Dishes for a couple of benefits and harms. Steamed Dishes - the best recipes for simple, original and delicious treats
Steam cooking is the oldest cooking method. Even before they got acquainted with fire, our ancestors had the opportunity to warm up and soften fish, roots and fruits on stones near hot springs. The ancient Chinese method of steaming has hardly changed over the centuries. Traditionally, in China, meat and vegetables are cooked in a deep pan with a rounded bottom, in which bamboo or cane baskets with finely chopped ingredients are placed in several tiers.
The advantages of the oldest way of cooking are obvious: the products retain not only their natural color, smell, shape and taste, but also most of the microelements and vitamins contained in the raw product. Steaming does not require oil or broth, so water-soluble vitamins and minerals are not lost and food is not saturated with fat. When steamed, the products do not come into contact with air and do not heat up above 100C, which preserves their composition in its original form. All products are suitable for steaming, except for mushrooms, which must be boiled in a large amount of water. Spoiled and wrinkled vegetables and fruits in a double boiler will acquire an unpleasant smell and taste, and if defects are cut out, they will lose their shape. Therefore, for steaming, all vegetables and fruits must be of the highest quality.
Many foods are only useful when steamed, such as brown rice, which completely loses vitamin B1 when cooked. The time required for steaming vegetables is much less than for frying and boiling in water. Steamed dishes are juicy and healthy, because the steam that evaporates even from hard and chlorinated water does not contain metal impurities.In addition to the health benefits, steaming saves time, the dish will never burn, everything cooks evenly and does not require stirring and turning. The double boiler does not need to be cleaned of fat, and kitchen furniture from the greasy film that forms when frying in oil. On different tiers of the steamer, you can cook several dishes at once by placing products with a shorter cooking time on the upper tier. In a double boiler, you can defrost meat, fish and vegetables quickly and without loss.
Despite all the advantages of a double boiler, few dare to replace pans and pots with it. Prejudices against steaming are usually associated with the fact that this method is recommended for patients suffering from gastritis, ulcers, cholecystitis, atherosclerosis and other chronic diseases, and for a healthy person, there is supposedly no need to deprive yourself of the opportunity to eat fried or boiled food.
For people accustomed to rich borscht and crispy fried potatoes, the taste of steamed food will seem insipid at first. To avoid this, you can add various sauces and seasonings to the dish after cooking. Consider whether you really enjoy the taste of fried food enough that you are willing to put up with its harmful effects. When frying, and even more so when reheating products, carcinogens are formed from the oil. Fried meat is a serious burden for the stomach and cardiovascular system. Steamed dishes, on the contrary, are easy to digest, do not create a feeling of heaviness in the stomach, and even help preserve youth and beauty, because they do not contain extra calories, cholesterol and toxins that clog blood vessels.
Steamed food is the most dietary.
With regular eating of steam dishes, the condition of the skin and hair improves, the immune system strengthens and the tone rises.
Steam nutrition is the prevention of cardiovascular diseases for people over 40 years old. With lack of sleep, stress and increased physical activity, steam nutrition will provide the body with vitamins and help you survive a difficult period of life without harming your health.
The simplest device for steaming is a deep saucepan, on the bottom of which water is poured, a sieve is placed above it, and the lid is tightly closed. If you simply put a container of food in a pot of water, it will be boiling in a water bath, which is also better than boiling in water, but with this method, steam cannot penetrate into the product evenly. Another option is a saucepan, with gauze fixed on top, in which food is placed.
Now there are many double boilers of various designs, in which cooking is easier than in a pan. The most budget option for a double boiler is a pan with mesh inserts and a tight lid. Working with such a double boiler requires some skills and attention. If the water boils away or the steamer is left on the fire, the dish will be ruined.
With the advent of modern self-contained electric steamers, even the most inept person has to work hard to ruin a dish. The principle of operation of an electric steamer is simple - the base is filled with water, which is heated by a steam generator and forms steam that enters the products located in several tiers in baskets with holes. The condensate is collected in the pan. Such steamers have a timer, water level indicator and several operating modes. If the water boils away, the steamer will automatically turn off. Cheap double boilers use only clean water for steaming, they cannot cook with broth, wine or tea, which significantly reduces the menu. Some steamers can keep food warm for several hours after cooking and start a timer to prepare breakfast while everyone is asleep.
Steaming is considered to be a rather ancient method of cooking, which is successfully used in modern cooking. It is especially popular with everyone who wants to lose weight and improve their health. After all, a steam diet is one of the most popular and safest ways to get the desired shape, improve overall well-being and mood.
