How to cook cauliflower correctly. How to properly boil cauliflower

Cauliflower is a healthy vegetable and, if cooked correctly, very tasty. This variety got its name not because of its bright color, but because of its inflorescences, shaped like flowers. You won't find cauliflower in natural conditions. It was brought to us from the Mediterranean, which means it is quite suitable for those who are interested in the basics of the Mediterranean diet. To fully enjoy the taste of this wonderful product, you need to have an idea of how and how much to cook cauliflower. You can prepare a lot of delicious independent dishes from it. When boiled, it can be used as one of the ingredients in other culinary masterpieces.

A little history

This whitish and, at first glance, unremarkable vegetable is not in high demand in our country, unlike the usual one, which is boiled, steamed, and fermented. But this neglect is not at all deserved: if desired, the fruit can easily be turned into an unusual cream with nutmeg and soft cheese, or simply fried and get an elegant snack.

As history goes, cauliflower's reputation hasn't always been on the culinary stage. Pliny in the first century after the birth of Christ said that cauliflower is the most delicious vegetable. In the twelfth century we find references to it in the works of some Arab botanists. Later, cauliflower was brought to Cyprus, from where it subsequently spread throughout Europe.

It contains quite a lot of calcium and potassium, it is rich in vitamin C and some antioxidants. In addition, these inflorescences are simply filled with fiber, which helps improve digestion. All the positive qualities of this product are preserved when boiled or baked. The white inflorescences are edible even without heat treatment, but not for everyone. For people with more sensitive intestines, it is better to boil it.

How long to cook

Steamed cauliflower is a surprisingly light and nutritious dish or a great base for other recipes. And it’s very easy to cook it, in three ways: in a saucepan, a double boiler or in the microwave (the latter is for the pros). And after it is ready, all you need to do is salt and pepper the finished inflorescences to taste, sprinkle with olive oil or a piece of melted butter. A little soy sauce will add piquancy to the dish, and if you add fried sesame oil instead of olive oil, the taste will be very rich and unusual.

Cook in a saucepan

First, cut off all the greens and thick lower part from the head of cabbage. Rinse under cool water. If you decide to cook the inflorescences, carefully cut them from the stem.

Place water in a large deep saucepan, add salt and bring to a boil over high heat. After the water boils, carefully place the whole head or chopped inflorescences into it. Reduce heat and cook until done.

Whole head	Chopped florets
A whole uncut head is boiled for about 10 minutes after boiling. Poke a knife into the center to make sure it's cooked inside. If not, continue cooking for a few more minutes, checking periodically for doneness.	Sliced inflorescences cook faster - within 5-7 minutes from the moment of boiling until fully cooked. But if you want them crispy, then 3 minutes is enough. You can also test them with a fork to make sure they are cooked. Drain before serving or using in another recipe.

If you cooked cabbage for salad, then cool the boiled head or inflorescences - after draining the boiling water, dip them into a bowl of ice water. This quickly reduces the temperature and prevents it from overcooking.

Interesting Facts

Orange cauliflower, grown in Canada, has a color similar to that of oranges. It looks great in a variety of salads. There is also purple cauliflower, the color of which comes from anthocyanins.

Those who love spring colors in winter will undoubtedly enjoy the existence of a green version of the classic white cauliflower, as well as a type of cauliflower called Romanesco, which is distinguished by its beautiful and unusual appearance. It has a slightly firmer flesh, making it ideal for baked dishes.

Roasted cauliflower goes great with cheese. An excellent dish is creamy cauliflower soup with nutmeg. Cauliflower is also great for making various types of smoothies. If cauliflower is your favorite vegetable, try simple baking or grilling.

Delicious recipes

And finally, simple and delicious recipes:

Cauliflower in batter

Deep-fried cauliflower in batter is very tasty.

To prepare the dish, take forks of cauliflower weighing a little more than a kilogram. Be sure to choose undamaged forks without black spots and with strong, not flaccid inflorescences:

Rinse the cauliflower with cold water, remove the leaves, and cut off the stalk. Place the prepared cabbage in boiling water and cook for 3-4 minutes after boiling. If the cabbage is not pre-cooked, it will be almost raw, and raw cauliflower is not very tasty, but if the cabbage is overcooked, fried, it will be too soft and will lose all its beneficial properties.

Disassemble the cooked cabbage into inflorescences. Prepare the batter: beat 3-4 eggs with a pinch of salt, add a glass of milk and enough flour to make a mixture similar to thin sour cream. Add a pinch of ground black pepper and a little salt to this mixture. Heat vegetable oil in a deep fryer or cauldron.

