Potato is a favorite product of many that has become traditional not only in everyday life, but also on the festive table. It can be boiled, fried, added to salads, vegetable and meat casseroles. Potato admirers talk about its benefits, and opponents talk about negative influences. Most consumers are loyal to this vegetable: they do not note negative consequences, but they also do not observe a positive effect.
Benefit or harm
Potato supplies a lot of useful substances to the human body. It helps improve digestion, promotes metabolism, removes toxins and prevents the development of diabetes. And the presence of potassium supports the work of the heart and removes excess fluid from the body.
However, the frequent use of potatoes, due to the carbohydrates they contain, will add an extra amount of calories to the diet. Therefore, overweight people should not abuse this product. It is enough to eat potatoes several times a week. And it is better to choose a boiled or baked product.
Cooking secrets
How to cook potatoes to make it fast, tasty and healthy? Sooner or later, any housewife asks this question. Cooks have several secrets:
- To facilitate cleaning, young tubers must be kept for 20 minutes in cold salt water.
- To maintain maximum vitamins, it is preferable to put the vegetable in boiling water.
- You can enjoy a pleasant aroma by dropping a peeled onion or several crushed garlic cloves into boiling water with potatoes. At the end of cooking, it is recommended to add your favorite spices.
- To enhance the palatability after draining the water, sprinkle the tubers with chopped dill, cover and scroll the pan several times clockwise and vice versa.
- The only way to speed up the cooking of any product is to increase the cooking temperature. How to cook potatoes quickly? Just put a little butter in the pan. It will disperse over the entire surface of the water, forming a film. This eliminates the effect of evaporation of moisture, and the temperature becomes slightly higher.
- So that the potatoes do not boil during the cooking process, it is cooked for 15 minutes and the liquid is drained to the maximum, leaving a little at the bottom. In this residue, the product is cooked over low heat until cooked.
- Leaving the tubers white after cooking will help to add small amounts of vinegar or citric acid.
Simple recipe
The easiest way to cook is called tuber peeling. Most housewives know how to cook potatoes in their skins. Perhaps the only distinguishing feature in this case may be the moment the salt is added. Some do it right after boiling, others do it in the middle or even at the end of cooking. Typically, cooking potatoes in their skins over an open fire consists of 4 steps:
- Thoroughly wash tubers from dirt and cut out eyes.
- Put vegetables in boiling water.
- After 10 minutes of cooking, the product is salted.
- After another 10 minutes, check the potatoes for readiness by piercing.
A fork or knife that easily enters the tuber suggests that the product can already be removed from the fire and eat. If this does not happen, it is recommended to boil the potatoes for a few more minutes and again evaluate the degree of readiness. Before serving, each tuber can be cut, knead the inside with a fork and garnish with slices of fresh tomato.
Classic dish
How to cook potatoes? Given the age of speed and lack of time for cooking, most families eat simple dishes. One of the products that save time and money is potatoes. To easily cook a vegetable, you need to adhere to the following scheme:
- Wash and peel the same size tubers.
- Large specimens cut in half.
- Pour potatoes with water and salt.
- Cook over medium heat.
- Cook for 20 to 40 minutes, checking the degree of readiness with a knife or fork.
Young potatoes must be dipped in boiling water to exclude wateryness; old potatoes can be put in slightly warm water. Drain the water from the pan with the finished product, put butter. Once the butter has melted, you can gently mix the potatoes with a large spoon or wooden spatula. Then you need to let the dish rest under the lid for 10 minutes. Potatoes cooked in a classic way can become a side dish for any meat or fish. A decoration will serve greens or any pickled vegetable.
For making mashed potatoes
How to cook potatoes in a pan to get a tasty dish known to all mothers. Vegetable puree is introduced into the lure of the baby from 6-7 months. Since the taste buds of the child are not yet spoiled, he will always feel false.
The method of cooking potatoes for mashed potatoes comes down to several stages:
- Wash and peel the tubers from the skin.
- Cut the potatoes lengthwise into two halves.
- Pour boiling water or hot water.
- Put on fire.
- After ten minutes of cooking, add salt.
- Trying to be ready, wait for the moment when the halves begin to break from the piercing with a knife.
- Drain boiling water.
- Crush potatoes by hand, gradually pouring warm milk.
- Add butter.
- Stir the mashed potatoes and evaluate the density.
- If desired, you can pour a little more milk.
Tender potatoes
For adherents of a separate diet or people who do not eat meat, you can use the cooking of tubers in milk. In this case, the recipe for boiling potatoes will be a little more complicated than the classical methods. For starters, the tubers washed, peeled and cut into rounds need to be spread out evenly in a deep pan with a thick bottom. Pour the contents with boiling milk, slightly covering the slices of potatoes.
Boil over low heat for about 15 minutes. Dish with salt and cook until the plates break independently, without covering the pan. You can add spices to the finished potato. Serving the dish is recommended in deep plates, garnishing with a sprig of parsley or chopped dill.
How to cook potatoes in the microwave
A feature of this cooking method is its high speed, which is important for any housewife. Before cooking, the potatoes are peeled and cut along. Then put in a glass pan, pouring 150 ml of boiling water into it. Cover with a hole and put cook in the microwave. After 8 minutes, carefully remove the dishes and turn the potatoes on the other side. Again placed inside the device and cooked for a few more minutes. Since the product in this case is slightly dry, it is served with sour cream and coarsely chopped herbs.
Juicy and fast
How to cook potatoes with a microwave, leaving all the vitamins in it? You can use ordinary polyethylene. Washed in cold water medium-sized potatoes with or without peel should be placed in a transparent bag, salt and pour with a spoon of olive oil. For exclusivity, you can put several slices of bacon between the tubers. Tie the package and puncture in several places. Now it’s worth putting the bag in the microwave so that the potatoes lay in one layer. Boil the tubers for about 15 minutes, after which put them out of polyethylene on a dish and pour over the accumulated liquid. The result is a juicy potato with a maximum of vitamins. It is better to eat such a product with bread or sliced from fresh vegetables.
There are a lot of recommendations for cooking potatoes. Only the hostess should decide how to cook potatoes, taking into account the peculiarities and taste preferences of each family member. It is important to remember that this vegetable is high in calories and should not be abused. It is preferable to eat boiled potatoes in complex dishes with fish or other vegetables.