Tip #27: Guidelines for Appropriate Boiling of Vegetables

Boiling Vegetables? Phew!!! Easy task isn't it? But Really it is not that much easy for the beginners. Because each vegetable has different cooking time, needs different measurement of water and some veggies have to be covered while cooking and some not. These Smart Cooking Tips will guide you to boil the vegetables in right way....

• Whatever vegetable you cook,  before cutting wash them with Luke warm water.
• Cut the vegetables in smaller pieces or cubes. Smaller size pieces take less time for cooking and the loss of nutrients will also be very less.
• Avoid soaking the chopped vegetables in water to avoid loss of nutrients and also  they tend to become mushy and water logged.
• First boil the required amount of water well and then add the vegetable to avoid loss of nutrients due to over boiling.
• Add little bit of salt while boiling since it rises the boiling point of water and also enhances the flavour of the Vegetables.
• Don't over boil the vegetables very softly. A bit of crunchiness should be there.
• Vegetable like Lady's finger need not be boiled since they become sticky. They are boiled with Tamarind water to avoid this.
• When you boil green veggies like chopped cabbage, egg plant, peas, capsicum,  beans, Broad beans just sprinkle handful of water and boil vegetables with covered lid.
• Carrot needs little more water than the above vegetables. actually levels of some nutrients like carotenoid, found in carrots, increase when you boil them
• Cluster beans, Beetroot, Potatoes  require water to submerge themselves. It takes long time to get boiled.
• Save the boiling water if draining the vegetable and use it for soup and gravies which has lots of nutrients and minerals.
• Boil water with salt and lime juice and immerse the cauliflower in it for few minutes to De-worm the vegetable. Then cut into small flowers and use.
• Greens should always be cooked opened since they contain chlorophyll and releases Carbon dioxide while boiling. 
• Root vegetables should be started cooking in Cold water to leach out the acid flavours.
• Most of the root veggies contain dirt and hence wash them and scrub them well and make dirt free before boiling. Root vegetables take longer than all other types of vegetable because of the starch that can be found in them. Often root vegetables are also larger than regular vegetables, which can also increase boiling times. Peel off the skin and cut them in to desirable chunks and boil or pressure cook. See to it when you pressure cook it, it is not over cooked.
• If you are not sure how long the veggies should be boiled, just poke a fork on the boiling vegetable and see.If the fork easily goes in and comes out of the vegetable, the vegetable is cooked perfect.
• Once the veggies are cooked perfect, take them out of the boiling water immediately and never allow them to saty back in hot water. it will make them mushy and over cooked.

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Bhojana Recipes 1/05/2017