According to scientifically substantiated rules of nutrition, in the diet of each of us, to a certain extent, various types of vegetables must be present in raw and boiled, heat-treated and salted forms. According to some researchers, this segment of food can reach a third or even half of the total diet. It is annoying that rarely in the modern world adheres to such attitudes. Unless people seriously engaged in their health or sitting on strict vegetable diets. How to find a way out of the current situation and shift your diet towards the consumption of vegetables?
As easy as pie
Salad from beets and pickles is just one of those dishes, due to the preparation and consumption of which you can quickly catch up. It prepares simply and quickly. It can be used as a daily dish. And also, which is characteristic, it has a lot of variations on the topic. So each attentive housewife will be able to express her own imagination and build exactly her signature salad of beets and pickles, to please both herself and the guests who came. Moreover, this dish is also dietary, and recommended for use during fasting (in strict - without oil). So in many ways you will be right if you start cooking it almost daily until you get bored. And bother, believe me, not soon (see the variations on the theme of the dish described below).
A bit about the benefits of ingredients
The salad has two main components: beets and cucumber. And if cucumbers are mostly used salted or pickled (but not pickled better, without the addition of vinegar), then beets can be cooked, and baked, and raw. The taste of the final product of your culinary fantasies, respectively, will also differ in this dependence. You can try this way and that - how you will be tastier and more comfortable just this time.
Beet
Well, as for beets, so its use is not in doubt for anyone. True, some doctors are diligently trying sometimes to spoil the reputation: they say that crude is harmful to people suffering from gastric diseases. But boiled or baked - this is certainly beyond any suspicion. Of the features of the product, it should be noted that beets contain useful elements that do not lose their properties during heat treatment. It also has a unique composition of trace elements and vitamins. Calorie content - 40 kcal / 100 grams. Ingredients: proteins - 1.5 g, fats - 0.1 g, carbohydrates - 8.8 g. A lot of fiber is contained, a kind of brush that cleanses the body from the inside. There is a whole sea of beneficial amino acids in beets. And the magnesium contained therein has a healing effect on blood vessels and the heart. But you have to be careful with the portions. It should be remembered that beets also have a mild diuretic and laxative effect.
Pickles
Pickled cucumbers with beets, the correct proportions introduced into the dish, enhance the antibacterial and vitaminized effect. Everyone knows that cucumbers (especially home-made, barrel salted) are extremely useful, especially in winter. The use of such fermentation products, according to some scientists, contributes to the "acidification" of the body and resists the formation of malignant cancer cells.
Seeds and nuts, vegetable oil
All these additional ingredients introduced into the base salad are designed to improve the taste and enhance the nutritional value of the dish. It is important to remember the rules for product compatibility. In a salad of beets and pickles, peeled and chopped walnuts, sunflower seeds and pumpkins usually go well. You can add almost any fried or raw nuts in small quantities. All this stuff is seasoned with lean sunflower or olive oil (some use other types, for example, corn). Immediately make a reservation that in strict fasting, when it is forbidden to use oil, you can squeeze a drop of lemon juice into a salad or drop a pickle from cucumbers (but then you need to salt less).
Boiled beets with pickles for salad
Well, everything is clear with cucumbers. It is necessary to take not sour, without vinegar, not pickled, barrel. Yes, and to crunch lightly - then the most relish! Cucumbers need to be cut into cubes (some prefer to grate on a coarse grater, but then be prepared for the fact that your salad turns into slurry). But as for the root crop, the most common option in a salad of beets and pickles is cooked. It is best to cook beets in a separate pot. It is necessary to wash, but many do not recommend cleaning: this is how the beneficial substances found in the root crop are better preserved and less digested. Even the tails are not cut. Cook over low heat until cooked (should easily fit on a fork). Then we drain the water and cool to room temperature. Next, peel and cut or three on a large grater - as you like.
Salad "Beets with pickled cucumber." Final stage
The final preparation of a simple and affordable dish is brief and concise. We introduce cucumbers into beets. Mix. Add nuts or seeds as desired. Fill with vegetable oil (or do not fill, but then you need to drip the juice of lemon or pickle). Let us brew at the bottom of the refrigerator. We eat with pleasure. Yes, as far as the proportions of the ingredients, experienced housewives prefer to act by eye. But just in case: a few medium root crops, several medium-sized pickles, half a glass of peeled walnuts and a spoonful of vegetable oil.