How to make delicious vegetable broth. Vegetable broth - a healthy preparation Prepare vegetable broth

2690 2018-08-29

Vegetable broth- this is nothing more than a decoction obtained by boiling vegetables. It is very simple to prepare, although there are some secrets of preparation and composition of products that should be taken into account when cooking the dish.

Cooks distinguish broths by the number of ingredients included in the finished product. The decoction can be either multi-component or single-component - everything will depend on the needs and desires of the cook.

Vegetable broth in its pure form can be a first course. It is also easy to prepare many other dishes based on it. A broth is prepared from vegetables boiled in a small amount of water without adding meat, cereals, pasta or animal fats. The presence of a small amount of vegetable oil and salt in the finished product is completely acceptable.

Use in cooking

Vegetable broths are widely used in cooking. The product is used both for dietary soups and as a base for baking.

I once heard from a rather experienced housewife that deep-fried pies turn out more airy when the dough is prepared in the broth left after boiling the potatoes. Having become interested in the theory of preparing delicious baked goods, we immediately tested it on our own experience. And the result turned out excellent! We have never eaten such fluffy pies stuffed with crushed potatoes before.

Using vegetable broth, soup with sorrel and various pureed soups, for example, with cauliflower and cheese, are quite tasty. When preparing stews, sauces, gravies, porridges (including risotto), this low-calorie and healthy product is also very often used.

The composition of vegetable broth for each specific dish will be different; for example, to prepare buckwheat soup, both mushroom broth and broth made from potatoes can be used.

Lenten borscht can also have different bases. The broth can be a decoction of mushrooms or beans, into which all other components will be added according to the recipe, or a decoction obtained from grated beets, into which the remaining components will also be placed in the order specified by the recipe. Celery root or parsnip will add a special flavor to this dish.

Beetroot decoction, which can be considered a one-component vegetable broth, is also used to prepare kholodnik - a delicious soup without cooking, similar to the beloved okroshka and containing a large number of different ingredients. This dish is consumed exclusively cold.

Various vegetable broth soups are used in the dietary nutrition of preschool children, including infants.

Also, vegetable broth can be used in the diet of pregnant women and nursing mothers, as well as people suffering from pancreatitis or gastritis of various forms and complications after them. Vegetable broths also find their use in the diet of people who adhere to the principles of separate nutrition, as well as those who observe dietary restrictions, pursuing the goal of losing excess weight and losing weight quickly without harming the body. In this case, cabbage broth helps best. They even developed a “cabbage diet” based on it. I have verified from my own experience that this method gives positive results.

How to cook it correctly?

How to properly prepare delicious vegetable broth? This question can often be heard from young and inexperienced housewives, so we will try to answer it in this section of the article.

The youngest housewife can handle this task, as long as she adheres to the mandatory rules:

• To prepare a delicious vegetable broth, it is imperative to select only high-quality products that have reached commercial maturity and have no visible spoilage.
• All products must be washed and cleaned if necessary. The latter applies more to root crops.

To prepare bean broth, for example, you should take into account the fact that the product itself takes a very long time to cook, so it is advisable to soak the beans in a small amount of cold water for an hour, and then, after draining the water, repeat the procedure twice more. Then, when cooking, you will be pleasantly surprised, because in a regular pan the beans will be ready in half an hour, and you will not see a large amount of foam. Therefore, soup based on bean broth can even be prepared in a slow cooker without fear!

Cooking broth, the main component of which is mushrooms, especially those collected from the wild, also has some peculiarities. To obtain a clean and aromatic broth, cooks recommend placing the main product in the pan entirely, and also boiling it twice, draining the resulting broth and replacing it with clean water. Experienced chefs also stipulate that mushrooms must be pre-soaked in cold salted water for one hour immediately before cooking. This will reveal hidden pests inside the stem and cap. Dried mushrooms intended for subsequent use in broths are also recommended to be filled with water. This will allow the product to recover to its previous size and reach readiness faster.