Using a fork or toothpick, dip the cabbage florets into the batter and drop them into the hot oil, a few at a time. When the cabbage has browned, remove it from the oil and add the next batch. Sprinkle hot cabbage with chopped herbs and serve immediately to keep the crust crispy.

Stewed in tomato

Cauliflower steaks

Place the cauliflower on a cutting board, cut side down, and using a large knife, cut the head into four “steaks” 1-1.5 cm thick. Cut from the center of the head outwards. Some of the flowers will break off and can be used in another dish. Roast the steaks in the oven with a little oil and your favorite spices for 30 minutes or until browned and tender. You can additionally stew it with any sauce.

Fry in a frying pan

You can fry pre-boiled and cooled cauliflower in different ways. As practice shows, children, their parents, and even their grandparents like cabbage fried with something bready - in breadcrumbs, batter, tempura.

There are no contradictions here.

To fry cabbage in a frying pan, prepare three bowls in addition to the one containing the pre-boiled cauliflower. In the first bowl prepare the leison. The simplest leison is an egg scrambled with a fork. The purpose of the lezon is to fix the breading on the cabbage.

Pour breading into a second bowl. Line the third bowl with a paper kitchen towel.

Add a considerable amount of refined vegetable oil - olive or sunflower - to the frying pan. Unrefined oil with odor and color, such as “Extra Virgin”, is not suitable for frying. The layer of oil in the pan should be at least 2-3 mm. You can also fry in an almost dry or completely dry non-stick frying pan. But children are unlikely to eat such cabbage.

Heat the pan and reduce the heat to medium.

Dip each cabbage inflorescence into the lezon, roll it in breading and place it in the frying pan so as not to move it later. Fry for 2 minutes, carefully turn over. It is better to use tongs or chopsticks rather than a spatula.

Fry on the other side for another two minutes, transfer to a towel in a bowl.

Before cooking the cabbage, prepare the tempura.

An hour before cooking, take one chicken egg out of the refrigerator, pour a glass - 200 ml - of water, pour 100 grams of flour into a bowl. You can only use regular wheat, you can use part - up to a third - of corn or semolina. Let's put all the products next to each other on the table and cover them. For proper tempura, all ingredients must be at the same temperature. The specified amount will yield batter for approximately 700 grams of cabbage.

Carefully separate the yolk from the white; we don’t need the white. Using a whisk, gently mix all the prepared products. No need to beat, just stir evenly.

Put the batter in the refrigerator and work on the cabbage.

When the boiled cabbage has cooled sufficiently, prepare deep-frying. The Japanese use sesame oil. We can take refined sunflower or special professional oil for deep frying. Pour 0.5-1 liter of oil into a small saucepan and place on the stove.

Heat the oil to 170 °C, lower the cabbage into the batter. You can have several inflorescences at once. We take it out with chopsticks or tweezers, put it in deep fat and wait for it to float up. There is no need to focus on color - tempura is almost not colored during preparation, acquiring only the color of light straw.

If the cabbage does not float, it means the frying temperature is insufficient. If the batter burns, reduce the heat.

Place the finished pieces on a paper towel. When the oil has drained, serve.

We suggest you familiarize yourself with Charlotte, how many degrees in the oven?

Oddly enough, tempura absorbs very little oil. Instant cooking prevents it from being excessively absorbed into either the dough or the cabbage.

How to cook cauliflower correctly

You can boil cauliflower in different ways. Traditionally it is cooked in a saucepan.

Cut the washed vegetable into inflorescences with a knife.
Boil water in an enamel saucepan. Salt and place the inflorescences in the water.
Boil them for 15 minutes over medium heat and drain in a colander.

In addition to the pan, you can cook the inflorescences in a pressure cooker, microwave, multicooker, or double boiler. In this case, you must adhere to the main cooking rules:

Do not defrost frozen vegetables, but immediately place them in cold water, add salt and boil;
Before cooking, divide it into inflorescences and keep a little in salted water;
if you plan to fry it, then boil it first until half cooked;
for boiling, use an enamel container;
To prevent the vegetable from acquiring a yellowish tint, do not cover the container with a lid when cooking;
To prevent it from darkening during cooking, add 1 tbsp to the water at the end of cooking. vinegar;
cook the cabbage over medium heat.

After boiling cauliflower, you can eat it as an independent dish or serve it as a side dish.

In a slow cooker

Cooking time: 25 minutes;
Number of servings: 4;
Calorie content of the dish: 35 kcal;
Purpose: for lunch;
Cuisine: European;
Difficulty of preparation: easy.

Many modern housewives have already learned to cook in such a way that most of the nutrients are retained in the products. For example, steamed cauliflower in a slow cooker cooks faster than on the stove in the traditional way, requiring a minimum of effort from the housewife. Below are detailed instructions on how to prepare delicious cauliflower for a side dish or for later use in a salad.

