3 delicious snacks to your table: recipes of the day
Some healthy lifestyle opponents believe that healthy food is not as tasty as traditional recipes. This opinion is based on the fact that food without oil and roasting does not correspond to traditional taste. In fact, this is not the case. It is enough to know a few simple and quick recipes, to have a blender or an oven at home to prepare delicious dishes that are not inferior to restaurant positions.
Steaming food: benefits
Steam cooking is nothing new – this type of processing has been known since BC. With the development of technology, it became possible to control the intensity of steam supply, combine with other types of heat treatment and make food tastier than it was before. The main benefit is to preserve more nutrients, vitamins, minerals and moisture in foods under the delicious crispy crust for which traditional recipes are loved.
To get crisp and juicy flesh in a conventional oven, you have to resort to many steps that complicate the process. For example, vegetables are first baked under foil, then opened, and the vegetables are baked until a crust is obtained. One mistake is that the peppers or potatoes are too dry. In this regard, it is easier to cook in ovens where the steam addition can be adjusted and moisture can be “sealed” inside the food without foil. New features let you make healthy food tastier and more beautiful – in case you’re expecting a dinner party or a romantic date at home. Almost all well-known brands have such functionality for built-in ovens: Bosch, Electrolux, Miele.
Sun-dried tomatoes: recipe
Sun-dried tomatoes and fruits are a traditional ingredient in Mediterranean cuisine. For example, in Italian cuisine, dried vegetables and fruits are used in salads, soups and as snacks.
Drying vegetables and fruits is much closer to a healthy diet than other canning methods. In the drying process, marinades and sugar are not used, only moisture is evaporated from vegetables and fruits, and all useful substances remain inside.
The washed tomatoes are first blanched in a steam oven to preserve the flavor and color of the product after drying. Blanching inactivates enzymes and promotes better storage, prevents sun-dried tomatoes from browning due to oxidation.
To blanch tomatoes, they are pre-cut and placed in a mold of a suitable size. Then the mold is placed in the oven and the steam addition function is turned on for about 2-3 minutes. Tomatoes should look translucent after processing. Cool vegetables immediately after removing them from the oven with cold water.
Spread the tomatoes on a baking sheet and dry at 70 ° C for 12-14 hours. Turn the slices over and rotate the baking sheet 90 ° once or twice during the cycle. Then lower the temperature to 50 ° C and continue drying for another 8 hours. Sun-dried tomatoes are stored in sealed sterilized jars with olive oil. If you want to add a special flavor to the appetizer, you can add garlic, a mixture of dry herbs, salt, basil, rosemary or other spices to your taste before placing it in the jars.
Sun-dried plums: recipe
Fruits are softer than vegetables, therefore, in order to retain more nutrients in them, they are dried at a lower temperature.
Before drying, the plums are cut in half and pitted, then blanched in the oven with steam for 1-2 minutes. After blanching, the plums must be cooled under cold water and placed on a baking sheet covered with paper kitchen towels.
When the towels absorb the water, they are removed, and the baking sheet is placed in an oven preheated to 40-45 ° for 3-4 hours. When the plums have decreased in size, the baking sheet is removed from the oven and the plums are kept at room temperature for 4-6 hours. Then the fruit is returned to the oven and dried at 55-60 ° C for 4-5 hours. After that, drying is interrupted again for 3-4 hours. At the final stage, the baking sheet is returned to the oven, preheated to at 75-80 ° and the fruit is dried for 12-16 hours.
Sun-dried plums, like tomatoes, can be canned in jars of olive oil, adding spices to taste. An oven with added steam will also be useful at the canning stage – it is convenient to sterilize jars and lids in it.
Homemade hummus: recipe
Many chefs have their own knife, which is forbidden to be taken by others, and with the help of which they make gastronomic masterpieces. Thus, the taste and appearance of a dish depends not only on the quality of the food, but also on the kitchen gadgets. Hummus uses hard foods that can break the knives in the blender if they are frail. Homemade hummus is best cooked in a blender with good power, where the knives are spinning at high speed. These systems are called Tripl’Ax or ProEdge. They can grind or turn into a delicate cream almost all foods: broccoli, frozen berries, nuts, pitted foods, meat.
Ingredients: two 400 g canned chickpeas, 1/3 cup canned juice, 1/2 cup white sesame (tahini) paste, 1/4 cup olive oil, 2 lemons, 2 cloves of garlic, a teaspoon of cumin, 1 / 2 teaspoon salt, pepper, fresh parsley, pomegranate seeds.
Place the chickpeas and tahini in a blender and pour the juice from the jars into a separate container. Add sesame paste, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, cumin, salt, and two garlic cloves to a blender.
Turn the blender on to maximum power and stir the ingredients until a thick, delicate cream is obtained. Add some juice for a softer consistency. Transfer hummus to a suitable dish, pepper, garnish with pomegranate seeds and parsley leaves and serve.