Frozen vegetables today can be found in almost every store.
Such mixtures are especially relevant in the kitchen in winter time when there are practically no summer vegetables on the shelves, and treat yourself delicious dish with the addition of sweet tomatoes or green peas you want. But before buying this product, many often ask themselves the question: Are frozen vegetable mixes healthy??».
After all, most people believe that since the vegetables have passed the freezing stage, it means that all useful trace elements have disappeared from the products, and this is far from evidence of the benefits of vegetable mixtures. It must be said that this is not so.
Many experts argue that such semi-finished products are not inferior in their usefulness to fresh vegetables.
After all, thanks to modern technologies, vegetables harvested from the beds go through the freezing stage for 2-3 hours. And during this period of time, they simply do not have time to lose their nutritional properties.
Therefore, mixtures of vegetables are ideal both for inclusion in the daily diet of a child and for consumption by the elderly.
In addition, these mixtures:
- Helps improve digestion and appetite;
- Suitable for diet food;
- Are low in calories;
- Rich in selenium, phosphorus, sodium, iron and other useful trace elements.
By incorporating frozen vegetables into your diet, you have the opportunity to discover new frozen mix recipes. Depending on whom, what product you purchase, it will depend on how you prepare a culinary masterpiece: a side dish for the second course, soup or salad.
Now manufacturers are trying to surprise the buyer with an interesting composition of mixtures.
Frozen vegetables can be:
- carrot,
- tomatoes,
- brussels or string beans
- Chinese cabbage,
- beet,
- broccoli.
- Someone will like the Hawaiian mixture, the contents of which are characterized by the presence of rice, and someone may like frozen italian mix, where everyone's favorite olives are available.
The main thing when choosing semi-finished products is to carefully study the composition of the product, as some vegetables may not suit you due to personal intolerance or due to other circumstances.
It is also important to assess the condition of the mixture. If it looks like a lump, it means that it was thawed, as a result of which it lacks any nutrients.
RELATED VIDEO
The frozen mixture is a real new generation product that does not require long-term heat treatment. It does not even require pre-defrosting to prepare it. Such vegetables can be easily stewed, fried or boiled.
Hawaiian frozen mix One of the most popular is the Hawaiian frozen mixture, the recipe of which is quite simple. The main product that is included in its composition is rice.
It also contains:
- Red sweet pepper;
- Corn;
- Green pea.
Here the composition may be different, because the manufacturer decides everything, but rice remains the same ingredient. There are only 91 kcal per 100 grams of Hawaiian mix. As a result, the mixture is ideal for those who are on a diet.
This blend is the perfect accompaniment to any meal, whether it's a main course, a light soup or a handmade salad.
RECIPE
A very simple dish. Vegetables do not require defrosting, so you can start cooking at any time.
We will need:
- 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil,
- water,
- salt,
- seasonings to taste.
Cooking order:
- Heat up a frying pan and add vegetable oil.
- Pour the vegetable mixture, mix lightly.
- Add water to the mixture (about a third of a cup will be enough for one package of 400 grams).
- Simmer covered for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- When the liquid evaporates, the rice and vegetables will brown slightly. It remains to salt and add seasonings to taste.
It can be served with any meat or as an independent dish.
In the view of many Mexicans, the cuisine of Mexicans is necessarily fried dishes with the addition of huge amount hot pepper and spices. However, this is not the case.
In this country, the culinary preferences of the inhabitants are not limited to such culinary masterpieces, they also love meat, various cereals and vegetables. The latter can be tried if you buy a frozen mixture.
In it you will find:
- Carrot,
- Bell pepper,
- corn grains,
- string beans,
- Green pea.
Mushrooms, cereals or other ingredients can be added to the mixture if desired. A lot depends on the dish you want to cook.
RECIPE
Omelet with Mexican mix
This dish is unusual and very tasty.
We will need:
- vegetable oil,
- butter,
- two eggs,
- salt,
- 2 tablespoons of milk
- spices.
Cooking order:
- Heat up a frying pan, add some butter and fry frozen vegetables.