The listed types of broths can be used to replace fatty meat broths that are difficult for the stomach, and the nutritional value of the dishes will not be affected.

Creation principle

The principle of creating a delicious vegetable broth, or more precisely, its technique, is suitable for any combination of products. There are only a few basic rules, which we will try to talk about in the descriptions of basic recipes.

Mushroom broth is very easy to make. Place in a deep saucepan:

• 300 grams of fresh mushrooms, washed and cut into several pieces;
• 100 grams of carrots, cut into slices;
• 50 grams of grated celery root;
• 100 grams of finely chopped onions;
• 2 leaves of washed bay leaf;
• one sprig of dill and parsley;
• half a teaspoon of salt.

Fill everything with two liters of cold purified water and put it on medium heat. After boiling, reduce the heat and cover the pan with a lid. After 25 minutes, turn off the heat, remove the bay leaf and let the broth brew for ten minutes. We filter the rich broth through cheesecloth and use it as a base for soup or for preparing other dishes. You can see the finished product in the photo.

Classic broth can be used to make clear soups and light gravies.

To prepare this dish you will need to peel, rinse and chop:

• 200 grams of tomatoes;
• 100 grams of peeled bell pepper;
• 100 grams of fresh carrots;
• 100 grams of onions;
• 30 grams of greens;
• a few sprigs of thyme.

Place all ingredients in a saucepan and cover with cold water. To obtain a rich decoction, the optimal volume of water is one and a half liters. The dish should be cooked over low heat for no more than twenty minutes after boiling. There is no need to salt the product, because tomatoes will give the broth a complete taste. In winter, when there are no more ground tomatoes and peppers, and those grown in a greenhouse or in distant warm countries do not have a pronounced taste and aroma, dried mixtures of sweet bell peppers and tomatoes can be used to enhance the taste.

The finished broth should be cooled for twenty minutes and then strained through a fine strainer. If you do not aim to follow a low-calorie diet, you can season the dish with sour cream or add a little butter to it.

As you can see, there is nothing complicated in preparing vegetable broth, because vegetables can be arranged in a variety of ways. You just need to take into account the taste characteristics of each of them and the personal preferences of the taster. About them in the table below:

Secrets of obtaining and storing broth

The secrets to getting a delicious broth are to follow some rules.

• All ingredients (vegetables, herbs, and spices) need to be thoroughly cleaned and washed several times before storing.
• To obtain a high-quality and rich broth, vegetables should always be immersed in cold water, because it is during the boiling process that the ingredients release vitamins and minerals.
• The product must be salted immediately when adding the components. This will allow the products to reveal their best taste qualities. But you should not add the entire amount of salt, because during the cooking process the initial amount of liquid decreases and the finished broth may become too salty.
• It is best to use dried herbs for flavoring broths, because their aroma is more intense compared to the fresh product.
• Under no circumstances should you put fresh garlic in a dish so as not to spoil the taste, but the use of dried grated garlic, especially as part of seasonings and aromatic mixtures, on the contrary, very beneficially accentuates the taste of the finished broth.
• If the intended dish allows, it is recommended to fry the vegetables in vegetable oil until golden brown before boiling. And then just fill them with water.

It is not recommended to store the resulting concentrated broths for longer than six hours, because only this product contains the largest amount of vitamins. But experienced housewives always have a portion of the dish prepared for future use. The freezer helps them with this. And they do it this way: the cooled broth is poured into portioned containers or plastic bags and then frozen. The ice cubes are used in the same way as a freshly prepared product. The briquettes do not need to be pre-defrosted, because it will be enough to put them in a container with a small amount of hot water.

Benefits of vegetable broth

The benefits of vegetable broth are obvious. It manifests itself in high nutritional value and vitamin content and easy digestibility of the product by the body. That is why such decoctions are the preferred dishes during the recovery period after abdominal surgery and various diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. The only exceptions are dishes containing beans and cabbage, in order to avoid additional stress on the stomach.