Steamed food: good or bad?
Advantages of steam cooking:
- All vitamins, shape and color of products, their natural smell and taste are preserved.
- No need to add fat, because the dish turns out to be dietary.
- Cooking speed.
- The food is juicy, low-calorie, tasty and healthy.
- Such food is suitable for diseases of the gastrointestinal tract due to its easy digestibility.
- The natural color and taste of the products is able to attract children suffering from lack of appetite.
Recently, rational nutrition has come into fashion, and therefore health care, because the benefits of steaming are obvious. With regular consumption of such food, the functioning of the heart muscle improves, general well-being changes, vitality increases, hair and skin are transformed. People forget about migraines and increased flatulence, as the internal restructuring of the body is underway, allowing it to continue to work exclusively for the good.
Disadvantages of steam cooking:
- Such food quickly gets boring, especially for the category of people who are accustomed to gastronomic delights on their table.
- You will have to work hard to remove food debris and fat from the steamer nets.
However, the vast majority of adherents of steamed food note that such food only seems bland at first. The body just needs to get used to and adjust to the new mode of operation. This usually takes about three weeks.
- Both meat and fish dishes should not be consumed at the same time as a side dish. In addition, the optimal interval between eating carbohydrates and proteins is 4 hours.
- You can eat as much as your body needs. The main thing is to avoid overeating and stop eating 2 hours before going to bed.
- When cooking cereals, exclude salt, it is better to use soy sauce.
- All sweets cooked in a double boiler should be enjoyed only until dinner.
What and how to cook for a couple?
So, the desire to switch to proper nutrition has matured. Of course, a double boiler will become an indispensable assistant in this important matter. Easy to use and maintain, it will help you enjoy the main benefits of steam cooking. There are several types of steamers, different in size. However, they all have a single design, consisting of a heating element, a water tank, food storage compartments and a reliable lid.
The process of preparing healthy food is as follows:
- It is necessary to put products in the appropriate compartment (for example, vegetables - cabbage, carrots, onions).
- Pour the required amount of water.
- Close the lid.
- Set the timer for the optimal cooking time.
Upon completion, the steamer will notify the hosts that the dish is ready.
A slow cooker for steaming is also suitable if it has the appropriate function. Frozen foods can not be pre-defrosted, it is enough to slightly increase the cooking time.
Diet for a couple: one-day menu
- Breakfast
It is better to start the day with a light but nutritious meal containing fiber and complex carbohydrates. Quite suitable
- an impressive portion of milk oatmeal with the addition of corn;
- tea without sugar and its substitutes.
porridge recipe
Ingredients:
- 100 gr frozen corn
- 100 gr oatmeal,
- 200 ml skimmed milk
- 100 ml of water
- a pinch of salt.
Pour the corn together with the flakes into the bowl of the double boiler intended for rice, pour water and 50 ml of milk into the same place, mix thoroughly and wait for half an hour. Finally, the rest of the milk is added.
- Dinner
The middle of the day involves the inclusion of first courses and vegetables in the diet, such as:
- a portion of low-fat vegetable soup (possible with meatballs);
- steamed vegetable platter.
Recipe for vegetable soup with meatballs
Ingredients:
- medium fork of broccoli;
- carrots and potatoes (1 pc each);
- a small amount of minced meat;
- a glass of purified water.
A few cabbage inflorescences and a potato cut into small cubes are placed in a rice container. Meatballs are made from ground beef and chopped carrots and also put in a double boiler. All this is poured with water and cooked for half an hour.
Steamed vegetables (for 4 persons)
Ingredients:
- four small potatoes;
- two small tomatoes;
- one carrot;
- two bulbs;
- one large beet;
- a quarter of a fork of white cabbage.
Cabbage and beets are chopped into thin strips, potato tubers are cut into small cubes, and onions are cut into half rings. Then all the vegetables are mixed, salted and covered with food foil. Placed in a rice container. The dish is ready for exactly one hour
- Dinner
A great option is chicken breast with vegetables and soy sauce.
Recipe
Ingredients:
- medium sized breast;
- three carrots;
- a large fork of cauliflower;
- one big turnip;
- three onion heads and a stalk of celery;
- 0.5 l of fresh vegetable broth;
- a small spoonful of vegetable oil and soy sauce;
- salt and spices to taste.
All vegetables are cut into small slices, meat is cut into medium pieces, the celery stalk is carefully chopped. Spread in layers in a saucepan for cooking with steam. Pour in the broth, adding the sauce along with the oil. In total, the dish is prepared for 2 hours.
