In recent years, the culinary preferences of most residents of the post-Soviet space have changed significantly. There were several reasons for this, and one of them was an attempt to switch to the proper diet. Therefore, the jelly traditional for winter holidays appears less and less on tables. The calorie content of this snack is quite high, and the cooking process is long and laborious. But it turns out that there are some tricks, knowing which, a dish can be made dietary, without spoiling its taste.
Traditional jelly
Calorie-rich foods in this form will probably be the maximum (from 180 kcal per 100 g or more), since its main component is pork. She, as you know, has nothing to do with dietary food. So the recipe is suitable only for those who are not very worried about the state of their own figure or who will not be completely harmed by extra pounds at the waist and other parts of the body.
Of the ingredients, you will need 2 pork legs (the lower part) and about 1.5 kg of meat on the bone (you can use the knuckle). You will also need spices: bay leaf, peppercorns, garlic and salt to taste. To make the finished dish look more festive, you can decorate it with carrots and greens. And for transparency and aroma of the broth, you can use the roots (parsley, parsnip, celery) and onion.
The meat must be pre-filled with water and left for several hours, periodically changing it. Then they put him to cook in a large saucepan. After boiling, the first water is drained and a new one is collected (its amount should be such that a layer of about 2 cm is obtained over the meat). Cooked jellied meat for 6 hours at minimum heat. In no case should you allow the broth to simmer. About an hour before readiness, salt, vegetables and roots, spices are added to it. Then it is necessary to cool and disassemble the aspic. The calorie content of the dish will largely depend on what will be put into it and what is thrown away. The knuckle consists not only of meat, but contains quite a lot of fat, skin and bones. Naturally, nobody uses the latter, but you can put quite a lot of fat. If you throw it all away, the dish will be more dietary.
Decor
The meat is pulled manually and placed into molds. They can be plastic, porcelain or silicone. Rice sliced carrots and washed greens are sent there. Top pour strained broth into which garlic passed through a press is added. If desired, you can pour a little ground pepper. Then the forms are sent to freeze in the cold. It will take several hours (ideally, leave it overnight). The calorie content of pork jelly will be significantly lower if all the fat is carefully collected from its surface. But such a dish will quickly wind up, so do it better immediately before use.
Jellied chicken
The calorie content of this dish will be much lower than in the previous version (no more than 120 kcal per 100 g). However, in chicken joints there are very few gelling agents. Therefore, in order for the filler to freeze, it is necessary to use gelatin or a large number of paws (at least a kilogram), which are thrown out after cooking. In addition to them, you will need a whole bird carcass, as well as spices and roots, similar to the previous recipe. Such a broth is cooked for about 4 hours, and as a rule, there is no need to collect fat from above. The rest is cooked in the same way as pork jelly. Calorie content will be generally minimal if chicken breasts are used instead of a whole bird. True, in this case, gelatin is definitely not enough.
Beef jelly is considered the most dietary, since its 100 grams contains no more than 80 kcal. It is boiled in the same way as pork, but it is better to add more spices to get rid of a specific smell.