Vegetable broths contain all the beneficial substances and vitamins contained in the ingredients. There are no contraindications to eating the dish, except perhaps individual intolerance to any components, but in this case they can simply be excluded from the list or replaced with others.

Vegetable broths have a beneficial effect on the digestive system and intestines. This improves the condition of hair, nails and skin, improves complexion and general condition of the body. And all because fresh vegetables contain a large amount of fiber.

What to replace it with?

How to replace vegetable broth if you suddenly can’t cook it? It would seem that there is no complete replacement for this product.. But in fact, the modern food industry produces a large number of concentrates made from dried vegetables. They come packaged in portioned sticks, sachets or so-called cubes, as well as in large-volume packaging: bags or even buckets.

Dry preparations for broths must be used strictly in accordance with the recommendations indicated on the packaging, because they may contain salt.

Of course, dry broth cannot be a complete replacement for natural broth, but in some cases its use is quite justified. I would like to note that products may contain both public and hidden food additives, so you should not abuse such a product. It is advisable to give preference to a natural dish prepared from fresh vegetables.

We hope that this article was informative and useful; you were able to learn how to cook vegetable broth and a light diet soup based on it, as well as prepare a tasty and nutritious first course for lunch without meat.

Vegetable broth is a recipe that both a novice housewife and an experienced chef should know. It is used in the preparation of thousands of dishes, becoming their basis and imparting final, special flavor notes. Also, vegetable decoctions are allowed in the diet of all diets, are indicated for the sick and those recovering, and are very useful for children. Therefore, those who do not know how to prepare vegetable broth, take your pens and write down the recipe.

What can be included in a vegetable broth recipe?

The main ingredients of the dish are a set of vegetables that we always have at home: onions, herbs, carrots, garlic. Additionally, you can use absolutely any vegetables: mushrooms, tomatoes, parsnips, peppers, cauliflower. Spicy ingredients are also welcome: leek, fennel, celery, rosemary, thyme, juniper, etc. Don’t stop at one specific set, change the ingredients, adding those that are available, and you will be rewarded with new flavors!

Pay special attention to the water in which you will cook the broth without meat. It is better to use a clean, mineral base that does not contain unnecessary salts and impurities. Then the result will be appropriate - a transparent broth with a soft, pleasant taste.

It will be useful to know what qualities a particular ingredient gives to a liquid, like this:

• carrots make the broth a little sweet. And if you fry it a little more, the sweetness will become more pronounced;
• cabbage will make the color of the dish cloudy, but will greatly saturate it with its aroma;
• The flavor of the bell pepper will be very strong in the broth. So strong that it can overpower the smell of the products to which you intend to add the broth;
• a fresh tomato adds sourness to the broth, and a broth with sun-dried tomatoes will acquire a thick meaty smell;
• cauliflower and broccoli will give all their vitamins to the liquid, so it is very useful to add them to the broth, at least one sprig;
• Some varieties of mushrooms are so oily that they produce a fatty broth, as if it were meat. All mushroom broths are very aromatic, even with ordinary champignons you will get a rich aroma of the dish if you add a little parsley during cooking;
• If you pre-fry the vegetables a little, the color of the finished dish will be pleasantly golden and not cloudy gray. And the broth will taste much more satisfying.

If you cook this broth with baked vegetables, the taste will be completely different, so don’t be afraid to experiment, finding new cooking possibilities.

Flavorful Vegetable Broth Recipe

This vegetable broth can be drunk as an independent dish; it looks beautiful in a cup and tastes very pleasant. Even if you have not previously preferred meat-free broths, you will definitely add this recipe to your notebook.

Cooking time: 40 min.

Number of servings: 3.

