is to prepare the cabbage for cooking. To do this, rinse the head of cabbage under running cold water. If you are wondering how to boil cauliflower - whole or divided into parts - we recommend the second option. Boiling a whole head of cabbage is not necessary, as it will be too much even for several people. And leaving boiled cabbage, and then warming it up is not so tasty. Therefore, it is preferable to separate the part you need and immerse it in a pot of water so that it is completely covered with liquid. Salt the water a little. You can also add a small amount of citric acid. It will also add flavor to our cabbage. We put the pan on a strong fire, without closing the lid.
The final stage
Next, you should constantly monitor the condition of the cabbage, turning it over. After 10 minutes of cooking, try piercing it with a fork. If the fork enters freely, then the cauliflower can be removed from the heat, it is ready.
Conclusion
As you can see, the method is very easy, and the result is delicious. The finished dish can be seasoned with butter to make it even more juicy and soft.
Cauliflower is a very popular product in modern cooking. The recipe describes the detailed technology for cooking cauliflower inflorescences in a saucepan: how to prepare it for cooking, how much water to use, how much to cook cauliflower after boiling, as well as the main secrets of preparing this seemingly simple dish. Cauliflower, boiled in water, retains a large number of useful trace elements that give our body a sufficient dose of vitamin A, C, D, iron, calcium. It is very important to know how to properly prepare this dish so that it does not lose its benefits.
Wash cabbage thoroughly in plenty of water. We divide it into inflorescences along the stem, separate the leaves. You can leave it to cook whole, but the cooking time will increase.
Bring the liquid to a boil in a saucepan and add 1 tsp. salt. It is best to take a container with an enamel coating. If the cabbage is frozen, you can not defrost it, but pour it with cold water and cook for a few minutes more.
As soon as the water boils, turn off the fire on the stove. We spread the previously prepared inflorescences in a saucepan.
Secret: in order for the cabbage to acquire a snow-white hue, you need to add a few tablespoons of milk to a liter container of liquid.
Cook over low heat without closing the lid - this may cause the cabbage to become a little yellowish. Separated inflorescences are boiled for 7-9 minutes, and a whole cabbage - from 10 to 15 minutes, depending on its size.
After the time has elapsed, using a slotted spoon, we take out the cabbage from the liquid in which it was cooked. A decoction of cauliflower contains many useful components, it can also be left for further cooking.
The recipe for boiled cabbage is very simple, it will take very little time to cook cauliflower after boiling, and as a result you will get a tasty and healthy side dish for meat or cereals.
Cauliflower is a great vegetable that combines not only many useful trace elements and vitamins, but is also affordable, which makes it attractive to many housewives. And sooner or later, everyone is faced with the question, how much do you need to cook cauliflower in order to preserve all its properties? That is, the correct cooking time will be discussed in our article.
From the correct cooking time depends not only its usefulness, but taste. Well-cooked inflorescences have a characteristic delicate structure and a pleasant taste.
Thanks to breeding, scientists have developed new varieties of cauliflower - orange, purple and green.
How much to cook fresh cauliflower depends on the method of its preparation:
How much to cook fresh cauliflower after boiling depends on whether it will undergo additional heat treatment in the future - frying or baking. If this is foreseen, then it is better to reduce the cooking time by 2-3 minutes.
This vegetable retains its beneficial properties well even when frozen. To prepare the cabbage for freezing, you need to separate it from the leaves, cut off the dark spots, wash it well and divide it into separate forks. To avoid a lot of ice sticking, after washing the vegetable, it is advisable to put it on a towel and let it dry a little.
How to cook frozen cauliflower? Yes, very simple. For cooking, the vegetable does not even have to be defrosted first. Defrosting is worth it, only if there is a large amount of ice on the cabbage. Another question is how much to cook frozen cauliflower. Everything here is similar to fresh, and the time depends on the method of cooking, and its further use. For the convenience of cooking, it is better to try to make the same forks (inflorescences). In this case, there will be no possibility that some “flower” of cabbage will not be cooked, and the second, on the contrary, will acquire a mushy state.