A diet based on steamed products is necessary both for weight loss and for the sake of cleansing the body. Food prepared in this way contains practically no fat, but retains all the important vitamins and essential trace elements. Such a diet will protect against excessive eating of high-calorie foods and dangerous carcinogens contained in food fried in vegetable oil.
Compliance with this diet promises both getting rid of excess weight and achieving recovery and even rejuvenation of the body. In 3 weeks, without much difficulty, you can get rid of 5 hated kilograms. However, the final result directly depends on the initial weight.
Why choose the steam diet?
- If there is everything for a couple, then such a diet removes restrictions on the consumption of some products. After all, literally everything is allowed to eat.
- The process of preparing different dishes in any double boiler is very convenient. In it, food will never burn and will not require constant attention from a person.
- Capacious multifunctional double boilers have several levels, due to which it becomes possible to cook several dishes at once.
- All steamed dishes are always beautiful and appetizing in appearance.
The steam diet has recently become not just a temporary method of rational weight loss, but also a permanent nutrition system. And for some, a way of life. You just need to realize one fact: steamed food is in no way inferior in taste to dishes of the usual diet. However, it is much more useful. Through it, you can, without much difficulty and inevitable breakdowns, radically change your own habitual eating style.
Ready for a couple. Diet for a couple
Cooking food using concentrated moist steam produced by constantly boiling water.
Preservation of vitamins. Steam cooking is a very delicate way of cooking food. The food is not exposed to very high temperatures, as is the case with frying or baking. Thanks to this, much more vitamins and other biologically active substances are stored in the products.
Fat free. You can steam very light, low-calorie meals, since you don’t need to add any fat to the steamer (it’s possible to fry without oil, but in practice this is extremely rare, and as a result, the calorie content of fried foods is usually too high).
Without carcinogens. In addition, steaming does not lead to the formation of compounds hazardous to health, which can occur under the influence of high temperatures during frying or baking. Steam cooking also wins compared to boiling and stewing, although for other reasons (the temperature in these cases, as in steaming, does not rise above 100 ° C). However, when foods are boiled or stewed, many water-soluble compounds, such as some vitamins, trace elements, etc., pass into the broth. If in the future it is not used in food, useful substances do not enter the body. In addition, even if the broth is not drained, the biological value of dishes prepared by boiling or stewing is lower than steamed. This is due to the fact that many useful substances that pass into the decoction are less stable in dissolved form and are destroyed faster.
Nice and tasty. In addition to all the above-mentioned advantages, the use of steam allows you to preserve the natural look, taste and aroma of food as much as possible. After steaming, the products almost do not lose their natural color and shape, as a result of which the dishes look bright and appetizing. Plus, the food is really delicious.
By eating steamed food, you release your receptors, and in just 1-2 weeks of eating natural food, you will begin to feel that each product has its own unique taste.
What not to steam
Do not steam pasta, especially soft wheat pasta.
It is not very convenient to use a double boiler for cooking some types of legumes (for example, beans or peas). These foods are also too dry to be steamed without being immersed in liquid.
Steaming should not be done for foods that must be removed as much of the soluble matter as possible before consumption. Such products include, for example, certain types of mushrooms (morels, lines, etc.) and some offal (kidneys, scars, etc.). Before use, they should be boiled in plenty of water.
Who are steamed dishes recommended for?
Nutritionists advise eating steamed food to all people who care about their health. However, in some cases, the transition to a steam kitchen is especially recommended. So, the steam diet is prescribed for various diseases.
Steamed food is necessary for diseases of the gastrointestinal tract: chronic gastritis, cholecystitis, gastroduodenitis, gastric ulcer, etc. Steam food is the most gentle for sick digestive organs.
Other indications for switching to a steam kitchen are diseases of the cardiovascular system. With atherosclerosis, it is important to exclude spicy and fatty foods in order to lower blood cholesterol levels.
Steam nutrition is necessary for metabolic disorders, overweight, allergies and other diseases.
Rules for using the steamer
Let the water boil before placing food in the steamer or steamer. Since you cook, but not on water, but on steam, the boiling water should not come into contact with the food.
When filling the base of the steamer with water, make sure that the basket is at least 2cm above the water. There should be a distance of at least 2-3 cm between the surface of the water and the bottom edge of the steamer.
Use large oven mitts to protect your hands from the steam when opening the steamer lid and foil envelopes.
Place food in one layer on each level of the steamer. Fish, meat or succulent products - to the lower level so that moisture does not drip from them onto the products below.