Ingredients:

Preparation

1. Clean and wash the mushrooms. Cut each into 2-4 parts. In general, there is an opinion that the finer the vegetables are cut, the richer the broth will be.
2. Peel the onion, thinly peel the carrots and wash them.
3. We wash the celery to remove sand.
4. We cut vegetables in any shape. It is better that these pieces are the same size as the chopped mushrooms.
5. Place vegetables and washed dill sprigs in a high saucepan. Fill with water.
6. When boiling, mushrooms may form foam, remove it.
7. After boiling, add salt and peppercorns. Adjust the gas power under the pan, we need low heat.
8. After 25 minutes, add the bay leaf. After another 5 minutes you can turn off the mushroom broth, it is ready.

Knowing just the recipe for root vegetable broth is not enough; you need to have additional information to make the most of it in the kitchen:

1. Salt the vegetable broth as soon as you put the vegetables in the pan. Since the broth does not need to be cooked for long, the vegetables do not have time to “open up”, and salt helps them with this.
2. Unused leftover broth can be frozen using ice cube trays. Then, when preparing your next dish, you will already have ready-made portion cubes that you can add to sauce, meat puree, vegetable stew and any other recipe.
3. Dried carrots, tomatoes or mushrooms make the broth more flavorful, try it and see for yourself. At the same time, you can add very little of them, using the same vegetables for the base, only fresh.
4. Dried herbs are an excellent alternative to fresh ones; the taste of the finished dish will not change in any way by replacing these ingredients.
5. Boiled vegetables used for broth are absolutely edible. Therefore, you can make a salad with them, add them to another recipe, or just eat them separately.
6. The recipe often includes a rather expensive ingredient - leek; in terms of taste, it is replaced by a mixture of garlic and onions that are familiar to us.
7. It is advisable to add bell peppers and cabbage to “special” broths, which you will specifically cook for a specific dish. It's all about the powerful aroma that the liquid will have. This smell even overwhelms meat molecules, not to mention the delicate aroma of fish, meat or vegetable stew.
8. Half a glass of white wine, which many chefs periodically supplement the recipe with, can revive the taste of the vegetables used and add piquancy to the future broth. Of course, if the dish is not intended for a child.
9. Jacques Pépin (American internationally recognized chef) gives housewives very economical advice: place stems of herbs and good scraps of vegetables in a paper package (for example, washed from juice) with the top cut off. Store this container in the freezer and when it is full, make vegetable broth from the frozen contents.
10. Use vegetable broth not only for dishes that include it in the recipe, but also for your everyday menu: cook porridge with it, add it to meat gravies and frying pan sauces.

My acquaintance with the culinary phenomenon called "vegetable broth" happened at a time when no one had heard of the Internet, and I carefully read women's glossies. And in one such magazine there was a long article about Madame Gesta and her magical cleansing diet.

In those years, I didn’t have to think about diets at all, but some of the ideas proposed in the article interested me. And the recipe for vegetable broth just intrigued me. To prepare it, you had to add water to finely chopped carrots, leeks and tomatoes, add thyme and cook without salt for twenty minutes. Drink the broth in small sips, eat the vegetables...

Two components of Madame Gesta's magical cleansing diet

Leek, of course, cannot be bought anywhere, but a book about herbs and spices reported that in taste and composition of phytoncides it is similar to a mixture of onions and garlic. Replacing the leek with available products, I prepared bouillon. And it turned out to be not just edible, but even tasty! And without salt.

How do I make vegetable broth?

Since then, I have been preparing vegetable broth quite often, since this preparation is very useful in the household. I will not offer it as a separate dish ( although I can drink a cup with a piece of bread myself), but for poaching fish, preparing puree soups, sauces " from the frying pan», risotto, all kinds stew- very convenient.

Preparing risotto. Add vegetable broth little by little to the rice

I add almost any flavorful vegetables I have on hand to vegetable broth. If this is broth" general purpose", bell peppers and no cabbage are ever included in it. Because their impudent smell overpowers the taste and aroma of not only the broth, but also the dish to which it will be added.

