Who should use steamed dishes?
The advantages of steamed dishes are that they do not lose their natural shape, color and aroma. The food turns out tasty, healthy and very appetizing to look at. According to nutritionists, steamed dishes should be eaten by all people who care about their health. But there are times when switching to steam dishes is not just desirable, but vital. This situation happens when a person is diagnosed and prescribed a therapeutic diet.
Steam dishes are indicated for diseases of the gastrointestinal tract (cholecystitis, gastritis, peptic ulcer, gastroduodenitis). Having discovered at least one of these diseases in a person, doctors immediately recommend that the patient change his diet. Such people need gentle, dietary food. If there are problems with the digestive system, steamed dishes are the most suitable.
It is useful for people suffering from various diseases of the cardiovascular system to switch to steamed dishes. So, with atherosclerosis, you need to lower the level of cholesterol in the blood. To do this, you need to exclude spicy and fatty foods from your diet. Steam food is absolutely not greasy.
If a person is overweight or has allergies, a steam kitchen will come to his aid. Steamed dishes are recommended for people who suffer from metabolic disorders. Nutritionists recommend steamed meals to completely healthy people, and especially children. For children 2-3 years old, steamed meals should form the basis of the diet. After all, their digestive system has not yet become stronger.
Taste of steamed dishes and cooking time
This question interests most people. For some reason, many people think that steamed dishes are completely tasteless. In fact, steamed food turns out juicier. At the same time, the original taste of the products is preserved. Eating such food all the time is a little unusual at first. But people quickly get used to it, like all good things.
As for the cooking time for steamed dishes, you don’t need much of it. And if you have modern household appliances (electric steamer, microwave with steaming function), the cooking time is reduced to a minimum. In a microwave or steamer, dishes are cooked not just quickly, but very quickly. By pressing the right buttons, you can simply forget about cooking. In addition, in a double boiler you can cook several dishes at the same time and not have to think about the fact that the food may burn. In a double boiler, the products do not mix, and this is also a significant plus. The cooking process does not require constant monitoring. There is no need to stir or turn anything; steam dishes heat up evenly during cooking. Another positive point that will definitely please the housewives. The steam that is generated during the preparation of steamed dishes does not settle as a greasy layer on the surface of kitchen utensils and does not form greasy stains on furniture.
Delicious recipe for steamed cutlets
I had minced meat ready. If you don’t have it, just grind the meat in any way and add whatever you want to the minced meat. It will be delicious!
Ingredients:
- Minced meat – 300 g
- Onion – 70 g
- Garlic – 2 cloves
- Bell pepper – 70 g
- Greenery
- Bun – 1 slice
- Breading
- Salt - to taste
- Spices - to taste
- Olive oil
How to cook delicious steamed cutlets - my children's favorite recipe
I chopped everything I had at that time into the finished minced meat. After chopping the vegetables, I combined them with the minced meat. Mixed well and added a piece of bread soaked in water. Then I added salt to taste, seasoned with my favorite Italian herbs and chopped herbs.
Step 1. Prepare the minced meat
To make them more beautiful, I dipped them in coarse breading. Next, they had to be sent to a container for steaming. That’s what I did, but first I wrapped the cutlets in a baking sleeve. That's why they turned out so juicy! By the way, I cooked it in the same multicooker in the “steaming” mode until the signal.
Step 2. Cutlets in a baking sleeve
Steamed dishes, recipes
Steaming food has its own characteristics. Firstly, you should not cut the food too finely, so as not to end up with a sticky mass. To reduce cooking time, do not place food very tightly in the steamer. Products for steam dishes must be fresh and dense. Overripe fruits and vegetables are not suitable.
You can steam many dishes - vegetables, fish, cutlets, fruit puddings, desserts. Cooking vegetables in the tray creates a healthy vegetable broth that can be used for other dishes.
Steamed apple pudding
For the sponge cake you will need 200 g of wheat flour, 125 g of butter, a teaspoon of baking powder, 2 eggs, half a glass of powdered sugar, 3 tbsp. spoons of milk, 2 tbsp. spoons of brown sugar, tbsp. a spoonful of butter to grease the pan. In addition, you will need one or two apples.
Grease the pan with softened butter and sprinkle with brown sugar. Remove the core from the apples, cut them into slices, and place them on the bottom of the mold. Start preparing the biscuit dough. Mix flour with baking powder, beat butter (you can use margarine) with powdered sugar. Continuing beating, add eggs, a tablespoon of flour, milk, and the remaining flour. After this, knead the dough, place it on top of the apples, and smooth it out. Cover with parchment and cook for 45 minutes. Serve hot.