- Two eggs will be enough for half a pack of Mexican mix. Beat them with milk and salt and pour into a pan with vegetables.
- Cover with a lid and fry until done.
More Examples:
- Vegetable side dish, for which you need to fry frozen vegetables in a pan with the addition of seasonings and oil, then pour in a little water and simmer the dish. After half an hour, you can start the test.
- The mixture, which has passed the freezing stage, is ideally combined with seafood, meat, different cereals and mushrooms, you can cook warm salads, holiday treats and casseroles from it.
Asian food lovers will love Chinese Frozen Mix because it has all the ingredients of traditional Chinese cuisine.
The main products included here are:
- White cabbage;
- Carrot;
- Shiitake mushrooms;
- soy and bamboo sprouts;
- Celery;
- Mini corn.
Chinese frozen mix can be supplemented with soy sauce or seasonings, which will only emphasize the exquisite taste of the products.
Recipe: Chinese vegetable mix with meat
This dish involves pre-cooking the meat.
We will need:
- any meat, such as beef or pork,
- ginger,
- soy sauce,
- onion garlic,
- vegetable oil.
Cooking order:
- Cut the meat into thin strips, add ginger and soy sauce. Place in the refrigerator to marinate overnight.
- The next day, fry the meat in a pan in vegetable oil.
- Add the vegetable mixture and onion to the meat, pour the soy sauce.
- If desired, add a little garlic and simmer under the lid until tender.
- The Chinese mixture is ideal as a side dish for rice or meat. In order for the taste of vegetables to be fully revealed, they must be added at the very end of cooking. After 15 minutes of cooking, when the vegetables become soft, you can start eating them.
Whatever frozen mixture you choose to fulfill your own culinary fantasies, you will have the opportunity not only to treat yourself to delicious vegetables, to cook a unique dish for your loved ones, but also to saturate your body with essential trace elements and vitamins.
After all, thanks to modern technologies for processing ingredients, frozen vegetable mix can be called the product of the future, which not only retains all the nutritional properties, but is also ideal for instant cooking.
Store-bought frozen Mexican mixed vegetables tend to have the same ingredients. But when making frozen vegetables at home, why not experiment?! So, when harvesting vegetables for the winter, instead of asparagus beans, you can add zucchini.
The recipe for this Mexican vegetable mix with zucchini is easy to follow, and the time spent on its preparation is only about 30 minutes. Dishes from such bright frozen vegetables turn out to be very tasty, healthy and summery in appearance and taste. I suggest everyone to use my experience in home freezing vegetables. Step by step recipe with photos at your service. Follow the recommendations and you will definitely succeed in a healthy, beautiful and tasty vegetable mixture frozen for future use.
The composition of the mixture includes:
- fresh corn;
- young green pea;
- red bell pepper;
- crispy carrots;
- young squash.
Note that the ratio of products is arbitrary.
How to freeze mixed vegetables for the winter
Rinse the vegetables, leave on a towel until completely dry. It is better to take young peas, the time for its ripening is June-July. Therefore, freezing peas must be taken care of in advance.
Remove raw young corn from leaves and hairs, cut off grains with a sharp knife set slightly at an angle.
Remove the seeds from the bell pepper and cut into small cubes.
Peel fresh crispy carrots and also cut them into cubes of approximately the same size.
Young zucchini (together with seeds and peel), also cut into cubes.
The skin of a more mature zucchini is hard and not very tasty, so if you have such a vegetable, then the skin will need to be removed and the seeds removed.
Mix all ingredients in a deep bowl and pack into freezer bags.
Place the bags with the ready mix in the freezer in the quick freeze mode. I note that if you use previously frozen green peas when preparing the mixture, then add it immediately before you send the Mexican mixture of vegetables to the freezer. Remember that it must not be allowed to defrost.
Such a vegetable mixture frozen for future use does not require defrosting before cooking.