Usually carrots, onions - onions and leeks, celery - do not matter, just a tuber, a stalk, leaves or a little of everything go into the pan. Tuberous celery is the most affordable of the " white roots“, but if there is a root of parsley or parsnip on the farm, I definitely add it.

Most common participants in making vegetable broth

I also really like adding fennel: usually its outer parts are too coarse for salad, but good for broth. Tomato - only in season and a little, it gives natural sourness. Of the herbs, I almost always add thyme - sprigs of fresh or dried, and stems of parsley and dill. Well, and a small bay leaf, if I don’t forget.

Spicy fresh herbs for making vegetable broth

In addition to vegetables, I add several peas of black and allspice (you can crush them, but larger ones). Salt, of course.

By the way, about salt. Smart people advise salting vegetables bouillon right away: salt helps draw out the aromas and flavors from the vegetables. And since the broth does not cook for long and hardly has time to boil away, the risk that it will be over-salted is minimal. But remember that the broth is salted when using it to prepare another dish.

It would also be nice to add a little dry white wine or, at worst, a tablespoon of white wine vinegar. Acid, firstly, accelerates the transfer of aromas from vegetables into liquid, and secondly, somewhat “ revives» taste of root vegetables.

Dry white wine as one of the additional ingredients of vegetable broth

You can, of course, lightly fry the chopped vegetables or bake them with vegetable oil. And the color of the broth will be different, and the aroma will be brighter. But I never do this: vegetables, especially carrots, develop a sweetness that I personally find inappropriate in the basic broth. And you don’t always want oil in the broth.

The vegetable broth is prepared very quickly and somehow casually. I do not cook for long, no more than half an hour from the moment of boiling. During this time, the vegetables have enough time to release everything tasty and aromatic to the liquid.

I filter the finished broth through a sieve, lightly squeezing the vegetables, and either use it immediately or cool it. I put the cooled broth in the refrigerator, where it can be stored for about a week, or I pour it into half-liter containers and store it in the freezer. It’s convenient to freeze at least part of it in ice trays: if you need a little broth for cooking, you can take a couple of cubes.

Pour the broth into ice cube trays and then put them in the freezer to freeze.

What additives are suitable for vegetable broth?

I’ll also say something about atypical additives to basic vegetables. bouillon. It is often recommended to use green parts of leeks to make broth. You can, but be prepared to get a brown broth. I like to add a couple of sun-dried tomatoes or dried mushrooms to my veggies. Both additives give the broth a deeper, meatier taste. But the color is also spoiled - the broth darkens.
Yes, I almost forgot - don’t skimp on water, take tasty stuff!

Great Additives for Making Vegetable Broth

When I make vegetable broth

There are two situations in which I start cooking vegetable broth. The first is when some dish is conceived for which it would be good to have it. Then only vegetables that are available here and now go into the broth. Let's say onions, carrots, garlic, it's good if celery, bay leaf... Not much, but still better than just water.

The second situation is when enough “ raw materials" For example, I cut a fennel salad, and the top “layers” remain. And yesterday I deliberately put aside a couple of ugly celery stalks, but didn’t throw away the parsley stalks... I usually have onions and carrots in stock. Should I make some broth?

Chop excess parsley root for vegetable broth

Since I’m talking about frugal economics, I’ll tell you about some advice that once captured my imagination.

You need to cut off the top of the paper packaging ( for example, from pureed tomatoes), put it in the freezer and put all the stems and decent trimmings of suitable vegetables there. When it is filled to the top, cut the packaging with scissors, fill the resulting frozen briquette with water and cook the broth. And this advice was not from some old woman who survived the hungry years, but from Jacques Pepin, a very authoritative person in the culinary world.

We collect trimmings and stems of vegetables and herbs in a package of them - under pureed tomatoes

All-Purpose Vegetable Broth

for 1.5 liters of prepared broth

Gather all the necessary ingredients.

