Spring is the time of beriberi and winter fatigue. This applies not only to the constant desire to sleep, but also to the desire to eat something “such and such.” Everyone knows this feeling when you want something like this … Unfortunately, most often it turns out to be a cake, which is certainly deposited in the waist area.
Nutritionists believe that the desire to eat “something tasty” is just a signal from the body about the lack of vitamins or other essential substances. And, perhaps, than eating cakes from the store, it makes sense to simply increase the amount of vegetables and fruits in your diet.
In addition, they are all Lenten, which means they are also suitable for those who observe Great Lent. As well as recipes from our selection of Main vegetable dishes from different countries: fasting note.
Russia: vinaigrette
Vinaigrette is a vegetable salad that has been known to everyone since childhood. It is simple, like everything ingenious, and universal, like everything simple. For many, many years in Russia, vinaigrette has been eaten on weekdays and on holidays, at the rich and at the most modest table. It is eaten on its own, because it is hearty and tasty, and is added as a vegetable supplement to meat.
There is a funny legend about the origin of the name of the salad: they say that for the first time a cold vegetable salad was prepared for Catherine II. The queen, who, perhaps, froze in her chambers, did not appreciate the dish and said:
“Fie! Do not warm! The phrase was repeated after the empress by the courtiers, as a result, a consonant name was assigned to the salad: vi-ne-greet. Funny story! Although, most likely, the name of the salad comes from the word “vinaigrette” – wine vinegar (French), which, along with oil, was part of salad dressings. In general, the truth is unknown today, but no matter what it is called, this salad is a decoration of Russian cuisine, simple and wonderful!
To prepare the vinaigrette, boil medium-sized beets, 2 carrots, 2-3 potatoes, cool them and cut into cubes of the same size. Also cut 200 g of squeezed sauerkraut, 2-3 pickled cucumbers, 1 medium onion. On the eve of cooking, pre-soak and boil until cooked ½ cup of beans (you can use a can (350 g) of canned beans, draining the liquid from it).
Ukraine: Lenten borscht
This is an old Ukrainian dish, without which not a single post passed. The main difficulty in cooking is to guess the laying of products in borscht so that by the end of cooking they are not raw or boiled. To make beets and cabbage crunchy, the potatoes were soft, and the beans had a whole shell, but inside it was tender and creamy in taste.
Previously, lean borscht was cooked in the oven, where the products “kept up” for a long time without being boiled. Today they use a little trick: the beans soaked the night before are cooked separately in a small amount of water and added to the borscht at the end of cooking along with the broth.
At this time, 4-5 tablespoons of vegetable oil are heated in a deep frying pan, finely chopped onion is added, sautéed for 5 minutes, until golden brown. Then, carrots and beets, celery root or parsley, chopped into strips, are thrown into the pan and continue to fry for another 5-10 minutes.
At the end, chopped sweet peppers are added (canned lechon can be used) and 3-4 chopped tomatoes without peel (2-3 tablespoons of tomato paste can be used) with a teaspoon of sugar.
The finished frying is sent to the pan along with chopped cabbage, a couple of chopped garlic cloves, a teaspoon of paprika, bay leaf and beans prepared in advance along with a decoction. The dish boils over low heat for another 5 minutes, then add a handful of chopped herbs, turn off the heat and let the borscht brew under the lid for 10-15 minutes. Served both hot and cold with black bread and green onions.
Poland: cabbage soup with millet
Polish cuisine is rich in recipes for soups, as well as dishes made from millet, which in this country has always been called the “gold of the Polish land”. Kapustnyak – a lean soup with sauerkraut and millet – is an old peasant dish that was prepared in winter and spring.
Sometimes dried mushrooms were added to it – for flavor and satiety. It is also prepared from fresh cabbage, adding tomato for acid. Recently, nutritionists have adopted this recipe: it is believed that eating cabbage daily can improve digestion, improve the quality of nails and hair, and lose weight.
Millet and sauerkraut soup is prepared very simply: half a glass of millet is washed several times with hot water until the drained water is no longer cloudy. Groats are added to boiling salted water (1.5 l) and cooked over low heat for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, heat a frying pan with 3 tbsp. spoons of vegetable oil and fry the onions with carrots and celery until golden brown.
Sauerkraut (about 300 g) is squeezed and finely chopped. At the end of cooking, add half a teaspoon of paprika, a pinch of ground black pepper, bay leaf and a handful of finely chopped dill to the pan. Despite its simplicity, the soup is very tasty and easy to digest.