Soak the head of cabbage for 15 minutes with cold water and salt.
Divide the head of cabbage into inflorescences.
Divide the product into equal inflorescences.
Fill the multi-cooker bowl with water and place the container for steaming.
Place the inflorescences on the wire rack.
Close the lid and turn on the “Steam” mode.
Cook until done for 15-20 minutes.

How long to cook cauliflower

Boil the cauliflower in a saucepan for about 15 minutes. If you plan to stew or fry the inflorescences in the future, the cooking time is reduced to 7 minutes; the half-finished inflorescences can be poured with egg sauce and made into a casserole or fried in batter.

And this is how long the cooking process lasts if other units are used:

In a microwave oven, the vegetable is cooked in 2 stages. First, place it in a microwave-safe container, do not add salt, and set the timer for 5 minutes. Then add salt and boil again, setting the timer for 4 minutes.
Cook the vegetable in a slow cooker for 15 minutes.
The cabbage is cooked in a double boiler for 30 minutes.
In a pressure cooker, cabbage will be ready in 15-20 minutes.

The cooking time for fresh and frozen vegetables is not too different. Frozen cauliflower takes 2-5 minutes longer to cook.

Cauliflower is a low-calorie and filling product that is easily digestible. A properly cooked vegetable retains its beneficial qualities, and the inflorescences retain their original shape, so it is important to adhere to the basic cooking rules.

Let's find out how to cook fresh and frozen cabbage, as well as how long to cook cauliflower until the child is ready, frozen and fresh, and also before frying.

Cauliflower is one of the most popular crops grown at home. It has a unique flavor and can be prepared in a variety of ways, but the easiest way is to boil it. In order for the product to retain its nutritional value and taste, it must be prepared correctly.

In the microwave

Cooking time: 15 minutes;
Number of servings: 4;
Calorie content of the dish: 30 kcal;
Purpose: for lunch;
Cuisine: European;
Difficulty of preparation: easy.

The recipe presented below can be used if you don’t have time to cook, but want to please your household with healthy and tasty food. How to prepare a delicious side dish in minutes? You need to use the microwave available in almost every home. The product is suitable either fresh or frozen, previously divided into small inflorescences. How to cook cauliflower in the microwave to make it especially tasty? You can add spices, oil, herbs, and onions to it. It is worth remembering that metal utensils should not be used in microwave ovens.

fresh cabbage – 1 head;
salt – ½ teaspoon.

Remove the leaves from the head, divide it into flowers, and rinse with water.
Place the product in a cooking container, add milk or water, and add salt.
Cover the container with a lid and cook for 4 minutes at full power.
Remove the pan and stir the inflorescences.
Cook for another 3 minutes until done.

So how long should you cook fresh cauliflower after boiling to get a complete dish? How long before frying? How to get the inflorescences tender and crispy, can they be cooked in the microwave? But let's start from the very beginning.

How to cook cauliflower correctly

This product cannot be stored as long as white cabbage, so it needs to be cooked as quickly as possible, otherwise it can quickly spoil. If it is stored for too long, the surface begins to turn black. Before cooking, cauliflower must be properly prepared:

If you are preparing portioned dishes, then do not separate the head of cabbage, but to prepare a side dish, it can be disassembled into inflorescences.

How to cook fresh cauliflower

How to cook fresh cauliflower step by step

We clean the cabbage, divide it into inflorescences, remove spoiled areas, that is, carefully sort through them. Wash from garbage.

The pan is filled with salted water (10 grams per liter). Cabbage inflorescences are placed in boiling water, after which you need to wait until the water boils again.

Next, the intensity of the fire on the stove is reduced to low - thanks to this, the color of the product is preserved.

Cauliflower cooks quickly, so you need to constantly check it by piercing it with a knife. Do not overcook otherwise. Before serving the finished dish, keep it in the broth for several minutes, but do not overcook it, otherwise it will turn yellow. Usually cabbage is ready after 10-12 minutes.

Other cooking methods:

In a steamer. The processed cabbage should be divided into individual inflorescences and placed in a steamer bowl. Steam for 20-25 minutes. This method preserves maximum nutrients;
In the microwave. The head of cabbage can be boiled whole or by first dividing it into inflorescences. In the first case, a saucepan covered with a lid is used, in the second, another dish of suitable size is used.

It is also possible to cook in the microwave using the stewing method. The head of cabbage is divided into heads, placed in a bowl, where milk is added at the rate of 3 tbsp. for 500 grams of cabbage. Cover the container with a lid and simmer for 3 minutes. Then spices are added to the dish, after which it needs to be cooked for another 10 minutes.

