Vegetable broth can be used as an independent dish, serving it to the table instead of soup. Of particular value is such a broth in spring and summer, when there is a variety of fresh vegetables. But even in winter, the aroma of vegetable broth will not leave anyone indifferent. Vegetable broth can be prepared for future use by pouring it into packages and sending it to the freezer. Based on it, you can cook soup or sauce. Cooking a vegetable broth is quite simple, and even an inexperienced housewife will cope with such a task.
In general, now we will figure out how to cook a vegetable broth.
To do this, we will first need vegetables. Take 3 onions, two leeks, half a kilogram of carrots and parsnips, 10 pieces of allspice and black peppercorns, a bunch of parsley, half a kilogram of celery and one head of garlic. A broth from such vegetables is rich and aromatic.
Parsnip is cut into large pieces. Peel the celery and cut into fairly large pieces. Cut the carrots in the same slices. The more this vegetable is in the broth, the more beautiful its color is (but this is optional, not everyone likes a too pronounced carrot taste in the broth or soup). Peel the onion and chop coarsely. A few slices can be left unpeeled to give the vegetable broth a beautiful color. As for leeks, it is necessary to use its green part. Coarsely chop and send to the pan to the rest of the vegetables.
Prepared vegetables must be poured with three liters of clean water and cook on a stove over a small fire. The resulting foam must be removed. After cooking for half an hour, add garlic, pepper and herbs to the vegetable broth. Boil for another half hour.
As a result of cooking, vegetables will transfer all their taste and aroma to the broth. Therefore, turning off the stove, the vegetable broth must be filtered, and the vegetables should be thrown into the bin without regret. They have already fulfilled their function.
If you will use the vegetable broth for cooking other dishes, then you do not need to salt it during the cooking process. If you cook it as a separate dish, then during cooking you need to salt the broth, and sprinkle with finely chopped fresh parsley before serving.
You can prepare the broth for future use. To do this, it must be poured into special containers for freezing or in tight bags and put in the freezer. If you need to quickly cook soup or make sauce, a delicious vegetable broth is always at hand!
To prepare the vegetable broth, you can use other vegetables that you like. In addition, there is another technology for preparing this dish. Prepared, peeled and coarsely chopped vegetables must be fried in a dry pan, add pepper.
Put vegetables in a pan, add bay leaf, parsley, dill or green onions. Fill everything with water (3 liters). Cook over very low heat for two hours. We give the prepared broth for an hour and filter.
Now you know how to cook a vegetable broth to make it tasty and healthy. In addition, such broths contain many vitamins and nutrients, strengthen the immune system and improve the digestion process. Vegetable broths are used in some diets. It is suitable for use on a fasting day. Useful vegetable broth for children, based on it you can cook a delicious soup.
Various spices can be added to the vegetable broth to add a spicy taste: thyme, rosemary, marjoram. As vegetables, you can use rutabaga, turnips, cauliflower. It all depends on your capabilities and taste preferences. Mushrooms added to it will help make the vegetable broth even tastier. Mushrooms or porcini mushrooms are suitable for this purpose. Mushrooms must first be let in salted water for several minutes. Such a vegetable broth will become a full-fledged dish that can be served at the dining table. Good appetite!