Beet tops. Recipes with beet tops

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Late spring and early summer is the season of young vegetables. The counters at this time are full of rich colors, among which it is difficult not to notice young beets, especially if they are sold along with juicy tops. Unfortunately, many housewives immediately cut and throw away the leaves, not at all understanding how useful they are and how many delicious dishes you can cook from them.

Useful properties

The first question that housewives often ask is: "Why cook with beet tops at all?" Scientists gave the answer to this question a long time ago, proving that the leaves of this plant contain no less useful substances than the roots. Beet tops are rich in ascorbic and folic acids, vitamins of groups B and P, microelements such as calcium, magnesium, potassium, iodine. Vitamin C in the leaves is many times more than in the root.

Dishes from this vegetable are useful for people with heart and thyroid problems, patients with diabetes and anemia. Scientists have noted a huge content of substances that inhibit the growth of cancer cells, so oncologists recommend to patients that beet tops be included in their diet. What to cook from this vegetable depends on culinary preferences.person. But the abundance of recipes allows absolutely everyone to find something to their liking.

Role in world culinary

In many countries of the world, dishes are prepared from juicy beet leaves. In Russia, they cook borsch from it, in America they cook stew, Georgians love pkhali, and Armenians wrap meat and cereals in beet leaves, like in cabbage rolls. Beet tops, recipes for which have been passed down from generation to generation, are famous in almost all parts of the world. Do you want to try cooking a national Russian dish or an overseas delicacy in your own kitchen? Dare! A few simple recipes will help with this.

Borscht

Let's start with borscht. To prepare it, you will need a pound of young beets along with leaves, 4 potatoes, 2 small young zucchini, 3 ripe tomatoes, carrots and onions. In addition, we will prepare the oil for frying the frying and a little vinegar. And to add flavor to the dish, we use seasonings. What - you decide. Any favorite spice will do. Well, you can’t do without sour cream, it is used when serving.

This dish is lean and suitable for vegetarians and dieters. But it is quite acceptable to cook it with meat, and add chopped lard to the frying.

Let's start cooking by grinding the ingredients. The first to go to our future borscht is beets, cut into small slices. It is followed by cubes of potatoes. While the vegetables are cooking, fry the onions, carrots, tomatoes and zucchini in oil, add a little vinegar and simmer. As soon as the vegetablesbecome soft, we overload the frying into the pan and send the tops cut into strips there. Cook for another 15 minutes, add spices and s alt. And when the borscht is cooked, it needs to brew - for this it is best to wrap the pan with a towel and leave it on the stove turned off for at least 30 minutes.

Do you like it spicier? Feel free to add pepper and crushed garlic to borscht!

Beetroot Pie

The birthplace of this recipe is Karachay-Cherkessia. To make a pie, we need the following products:

• flour - 200 g;
• homemade soft cheese (cheese, suluguni) - 170 g;
• onion feathers;
• beet tops - bunch;
• s alt.

Wash raw leaves and cut into smaller pieces, add cheese and onions to them, mix thoroughly. Knead a soft dough from flour, s alt and water. Roll out several circles, according to the size of the pan. Now we form pies: put a layer of dough on a greased pan, distribute the filling on top. We will bake in the oven. Pie with beet tops is served at the table, cut into pieces.

stew

A very popular product for cooking vegetable stew is beet tops. The recipes for this dish are complemented by ingredients such as: potatoes, peppers, legumes, spinach, carrots, cauliflower and more. Let's try to cook stew in one of the most common ways. To do this, take a large bunch of tops, an onion, a few ripe bell peppers (preferably multi-colored), oil, herbs and seasonings. Now fry the chopped vegetablesseparately, transfer to a saucepan and simmer for about 20 minutes.

Before serving, season with garlic and seasonings.

Vegetarian cutlets

Such a dish can please not only those who observe a strict fast or do not eat meat for some reason. Beetroot cutlets can be a wonderful … side dish! They go well with smoked bacon and bacon, fried sausages, s alted lard, ham. You can also serve them as an independent dish, for example, with sauce or adjika. This dish turns out to be very juicy and fragrant, you can’t immediately say that it is based on beet tops. What to cook for cutlets and how to serve them is up to you. So let's get started.

Beetroot leaves (big bunch) wash and cut into smaller pieces. We drive in a raw egg, sprinkle with flour. The amount of flour and eggs depends on the juiciness of the greens, and on its quantity. The result should be a dense mass that allows you to form cutlets. You need to fry them in hot oil.

Soup

This vegetable is often used for cooking first courses. Let's try, for example, to cook soup with beet tops. To do this, cook a light chicken broth, add finely chopped potatoes, grated carrots and onions fried in oil. When the vegetables are cooked, put the tops cut into thin long strips into the broth. Boiled eggs are also very suitable for this recipe, quail eggs look especially impressive in plates. To suchsoup can be served with croutons or crackers.

Vitamin salad

Recipes with beet tops do not always involve heat treatment. Salads made from fresh leaves, which store a maximum of vitamins and useful microelements, are also very popular. The only effect of high temperature is a second immersion in boiling water, which is necessary for the tops to become soft. Beetroot leaves in salads go well with cucumbers, radishes and radishes, cabbage, watercress, spinach, lettuce, herbs. You can add boiled eggs, roasted nuts, olives, flaxseed or sesame seeds. Scalded raisins give these salads a completely unusual taste.

For dressing, vegetable oil is often used, flavored with fruit vinegar, lemon or pomegranate juice. Sour cream or mayonnaise is also great.

Dolma

In the East, the word "dolma" refers to any dish consisting of a vegetable base stuffed with a mixture of rice and meat. And the usual bell pepper with minced meat, and stuffed cabbage in grape leaves, and even eggplant boats are considered options for dolma recipes. Of course, among all the variety there was a place for a variant with beet tops.

For the preparation of phali, young beet leaves with cut legs are used. There is no strict recipe for the preparation of the filling (as, indeed, for the dish as a whole). In order to make minced meat, beef, lamb, pork or poultry meat is used, as well as their mixture. Be sure to add finely chopped or grated onions. On theIn the East, it is customary to put quite a bit of rice in the filling, no more than a quarter by volume.

Dolma wrapped in leaves is pre-fried in a pan, baked in the oven until half cooked or immediately placed in a large cauldron. A mixture of fried vegetables (carrots, onions, garlic) seasoned with tomato can be used to make gravy.

Served with dolma on a large platter, along with gravy.