Steamed dishes for breakfast, lunch and dinner
You can steam eggs and omelettes, porridges, meat dishes, vegetable dishes, meat and cheese. Puddings are prepared with yolks mashed with butter. The result is a lush mass, which should be combined with vegetables, porridge, white grated breadcrumbs, and minced meat. There are many different combinations and you can experiment until you find your favorite recipes. Don't believe that steamed dishes are just steamed cutlets, potatoes and rice. After preparing the pudding mixture, add well-beaten egg white and seasonings to your taste. The mass is placed in a pudding mold and placed in a double boiler. You can also use a small saucepan, which is inserted into a larger saucepan of boiling water and tightly closed with a lid. Puddings take about 40-45 minutes to prepare. Such dishes should be served hot with sour cream or other homemade sauces.
If your diet limits the consumption of fats, you can prepare puddings without butter and yolks. To do this, porridge, meat or vegetables need to be combined with whipped whites and cooked in the same way as described above.
Steamed fish cutlets
For minced meat you will need one onion, 2 tbsp. spoons of semolina, 1 kg of fish fillet, 1 tbsp. a spoonful of sugar, 30 g butter, black pepper, salt, dill to taste.
For cutlets, it is better to take fillets of 2-3 types of fish so that fatty and lean varieties are combined. Pass the fish and onions through a meat grinder, add the rest of the ingredients, and make minced meat. Form the cutlets with wet hands, coat them with butter, and place in a double boiler. To prepare fish cutlets, 25 minutes are enough - the fish cooks quickly. Decorate the dish with finely chopped eggs and herbs. Serve with a side dish of vegetables, which can also be steamed.
Which steamer is better: conventional or electric?
Modern electric steamers allow you to cook several dishes at the same time. So, you can put fish cutlets or meat fillet in the lower section, rice in the middle section, and vegetables in the upper section. But the advantage of ordinary steamers (two saucepans that are inserted one into the other) is that you can use broths instead of water for cooking. This is excluded in electric steamers. As for cooking food, in both one and the other steamer all the vitamins and shape of the food are preserved - after all, their operating principle is the same.
Learning to steam cook
• You can steam any lean meat, cut into portions. As it is ready (and it needs to be “steamed” for 30–40 minutes), it changes color, becomes soft and tender. At this point, you can sprinkle it with salt, season with spices, garlic and cook for another 10 minutes. And if the meat is pre-marinated with onions and spices, its taste will be more piquant. • Steamed dishes made from minced meat – cutlets, meatballs, etc. – First, we make the cutlet mass by grinding onions and a piece of lean beef or veal, chicken or turkey fillet through a meat grinder and adding bread soaked in milk, an egg, and spices. After kneading the resulting mass, shape it into cutlets or meatballs and place them to “steam” for 10–30 minutes, depending on the size. • An unusual dish – steam roll. Spread the cutlet mass in an even layer 1.5 cm thick on two-layer gauze moistened with water. In the middle, place in an even layer either boiled rice with herbs, or a finely chopped hard-boiled egg, or another filling. Then, lifting the gauze on one side, we cover the filling so that the edges of the layer of cutlet mass are connected to each other. After this, roll the roll, seam side down, from the gauze onto the grate of a steam pan and steam it. You can cook the roll directly in gauze and remove it when the dish is cooked. Before serving, cut the roll into pieces. • Steamed fish (fillet of pike perch, catfish, pike, burbot, salmon, etc.) turns out much tastier than regular boiled fish. The prepared pieces should be placed in one row in a double boiler or pan, and spices should be added. And instead of water, pour broth made from the bones, fins and tail of the fish. Fish cutlets are prepared in the same way as meat cutlets. • Steamed vegetables retain their flavor and most of their vitamins and do not become watery. The fresher the vegetable, the tastier the dish. You can cook any vegetables: spinach, pumpkin, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts, beets, turnips, carrots, potatoes, beans, etc. Small vegetables are usually cooked whole. Spinach and cabbage are separated into leaves. Larger vegetables are chopped. You can mix vegetables of different sizes, but the main thing is to remember the cooking time. Vegetables that take longer to cook are placed in the steamer earlier. It is important not to steam them too long, otherwise they will lose their beneficial properties. When you turn off the heat, the vegetables should still have a slight “crunch” inside. They need to be left under the lid for a few more minutes, and they will “reach”. It is better to serve steamed vegetables with a slice of lemon, olive oil and ground black pepper. • Even buns and pies can be steamed. Here, for example, is how you can prepare sweet buns: knead yeast dough from flour, sugar, yeast, eggs and a glass of warm water. Leave it to rise for 2-3 hours in a warm place. Then roll out the dough into a rectangular layer 0.7 cm thick, brush the surface with jam, roll into a roll and cut into equal pieces. Make buns from each piece, brush them with syrup and steam (preferably in a pressure cooker) at high boil for 30 minutes. • Dumplings and dumplings (manti) are also steamed. To make lazy potato dumplings, peel the potatoes, place them in a steamer and cook for 8-12 minutes (or boil). Then mix cottage cheese with potatoes, add 2 egg yolks mashed with butter, flour, starch, whipped whites, salt and knead the dough. Roll “sausages” from the resulting mass, cut them into pieces (slices). Place the resulting dumplings in a steamer and cook for 5–8 minutes. Serve with sour cream.