Steam cooking is the oldest cooking method. Even before they got acquainted with fire, our ancestors had the opportunity to warm up and soften fish, roots and fruits on stones near hot springs. The ancient Chinese method of steaming has hardly changed over the centuries. Traditionally, in China, meat and vegetables are cooked in a deep pan with a rounded bottom, in which bamboo or cane baskets with finely chopped ingredients are placed in several tiers. Microwave oven or double boiler, very little time is spent on preparing healthy and tasty food.
In a double boiler or microwave, you can cook several foods at the same time without thinking that the dishes may burn. This greatly saves cooking time, and the tastes of different dishes do not mix during cooking.There is the easiest way to steam food - a pot of water, in which a sieve is located at the top or a special grate for cooking steam food, tightly closed with a lid on top. This is convenient for small amounts of food.Now available are the devices of modern technology, a double boiler, which allows you to quickly and inexpensively prepare wonderful dishes.All the necessary products are laid out in a bowl, filled with water and the right time is set.For steam cooking, do not cut food too finely, as a result, a slimy homogeneous mass can be obtained. Also, in order to ensure a short cooking time and ensure uniform exposure to steam, the products should not be stacked too tightly in the pan.There is a certain group of products that cannot be cooked in a double boiler - these are overripe or slightly spoiled fruits and vegetables. They can be used in traditional cooking. And for steam cooking, the products must be whole and dense when raw. This is one of the conditions that ensures dishes are prepared with colorful, beautiful ingredients, and not the resulting shapeless vegetables and fruits.We can say that steam food is shown to everyone - this is an ideal option for proper nutrition, especially at a time when even the latest fashion trends call for abandoning diets, but at the same time looking fit and slim. Here, the best alternative for weight loss is steam cooking. If you add a minimum of physical exercise to such a diet, your body will be toned and slender, which will allow you to have your own style at any age, look attractive and fit in with fashion.
Steamed food is tasty and healthy. It preserves the natural color and taste of products without loss of vitamins and microelements, and meat, fish and vegetables do not lose moisture and turn out juicy. In addition, steamed meals are considered low-calorie because they are not fried in oil. If someone in your family is forced to follow a diet for medical reasons or for weight loss, cook food for a couple, and then it will never occur to anyone that they are limited in some way. It's so delicious!
Boil or steam
Steamed is healthier than boiled, stewed or baked in the oven. The fact is that when steaming, the temperature does not rise above 100 ° C, so the beneficial substances are completely preserved in the products. During cooking, many water-soluble vitamins pass into the broth and are destroyed more quickly. In addition, during the process of boiling and stewing, vegetables and meat lose their natural color and become paler. There is an opinion that steamed dishes are tasteless unless seasoned with spices. But this is not so, and you can be sure of this. The fact is that steamed natural products have a wide variety of flavors, and you can also use spices that add richness and piquancy to dishes. However, you will need much less spices than for cooking stews and boiled dishes. After a while, you and your loved ones will get so used to steam food that everything else will seem tasteless.
What is best for steaming
You can steam any dish - meat, fish, seafood, vegetables, omelettes, casseroles, dough products, cereals and even desserts. Steaming is not only healthy, but also very convenient and practical. For example, scrambled eggs and porridge will never burn in a double boiler, so you do not need to monitor them, the soup will not boil over. Liquid dishes are usually steamed in special bowls, and they are cooked in the usual way, only not by boiling, but by the action of steam.
What should not be steamed? Pasta in a double boiler boils soft and sticks together, and legumes remain raw. But even if you pre-soak peas or beans and, with patience and adding water, wait 3 hours until they are cooked, you will be disappointed. The taste of legumes cooked in the usual way is no different from a dish cooked in a double boiler, including in terms of benefits. Definitely do not steam mushrooms and offal, as they require pre-cooking for a long time.
Steam cooking with kitchen appliances
The simplest appliance for steaming is a mechanical steamer, which is a special insert on legs or a steam basket that is placed in a pot filled with water. Food is laid out on top, the pan is closed with a lid and put on fire. The water in the pan boils, evaporates, and food is cooked on this steam. Once upon a time, housewives used a colander or a sieve instead of a double boiler, but now we steam food using special tools that make it easier to work in the kitchen and save time.
How to cook in a steamer? Everything is very simple. At the base of this kitchen appliance is a container into which water is poured, and then brought to a boil using a heating element, as in an electric kettle. One or more steam baskets are installed on top, into which steam enters, and all the condensate flows into a special pan. Modern double boilers are powered by the mains, so you can cook several dishes in them at the same time without constant control and presence in the kitchen.
