Cauliflower steamed dishes are so popular due to its wonderful taste. Everyone who has ever eaten according to a diet perfectly remembers not the most pleasant impressions of tasteless food. But the dishes of cauliflower are very different on the general "diet" background. Even such severe restrictions as the ban on the use of fried foods seem quite tolerable if the menu contains cauliflower.
Steamed cauliflower - general cooking principles
• Cauliflower can be steamed in a double boiler specially designed for this purpose or you can build such a wonderful saucepan yourself from an ordinary pan and colander. You can also use the slow cooker. The principle of steaming is unchanged for any dishes, vegetables are placed in a lattice container and placed over steam. For cooking in a double boiler use the program "Steam".
• In steaming, use both inflorescences and cut heads of cabbage. To properly divide the head of cabbage, it is laid out on the cutting board with inflorescences down and carefully cut along, in the middle of the trunk. Then each half, also along the trunk, is divided into the desired number of pieces.
• Before use, cauliflower is recommended to withstand for some time in salted water. This procedure not only helps to better wash the remaining litter, the saline solution etches the pests living in them from the inflorescences.
• Cauliflower in most cases is prepared independently, and when served, it is watered with specially prepared sauces. Often a vegetable is steamed under cheese, with other vegetables and chicken.
Steamed cauliflower steamed under cheese
Ingredients:
• medium-sized head of cauliflower;
• fresh parsley;
• 70 gr. mild cheese;
• to taste - "Dijon" mustard.
Cooking method:
1. Cut the head out in half and gently cut the trunk. Rinse and dry well by laying on a towel or in a colander.
2. Pour water into a double boiler and place on an intense fire. When the water begins to boil, install a grid on it.
3. Put on a steam grid and steam the inflorescences for 10 minutes, until soft.
4. After this, grease with mustard, sprinkle with chopped cheese on a fine grater and steam well again.
5. A quarter of an hour is enough for the cheese to melt well.
Fragrant steamed cauliflower with citrus sauce
Ingredients:
• a kilogram head of cauliflower;
• butter 72% butter - 40 gr.;
• lemon - 1 large;
• a tablespoon of chopped parsley.
Cooking method:
1. Separate the leaves from the head, cut into two parts, along the trunk and remove the compacted part. Cut the resulting halves in half along the trunk.
2. Place the quarters of the head in the bowl of the double boiler and set to steam for 25 minutes, or rather, until it is completely softened. You can check readiness by piercing the most dense part of the barrel with a knife. If the tip easily pierces it, then it’s ready.
3. Pour lemon over with boiling water, wipe dry with a towel and peel the zest from it with a fine grater. Then cut the fruit in half, squeeze the juice well and strain it.
4. Five minutes before the cabbage is ready, melt the butter over a small fire in a small saucepan.
5. Add chopped lemon zest to it, pour in the strained citrus juice and mix well.
6. Cooked hot sauce, pour the quarters of the heads of cabbage immediately after putting them out of the double boiler.
Steamed cauliflower under nut crumbs
Ingredients:
• medium-sized inflorescences of cauliflower - 500 g .;
• 50 gr. thickened cream;
• a tablespoon of coarse white crackers;
• a quarter cup of walnut kernels.
Cooking method:
1. Separate the inflorescences from the stem in hot, slightly salted water for 5-7 minutes. In this way we get rid of the sand and midges that are in them. Then transfer the vegetable to a special container and steam for about 20 minutes, until softened.
2. Using a blender, beat the walnut kernels into small crumbs and mix them with the breadcrumbs.
3. On a small fire in a pan, dissolve the cream and simmer lightly and fry the cooked nut mixture in it.
4. Put the finished treat on a dish and immediately sprinkle with roasted nuts on top.
Steamed cauliflower inflorescences in a spicy cucumber sauce
Ingredients:
• cauliflower - a small hard head;
• two large salted or pickled cucumbers;
• 150 ml of fatty liquid cream;
• a pair of peppercorns;
• several branches of dill.
Cooking method:
1. Separate the inflorescences from the trunk in steam baskets and put on each a thin plate of cheese. It is advisable that the cheese slice completely cover the substrate. You can grate the cheese with a coarse grater and sprinkle the resulting chips tightly with pieces.
2. Steam the vegetable under a cheese cap for up to 20 minutes.
3. While it is softening, prepare a dressing. Grate cooked cucumbers on a coarse grater and transfer to a sieve. When most of the brine comes off, slightly squeeze the cucumber shavings and mix it with the cream.