Layout of ingredients for cooking vegetable broth

What you need:

• 1 onion
• 1 leek
• 2 small carrots
• 1 parsley root (or a piece of celery tuber weighing 50-70 g or a small parsnip)
• 1-2 celery stalks (optional)
• 1/4 fennel bulb (optional)
• 1 small tomato or half a large one
• 5-7 stems or sprigs of parsley
• 5-7 stems or sprigs of dill
• 3-4 sprigs of thyme (optional)
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, unpeeled
• 5-7 black peppercorns
• 5-7 peas of allspice (preferably)
• 1-2 bay leaves
• 3/4 teaspoon coarse salt
• 100 ml dry white wine or 2 tbsp. l. white wine vinegar
• 1.8 liters of water

What to do:

Peel the vegetables, rinse and cut into small pieces of arbitrary shape. Place in a wide saucepan, preferably with a thick bottom, add sprigs of herbs, unpeeled garlic cloves ( so that, accidentally boiling, it does not make the broth cloudy), salt, pepper, bay leaf.

Vegetables prepared for cooking broth in a saucepan

Pour wine and water into a saucepan and place over medium-high heat. As soon as bouillon boils, reduce heat to medium and simmer for 20-25 minutes, until carrots are soft.

Strain the broth through a sieve, lightly squeezing the vegetables. Use the broth immediately or pour it over for storage and future use.

Strain the vegetable broth through a sieve

Making vegetable broth is a very simple matter. First, put a full kettle of water to boil, and put a pan on medium heat to warm up. Now let's prepare the ingredients. We peel carrots and onions, wash them together with other vegetables and herbs. Cut onions, carrots and celery into large pieces. We tie the dill and parsley into a bunch. The vegetable broth is almost ready! Just kidding, another 10 minutes 😉 Pour a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil into a preheated pan and increase the heat a little more. It's time to reveal the secret of quickly preparing vegetable broth: in order for the vegetables to quickly reveal their taste and aroma and then give it to boiling water in 10 minutes, you first need to briefly fry (sauté) them, stirring constantly. That's what we'll do. Throw carrots, onions, celery, bay leaves and black pepper into the heated oil, add salt to taste and sauté, stirring occasionally, until the water in the kettle boils. Do you feel the amazing aroma? This is what your vegetable broth will smell like! When the purified water boils, throw a bunch of greens into the pan and pour boiling water over the fried vegetables. Increase the heat and bring to a boil, then reduce the temperature to low, cover with a lid, leaving a small gap and cook. We control the boiling process, it should not stop. If there is absolutely no time, 10 minutes will be enough for the broth to become aromatic and rich in flavors, but if time permits, you can leave it for 30 minutes. After the required time, turn off the heat and take out all the vegetables and herbs from the broth - we no longer need them. There is no need to strain the vegetable broth through a sieve with gauze, it is already transparent and beautiful, all that remains is to add salt to taste. Now it can be used to prepare other dishes and soups. You can read how to make soup in the section . Puree soup made with vegetable broth is also very tasty, for example, or .

How to make vegetable broth in 15 minutes? The recipe is short

1. We put a full kettle of water to boil, and put a pan on medium heat to warm up.
2. Prepare the ingredients: peel the carrots and onions, wash them along with other vegetables and herbs, cut the onions, carrots and celery into large pieces, tie the dill and parsley into a bunch.
3. Pour vegetable oil into the pan, increase the heat slightly and throw in all the ingredients except the herbs.
4. Fry the vegetables, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes.
5. Add a bunch of parsley and dill to the vegetables, pour boiling water over the vegetables, and cover with a lid.
6. When the water boils again, reduce the heat to low, lift the lid and cook for 10 minutes.
7. Remove all vegetables and herbs from the broth. Now you know how to cook vegetable broth.

That's it! Easy, fast and tasty, right? Be sure to try cooking, leave comments and subscribe to the recipe newsletter in the right sidebar if you don’t want to miss anything! Cook with love and remember that you are more talented than you can imagine, and of course... Enjoy your meal!