Not everyone knows how to steam in a slow cooker, but it's even easier than using a double boiler. Despite the absence of a multi-storey structure, the food is prepared very quickly, it turns out tasty and fragrant. In a slow cooker, you can also cook two at the same time - one in the usual way in a bowl and the second - for a couple.
Steam cooking functions are also available in some models of microwaves and air grills. Choose what suits you best!
Use only fresh quality products, which must be thoroughly washed before cooking and cleaned if necessary. Cut food into large or medium pieces, because small pieces will cook very quickly and turn into porridge. Vegetables or meat slices should be the same size so that the dish cooks evenly. Also, do not stack the pieces in several layers - the more food in the double boiler, the more time it will take to cook the dish. Leave small gaps between the pieces for free air circulation.
The steamer must be tightly covered with a lid. If there is at least a small gap in it, the cooking time will increase. Also, make sure that the water does not boil away, and add it if necessary. Pour boiling water over the grits before cooking, and cover the seafood with foil to make them especially tender.
If you are cooking several foods at the same time, put meat or beets on the lower tier of the steamer so that they get the hottest steam, and leave the upper tiers for fish and other vegetables. Beets are also best cooked at the bottom because they often produce juice that can color the food underneath. By the way, when calculating the cooking time, keep in mind that for each tier located above, you should add 5 minutes, because the steam, passing through the lower tiers, cools down a bit.
How long to cook in a double boiler
All require different cooking times, and much depends on the power of kitchen appliances and the size of the product. Cooking time is usually indicated in the instructions. Root vegetables are boiled for about 30 minutes, non-starchy vegetables - 15-20 minutes, green vegetables - 3 minutes. Thinly sliced pieces of meat are cooked for about 1.5 hours, meatballs, meatballs, zrazy and other minced meat dishes - 60 minutes, and chicken meatballs reach readiness within half an hour. Chicken, turkey and rabbit cook quickly - about 45-50 minutes. Cereals are usually boiled for 25-30 minutes. Fish is steamed faster than meat, and after 10-15 minutes it will delight you with its delicate taste and aroma. However, some varieties of fish are cooked longer - for example, catfish or pike.
Cooking fish at home for a couple
Take fillets of trout, pink salmon, salmon and any other fish you like, sprinkle the fish with lemon juice and olive oil, rub with any spices, salt, black pepper and fish herbs and leave for 15 minutes. The fish, saturated with the aroma of spices and dried herbs, will turn out fragrant and piquant. You can lightly pickle it in a sauce of lemon and orange juice, soy sauce, dry wine or beer.
Put fish steaks in a double boiler or slow cooker on lettuce leaves, place onion rings, slices of tomato or bell pepper on top, decorate all this splendor with greens and lemon slices. You can sprinkle the dish with grated cheese, and then turn on the double boiler mode for 10-15 minutes. At the same time, some housewives add spices, a little wine vinegar or dry wine to the water for steaming. Serve steam fish with lemon, herbs, vegetables, rice or mashed potatoes.
How to steam meat
Rinse the chicken breast, let it dry and make small cuts in the flesh. Cut the garlic into thin plates, stuff the meat, pour two glasses of water into the multicooker bowl and cook the breast for 35–40 minutes. You can cook beef in the same way, only it must first be marinated in wine or salt water for 2-4 hours. A glass of water requires 2 tsp. salt. After the meat is marinated, sprinkle it with spices and herbs and steam for 40 minutes. Some housewives say that if you rub a piece of beef with dry mustard 2 hours before cooking, it will turn out very soft and tender. Keep in mind that the dish will be quite spicy, so such culinary techniques are not suitable for children's cuisine. Cut the meat into slices and serve with any sauces and side dishes.
Steamed vegetables with sauce
Prepare cauliflower or broccoli, diced zucchini, bell pepper and onion rings. If desired, you can add any vegetables here - pumpkin, potatoes, carrots. While the vegetables are steaming, make a light sauce with a cup of low-fat yogurt, 2 tbsp. l. honey and 1 tsp. mustard. Add any fresh and dried herbs, spices, salt, pepper and one minced garlic clove to the dressing. Pour vegetables over before serving and enjoy their aristocratic taste.
Steam vegetables, meat and fish are eaten with herbs, sour cream, grated cheese, butter or olive oil, cream or sauce. Steamed dishes go well with any seasonings, complementing their exquisite taste with new shades. Be picky gourmets and feed your family tasty, healthy and stylish!
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