People who do not adhere to any of the known nutritional systems often do not understand vegetarians. Their opinion is that delicious zucchini can be cooked only in combination with meat. At worst, fried, with sour cream and garlic sauce. Everything else seems tasteless to them, despite the fact that they do not even try to taste these dishes. In fact, vegetarian cuisine uses this vegetable so varied that the question "how to cook zucchini this time?" does not occur at all. This article gives irrefutable evidence that even from a simple zucchini to make a lot of great dishes is not a problem.
What can I cook from zucchini?
This modest vegetable is good in that it has a neutral taste, therefore, it absorbs the aroma and taste of the neighboring ingredient or set of spices used in the dish. This makes it possible to cook the same vegetable so varied that you wonder! For example, this:
- Stew of the most diverse combinations of vegetables.
- Casseroles, vegan lasagna and muffins.
- Salads and appetizers from raw and slightly fried zucchini.
- Jam.
- Caviar, paste and just a vegetable mixture for sandwiches or pita bread;
- Fritters, pancakes and even bread based on chopped zucchini;
- Preservation for the winter - here the field of food delights is expanding even more.
The question of how to cook zucchini is still relevant? Then it is worth considering some recipes in more detail.
Stew with zucchini and other vegetables
Everyone knows how to cook stew with zucchini and meat, rice and other ordinary things. But the summer vegetable stew, which vegans adore, is no worse, but several times healthier, and there are significantly fewer calories in it.
To prepare you will need:
- carrots, zucchini, onions, bell pepper - 2 pcs each.
- three tomatoes;
- four large potatoes or six smaller;
- 5-6 Art. tablespoons of vegetable oil;
- 1/3 teaspoon of asafoetida, black pepper and coriander;
- salt to taste;
- a small bunch of fresh parsley and dill.
How to cook?
Onions are chopped into thin half rings and passerized in two tablespoons of oil until the color changes slightly, then carrots are added to it, coarsely grated or cut into cubes. After five minutes of heat treatment, it is necessary to add bell pepper to the vegetables, cut into strips, and after the same amount of time, tomatoes, cut into cubes or thin slices. In a separate frying pan in the remaining oil, calcinate all spices for 15-20 seconds, then add zucchini to them, cut into small cubes and fry, stirring until a slight blush. Put the contents of both pans in a saucepan or pan with a thick bottom, add peeled potatoes, cut into small cubes, add salt and pour one glass of clean water. If you like a lot of sauce in the stew, then you should add more water, at your discretion. Put the dishes on the stove, and when it boils, make the fire smaller and simmer the vegetables until the potatoes are ready. Five minutes before the end of the process add finely chopped greens to the stew and mix well.
Vegetable muffins: recipe with photo
We cook zucchini in the oven with the available vegetables: carrots, pumpkin, potatoes, celery root can be used.
All vegetables in equal proportions are rubbed on a coarse grater, for every 400 grams of mass one egg, 100 grams of hard cheese and 4 tbsp should be taken. tablespoons of wheat flour, but before mixing grated vegetables with other ingredients, they should be slightly squeezed out by hand to remove excess fluid. Next, add salt and spices to taste, it is recommended to add a little grated nutmeg and oregano, as well as a baking powder for the dough. When the vegetable dough is kneaded, place it in silicone muffin molds and bake in the oven at 180 degrees for 30-40 minutes until cooked.
Raw Food Eater Salad
How to cook zucchini without heat treatment so that it is exquisitely tasty, raw foodists are perfectly aware. Those who have tried their dishes are surprised to note that they are especially tasty and completely non-banal, as is the case with ordinary food.
To make such a salad, you need to cut one young zucchini into very thin circles, sprinkle with a teaspoon of salt and leave for half an hour, meanwhile, filling up. Mix 2-3 tbsp. tablespoons of crushed butter with 2 tbsp. tablespoons of apple cider vinegar, add two teaspoons of honey and three finely chopped cloves of garlic and a little finely chopped dill. When the time of the zucchini's standing is over, we squeeze the trail out and pour them with a fragrant dressing, in which everyone can add a pinch of hot pepper - then the salad will taste like hot Chinese cuisine.
Marinated zucchini
First, prepare the marinade. To do this, mix two tbsp. tablespoons of vegetable oil with one spoon of apple cider vinegar and 1 tsp. honey, add a pinch of salt and black pepper. Next, mix a small handful of very finely chopped dill and three minced cloves of garlic. You do not need to heat the marinade!