How to cook frozen cauliflower

If it is not possible to cook cabbage immediately after purchasing, it can be stored in the freezer. In this case, the cooking process will be slightly different:

Salt water is brought to a boil.
When the water boils, the frozen cabbage is placed in it.
Usually frozen cabbage will cook in 10-12 minutes. After cooking, drain in a colander.

It is important not to defrost the vegetable before placing it in boiling water.

How to cook cauliflower for a child

Before preparing food for a child based on natural products, you need to process them as thoroughly as possible. Divide the head of cabbage into inflorescences, wash thoroughly, place in an enamel bowl and soak in salted water for half an hour. This will eliminate insects and chemicals that may remain inside. To make baby puree, use this recipe.

How to cook cauliflower for a child step by step

Boil some water in an enamel saucepan and place the inflorescences inside so that the water covers them.
Once boiling, boil the cabbage for another 7-10 minutes.
Remove the florets with a slotted spoon; the broth can be used to create a puree.
Process the cabbage in a blender or grate it using a grater.

If the child is under one year old, there is no need to add salt. The resulting mass is mixed with the broth.

How to properly process non-frozen vegetables?

Boil in a saucepan - the inflorescences are washed and placed in lightly salted water. After boiling, you need to keep the container on the fire for 10 to 15 minutes. The cabbage should be soft. Vegetables prepared this way are best suited for puree.
Steam or cook in a slow cooker - as in the first case, puree is prepared from cauliflower or broccoli. But cooking in a double boiler has several nuances. The vegetable does not need to be defrosted. After removing from the freezer, it is washed under running water and placed in the upper container of the steamer. The bottom saucepan is filled 1/3 with water. Next, the required mode is set. Until fully cooked, you need to steam the vegetable for 17 minutes. After the cauliflower is completely cooked, it is ground to a puree.
Defrost and boil in the microwave - the inflorescences are placed in a glass container and filled with a small amount of water, so that it lightly covers the vegetable. The whole process takes 6-7 minutes.

We suggest you familiarize yourself with Jalapeño. It is
better to give cauliflower dishes to babies during the daytime. This should not be done in the evening or in the morning.

For babies older than one year, you can add butter and milk to the puree, as well as other boiled vegetables (zucchini, pumpkin).

The main rule when preparing frozen cauliflower is its freshness. Although the vegetable can be stored in the freezer for a long time, for use in baby food it is advisable that it be stored there for no longer than 6 months. For freezing, fresh inflorescences are selected, thoroughly washed to remove dirt and dust, divided into small brushes and left in a container with water for about 4 hours.

For cooking, choose vegetables without dark spots or damage. Cauliflower should be white or with a slight yellowish tint, elastic, and the leaves not limp. The quality of raw materials plays a big role in the output: a dish made from cabbage grown on your own will be as tasty and healthy as possible.

Before cooking, it is necessary to process the vegetable. To do this, it is recommended to soak the head of cabbage in salted water for five to seven minutes. This procedure is done to eliminate possible small insects. It happens that they are difficult to notice in inflorescences. Therefore, do not be lazy and spend extra time on additional processing of cabbage. Thus, the risk of unwanted guests finding food will be reduced to zero.

Any deep dish is suitable for cooking: a ladle, a saucepan, a cauldron. It all depends on your personal preferences. You can cook cauliflower in the microwave or in a slow cooker. To do this, you need to use special containers designed for a particular device.

There are two methods of cooking: place the disassembled inflorescences in boiling water or initially pour water over the vegetable and bring to a boil. In both cases, there should be enough water so that the entire volume of the product is completely covered with water.

Both methods are good for cooking. The difference lies in how long it takes to cook the vegetable. According to the experience of cooks, cabbage, filled with water and brought to a boil, cooks faster. Try both methods and find the option you like.

If you are putting fresh product into already boiling water, then the next step is to wait until it boils.
Approximately 15-20 minutes should pass from the moment of boiling.

When cooking in another way, as soon as the water boils, reduce the heat and cook for about 7-10 minutes. Don't forget to salt the water in which our vegetable will be cooked.

IMPORTANT: The cooking time for the inflorescences varies depending on the variety and quality of cabbage. Always check the readiness of the product with a fork 3-5 minutes before turning off, if you are guided by time.

Any deep dish is suitable for cooking: a ladle, a saucepan, a cauldron. It all depends on your personal preferences. You can cook cauliflower in the microwave or in a slow cooker. To do this, you need to use special containers designed for a particular device.

When cooking in another way, as soon as the water boils, reduce the heat and cook for about 7-10 minutes. Don't forget to salt the water in which our vegetable will be cooked.