Before boiling, it is advisable to put the cauliflower in a saline solution, which is made at the rate of 2 tbsp. l. salt per 1 liter of water. This is done to get rid of caterpillars and larvae. Next, you need to cut off all the dark spots from the head of cabbage and divide it into inflorescences.
Boiling cauliflower, both fresh and frozen, is easiest in a saucepan. This is primarily due to the opportunity to taste the readiness of the vegetable.
Cooking cauliflower can be divided into several stages:
The degree of readiness of cabbage should be checked 2 minutes before the end of the cooking time. Depending on the specific variety, the time can be slightly increased or decreased.
Cauliflower is a low-calorie food, for which nutritionists love it very much.
Despite its apparent simplicity, cauliflower can be cooked in many variations. It can be either a separate product or a component of a dish. Experiment, and ordinary borscht, but with cauliflower, will delight you not only with its appearance, but also with its unusual taste.
How much to cook cauliflower before frying and whether it should be cooked at all, this is the main question that worries novice cooks. In order for cauliflower fried in batter to turn out tasty and pleasant in texture, it is extremely necessary to properly process it before the final heat treatment.
Recipe for cauliflower in batter for 3-4 persons:
Carefully washed head of cauliflower cut into small inflorescences. It is necessary to cut the head of cabbage at the junction of the cauliflower inflorescences with the stem. Then we place the inflorescences in cold salted water, bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat and cook the cauliflower for no more than 7 minutes. The main thing is not to digest the inflorescences, since we don’t need fully cooked cabbage, and with further frying it will be completely cooked. If you cook the cabbage completely, then it will be extremely difficult to dip it in batter, as it will be very fragile, and with further frying it will spread in the pan. Of course, how many minutes to cook cauliflower before frying depends largely on the size of the pieces, but on average this time does not exceed 6-8 minutes. A simple rule, if you plan to further process the cabbage in a pan, then after cooking the cabbage should remain half-cooked.
While the cabbage is cooking, make the batter. To do this, separate the eggs. Then beat the yolks with a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil and a pinch of salt. Now beat the whites until foamy and gradually drive them into the yolks. All batter for frying cauliflower is ready.
After the cauliflower has boiled, take it out and let the water drain. Now we dip each inflorescence in batter and prick it into a preheated pan with a little or no oil. It remains only to brown the cauliflower until golden brown and a delicious, nutritious and at the same time healthy dish is ready! You can serve ready-made fried cauliflower as an independent dish, or as an addition to meat or fish.
A lot has been said and written about the benefits of cauliflower. And yet, not everyone likes the taste of this vegetable. This is due to the fact that many do not know how to cook it properly, in particular, how much to cook cauliflower before frying or stewing. But, having done everything according to the rules, you can be sure that the dish will turn out to be very tasty.
Most often, cauliflower is fried. However, few adhere to the recipe and boil the vegetable before cooking. Meanwhile, only after the cabbage inflorescences are heat treated in boiling water, they become soft and juicy. And the frying time is reduced to 4-5 minutes. Many housewives do not boil the vegetable because they want to reduce the cooking time, but all because they do not know how long to boil the cauliflower before frying.
To make a tender and airy dish from cauliflower, it should be properly prepared, that is, boiled. The best way to do this is to use an enamel pan and a minimum of additives.
Thus, having made the calculations, it is easy to answer the question of how many minutes to cook cauliflower before frying. In a saucepan, the cooking time is 10 minutes after boiling, in a slow cooker - 20 minutes. In the latter case, you do not need to add water. It is enough to select the "Steam processing" mode.
In the process of boiling, the smell and partly the bitterness disappears from the cabbage. Especially if, after boiling, add a piece of white bread or a bun. But if you plan to fry cabbage in breadcrumbs, then a slight bitterness will add spice to the dish. By the way, it turns out no less tasty if the cabbage inflorescences are fried in flour batter with an egg.
Delicious sautéed cauliflower is a great side dish or a quick meal on its own. But do not neglect the recommendations for preparing vegetables for frying.
Knowing how much to cook cauliflower before roasting can speed up the roasting process. And, of course, to achieve the maximum disclosure of the taste of a healthy vegetable. The dish only benefits from pre-boiling, as it becomes softer and juicier. At the same time, in the process it can, if desired, be enriched with new flavor notes.