We cut three small zucchini with a vegetable cutter into sliced plates and slightly sprinkled with salt, leave for half an hour. Next, move the zucchini into a colander and very easy to press with your hand to remove the formed liquid. It is not necessary to squeeze and squeeze the vegetable with effort. Next, mix the slices and marinade, cover the dishes with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for two to three hours. After that, you can already eat them, enjoying a light taste. This method of preparation is also often used by raw foodists when they want spicy food, because, as has been noticed, there is no heat treatment in this dish.
Rice Stuffed Zucchini
We cook zucchini according to the vegan recipe, that is, not using products of animal origin (sour cream, eggs and cheese).
- Boil one hundred grams of rice until half ready, it is better to use basmati.
- We cut 800 grams of zucchini into columns no more than five cm high. We clean the middle, but not to the end, so that the stuffing does not fall out when stuffing.
- Fry a large onion in two tablespoons of oil and add slices of zucchini to it, choosing medium sized ones. Then cut two or three medium tomatoes into small pieces and add to the vegetable mixture, stirring, continue to simmer. You should also add one bell pepper to the cubes and spices to taste: it can be a mixture of Provencal herbs, oregano, turmeric with black pepper. The choice of spices is very individual, so you need to focus on your taste preferences.
- After five minutes of stewing with spices, add rice, mix and stuff the previously prepared zucchini with minced meat. We place them on a baking sheet or a round baking dish, add water to cover the squash by 2/3, cover the form with foil on top so that the vegetables do not burn and place in the oven for 40 minutes. The temperature regime of the oven is 180 degrees.
In the same way, you can cook zucchini in a double boiler. Stuffed vegetables are usually served with sliced fresh vegetables or vegan mayonnaise, and you can also serve loose mashed potatoes.
Vegetable pancakes
Everyone knows how to make pancakes from zucchini, but pancakes from them are already something special! 3-4 zucchini grate on a fine grater, after removing the peel and mix with four eggs. Sprinkle with salt and black pepper to taste and mix thoroughly. In a separate bowl, mix half a glass of sour cream and an incomplete glass of fresh milk and then add them to the vegetable mass. We treat the mass well with a blender, and at the end we pour the flour, an approximate amount of up to one glass, but we follow the test - it should be like ordinary pancakes: not too liquid, but not thick.
At the very end, pour 2-3 tbsp. tablespoons of vegetable oil and mix again. We bake it like ordinary pancakes in a pan and serve with sour cream or hot sauces.
Another option
If you replace the half dose of zucchini from the previous recipe with the same amount of pumpkin or carrot, you will get even more delicious pancakes with an amazing orange tint and a more saturated vitamin test. In such pancakes, you can wrap vegetable paste, hummus, guacamole or just eat with a spoonful of ketchup.
Jam
How to cook zucchini with vegetables, everyone knows, but sweet and aromatic jam from such a plain-looking vegetable is nonsense! In fact, this jam has long been prepared by lovers of non-standard winter preparations, and its composition includes only three ingredients:
- zucchini - 2 kg;
- lemon - 2 pcs.;
- 2 kg of granulated sugar.
For preparation, it is necessary to take young fruits, without formed seeds. Cut them into small cubes. Lemon with peel also cut into cubes, but very small. Cook syrup: for every kilogram of sugar you need to take half a glass of water, and when it boils, put the prepared zucchini in it. When the mass boils again, add the lemons and boil the jam over medium heat for forty minutes. The smell in the kitchen will be incredible and all the households will certainly come running to find out what kind of magic dish is being prepared.
Transfer the hot jam with dry, sterilized cans and roll up tin lids. Give him a couple of months to insist in the pantry so that the zucchini is saturated with aromas and then, once, surprise everyone with an unusual treat.
Casserole with potatoes
Now we are preparing zucchini in the oven according to a recipe from America, there this dish is called “Caserol”, although the French have a similar version called “potato gratin”.
To prepare this dish, you must:
- Cut into thin circles 0.5 kg of zucchini.
- With the thinnest rings we cut two onions.
- We mix them in one pan and, adding a mixture of Italian herbs (to taste), salt, mix everything carefully, trying not to damage the cut.
- 300 grams of quality processed cheese cut into strips starting from a narrow edge and mix with vegetable mass.
- Add to the mixture 2 to 3 tbsp. tablespoons of vegetable oil and put the stove on fire. It is necessary to wait until the cheese begins to melt - then turn off the stove, and add three beaten eggs to the vegetable mass.
In the form, greased with oil, move the resulting dough and send it to the oven, heated to 180 degrees. We bake until tender, and the time will depend on how deep the form was chosen for baking: a thinner casserole will cook faster.