4. Add finely chopped dill and freshly ground pepper and mix well.
5. Carefully lay out the steamed inflorescences on a plate, placing them with the melted cheese up, and pour all the pieces abundantly with the cooked cucumber sauce. You can add a little crushed garlic to it for sharpness.
Steamed cauliflower in a double boiler with aromatic creamy sauce
Ingredients:
• average cabbage of cauliflower;
• broccoli inflorescences - 10 pcs.;
• two large garlic cloves;
• a couple of leaves of parsley;
• three leaves of fresh basil;
• ground allspice;
• thyme - 4 leaves;
• 100 gr. butter, high quality butter;
• a little ground pepper, literally a pinch.
Cooking method:
1. Cut off the damaged areas from the inflorescences, separate them from the trunk and rinse thoroughly. You can withstand some time in warm saline so that all the dirt comes out of them.
2. Fill the steamer tank two-thirds of the volume with water and crush the bay leaves into it with your hands. Add a teaspoon of salt and thyme.
3. Put the inflorescences in the lower container and install it on the water tank, cover and steam for about 10 minutes.
4. After that, install the same capacity on the container with cauliflower, but with broccoli and steam it all together for another seven minutes.
5. While preparing vegetables, prepare the sauce at the same time. Melt butter in any convenient way. Sell or grate garlic into a fine grater. Add finely chopped basil leaves, season with allspice and mix thoroughly.
6. When the cabbage is ready, open a double boiler and generously brush all the inflorescences with a saucepan prepared with a brush.
7. Soak the vegetables under the sauce in a double boiler for about half a minute and immediately transfer to a serving dish. Sprinkle chopped dill on top and serve hot.
Steamed dietary cauliflower dish with potatoes and chicken
Ingredients:
• eight cauliflower inflorescences;
• kilogram of potatoes;
• chilled chicken fillet - 350 gr.;
• two tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice;
• two tablespoons of olive or other well-refined oil;
• coriander grains - 1/2 tsp.
Cooking method:
1. Dry thoroughly the chicken meat after washing and cut into small pieces. Put chicken in a bowl, season with spices, mix and leave for 15 minutes so that the meat absorbs their aroma.
2. Carefully cutting with a knife, separate the cabbage inflorescences from the trunk and rinse them in warm water. Cut the peeled potato tubers into slices, transfer the pieces to a bowl of chicken and mix thoroughly.
3. On the lower tier of the double boiler, put the chicken meat mixed with potatoes, and on top of it set the second tier basket with the inflorescences laid in it.
4. Steam everything together for half an hour. During this time, potatoes with cabbage should become soft, and in the pieces of chicken should not remain in the woods.
5. When serving at the bottom of a deep dish, first lay the potato with chicken and cover it with inflorescences.
6. Combine lemon juice with olive oil. Add coriander, mix and pour the cooked dressing on top of the hot dish.
Multi-colored inflorescences of cauliflower steamed with garlic sauce
Ingredients:
• 400 gr. cauliflower;
• one small carrot;
• a teaspoon of curry;
• 1/4 of a small lemon;
• 150 ml of fat sour cream;
• a large bunch of fresh parsley;
• garlic - to taste.
Cooking method:
1. With a piece of lemon, grate the zest with a fine grater. Rinse the parsley.
2. Pour water into the lower pan of a double boiler, dip two sprigs of parsley and lemon zest into it.
3. Cut the peeled carrots into thin circles. Separate the inflorescences from the head of the head and be sure to trim the legs a little.
4. Put the cabbage mixed with carrot rings into the steam container. Lightly salt with a small salt, you can additionally season with any spices.
5. Steam the vegetables in a double boiler until the desired softness.
6. On a fine grater, rub the cloves of garlic and mix it with finely chopped parsley. Add sour cream, slightly salt and stir.
7. Curry pour two tablespoons of water taken from a double boiler. Put a third of the steamed cabbage in the prepared mixture and soak in it for two minutes. Then return the yellow-colored inflorescences back to the double boiler and steam them for another two minutes.
8. Put the cabbage on a flat dish in one layer, alternating colored inflorescences with carrots and white cabbage. Serve with cooked garlic sauce, which put in a small bowl or a special gravy boat.
Steamed cauliflower - cooking tips and tricks
• If it is recommended to serve steamed cauliflower with sauce or under it, prepare the sauce in parallel with the main dish so that the finished dish does not have time to cool.
• Add some spices and aromatic herbs to the lower water tank. During cooking, the cabbage will be saturated with their aromas and will become tastier.
• Salt immediately, as soon as put the inflorescences in a steam basket, they will be salted evenly.
