Tomatoes are widely used in cooking. They are used as an ingredient in appetizers, first and second courses, salads – both raw and ready-made. Salads with fresh tomatoes, tomato soups, sauces, pizza and pasta with tomato dressing have become quite familiar to us.
How to Cook Tomatoes
Tomatoes are successfully used for cooking various types of canned food. Fruits contain a significant amount of acid, which makes it possible to limit the production of canned food to sterilizing them in boiling water. Depending on what taste the cook wants to achieve, tomatoes can be pickled, salted, boiled sweet sauce, juice or drink. As a rule, sugar, salt, vinegar, citric acid and all kinds of spices are used in any kind of canning. With proper preparation, the product can be stored in a dark, cool place for several years. These preserves are always an excellent addition to side dishes, meat, fish, salads and an independent snack. A well–known tomato product is ketchup, a sweet tomato sauce with seasonings.
Combination with Other Products
Tomato is not desirable to combine with starch-containing and cereal products. It is recommended to eat tomatoes with herbs and vegetables that do not contain starch. It is advised to take tomatoes with proteins and fats, thus improving their assimilation. A useful combination is tomato and avocado, as well as broccoli. The usual combination of tomatoes and cucumbers is not as useful as it seems – the components of these vegetables, according to recent studies, mutually interfere with the assimilation of various components of each other. Tomatoes with liver or olive oil are considered useful combinations.
The Use of Tomatoes in Drinks
The most famous tomato drink, as expected, is tomato juice. It is consumed both in its natural form and with the addition of salt, pepper, celery, Worcestershire sauce, lemon and lime juice. In addition, tomato juice is used as a component of several alcoholic cocktails. Tomatoes can be added to vegetable smoothies based on yogurt, as well as to prepare diluted drinks with spices from them.
Types of Tomatoes
There are hundreds of types of tomatoes – small cherry the size of a grape, huge tomatoes weighing 600-800 grams, juicy for salads and fleshy for pasta, campari and – these are just the most famous of the many varieties. The color of the fruit, in addition to red, can vary from white, orange, yellow, green to purple and chocolate.
How to Choose and Store Tomatoes?
Ripe tomatoes have a rather rich aroma. If there is no smell, most likely the tomatoes were picked unripe. The peduncle should be small. When choosing tomatoes, you need to pay attention to the smoothness of the skin, the absence of cracks, spots and traces of blows. A fully ripe tomato is soft and springy, but you can choose it only if it is consumed immediately. Overripe tomatoes are always good for sauces and soups. In healthy fruits, the skin is thin, and the flesh is monotonous. If white thin veins are visible in the pulp, there are white spots in the core, and it itself is “plastic” to the touch – it means that there are nitrates in the tomato.
The storage conditions of a tomato directly depends on how ripe it is. Room temperature will accelerate the ripening process. Therefore, if you want the tomato to ripen, feel free to leave it warm. Ripe tomatoes are best stored at a temperature of about 12 degrees Celsius. At this temperature, the tomato will cease to ripen, but it will not lose its taste and useful properties.
Today I recommend you this recipe, from any minced meat. Meat balls “Little Red Riding Hood” Or, this dish can also be called “Meat balls with cheese and tomatoes” This dish turns out delicious and very appetizing. This dish can be prepared for dinner, lunch or for a festive table. You can prepare any side dish for this dish, rice pasta, and so on. Thank you very much for your attention! I offer you a video recipe.
One of the most popular Turkish meat dishes is prepared on a skewer and has a history that goes back deep into antiquity. Initially, kebab was prepared in cauldrons or forms for meat without sauce or any liquid on an open fire. There is a legend about the origin of meat dishes cooked on skewers or wooden skewers, associated with the name of the Persian ruler Darius, who went to war, with the words: “This is what will happen to our enemies,” he forcefully stuck a sharpened wooden rod into the cauldron with meat. The recipe offered to you today is one of the variations of a kebab made at home from available products.
“Avji koftesi” translates as “Hunting meatballs” – a dish from the menu of the Ottoman court, served at a reception at the Sultan in honor of the palace military leaders. Initially, it was prepared from chopped meat in a cauldron on an open fire, served in shallow copper plates. With the increasing influence of European cuisine, the dish received a European addition in the form of additional ingredients and cooking methods. Nowadays, this dish is in the diet of all Turkish houses. Each hostess prepares it in her own way, but the main ingredients invariably remain-small meatballs, potatoes, onions and tomatoes.
Hi, today I want to share with you one recipe. This time I prepared “Stuffed chicken thigh rolls” This dish is prepared as always simply, but it turns out very tasty. I will not distract you for a long time, let’s start cooking!
This fragrant dish is dedicated to all lovers of carrots and peppers. In the case of cooking carrot juice, there is a useful pie that is well suited for this recipe. The dish is dietary, since vegetables are not fried. The dryness of carrot cake and oatmeal is compensated by the addition of tomato slices.
Delicious vegetable salad, perfectly replaces dinner. Helps to improve the figure, contains a lot of vitamins and other useful things! It is very tasty with coarse rye bread, but can be served with meat and poultry.
I forgot about the classic cutlets in a frying pan, having tried this miracle (I tried it in the Crimea, begged for a recipe). They are prepared quickly, the taste is very delicate, and even what beautiful ones!!!