In the summer I try to freeze vegetables, berries, greens, which is possible. Therefore, preparing a Mexican mixture from homemade products is not a problem for me. And cooking from your own blanks is much more pleasant, at least for me, and it’s not scary to give to children. The main thing is to prepare the vegetable mixture for freezing. Mexican mix consists of corn, peas, bell peppers, asparagus beans, carrots. Blanching vegetables (except peppers) for a few minutes helps to destroy enzymes that cause browning and rapid spoilage of vegetables. In addition, they will be better and longer stored. Then the vegetables should be immediately cooled in ice water to stop the cooking process. So, we are preparing a Mexican mixture at home.
Time for preparing: 0:15
Servings: 4
Calories: low calorie
Complexity: Easily
To make homemade Mexican mix, you will need:
- green peas - 250 g
- asparagus beans - 250 g
- carrots - 250 g
- corn - 250 g
- bell pepper - 250 g
- rice - 250 g
- salt - to taste
- pepper - to taste
- greens - at will and taste
How to make homemade mexican mix
Peel the carrots, wash them, cut into small cubes. We cut the beans into short sticks 3-4 cm long. Bulgarian pepper, washed and peeled from seeds, cut into small cubes. We clean the corn, cut the kernels with a knife. Blanch the peas in boiling water for a couple of minutes. Drain in a colander, rinse with cold water. We repeat the same with carrots, beans, corn. Peppers are not blanched so as not to lose their taste and aroma.
Boil rice as usual. Pour sunflower oil into the pan. Throw out the vegetables. We bring them to half readiness, add rice. We mix. Salt, pepper to taste. You can add greens. Vegetables can be frozen without rice. It is very comfortable. To do this, after dousing them with cold water, put them individually in a container or bag and send them to the freezer for a few minutes. We take out the vegetables from the freezer, folded separately. We mix them and pack them in portions in bags. Put in the freezer for storage.
See the recipe for the dish with a photo below.
I propose to cook a delicious tender risotto with vegetables mexican. Why in Mexican? Because I used a frozen vegetable called Mexican Mix to make this dish. It includes green beans, corn, peas and bell peppers.
Risotto with vegetables is a vegetarian dish, so it can be consumed in fasting.
Recipe for risotto with Mexican mixed vegetables
To make Mexican risotto, you will need:
- 2 cups of rice;
- 800 ml vegetable or mushroom broth;
- 1 onion;
- 2 cloves of garlic;
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil;
- 1 carrot;
- 1 bell pepper;
- mixed frozen vegetables Mexican;
- bunch of dill.
First you need to wash, peel and chop the onion, carrot, and pepper. Peel the garlic, crush with a knife and chop, fry in a pan with oil over low heat, add the onion, fry until soft, then lay the carrots and bell peppers. Fry fresh vegetables together for 3 minutes, add frozen vegetables, mix. After a minute, add 200 ml of broth, mix and close the lid.
Rinse and dry the rice. We spread the rice on top of the vegetables and pour the remaining broth. Simmer over medium heat until the broth is absorbed, about 20 minutes. Taste the rice, if it is almost ready (al dente stage, when the rice is a little raw inside), then turn off the fire and leave our risotto with vegetables stand 5 minutes.
In the meantime, rinse and chop the dill. For a creamier taste in risotto, you can add grated on a fine grater hard cheese. Open the lid, add salt to taste, dill, cheese if desired, mix. Close the lid again.
After 2 minutes, the risotto with vegetables can be served on the table. Very delicate taste, and by the way, without extra calories! And for those who love dishes with meat, I recommend cooking!
Everyone is interested in your opinion!
Don't leave in English!
Just below there are comment forms.
Do you want to have your favorite summer dishes on your table all year round? Then be sure to prepare vegetable semi-finished products for the winter. When properly frozen, vegetables retain their fresh taste and vitamins. Plus, you can save a lot of money.
At the height of the season, you can freeze vegetables of almost all varieties and types for the winter. Moreover, you can harvest bell pepper, asparagus and green peas both individually and in a mixture. For example, you can freeze a Mexican mixture for the winter at home. You will be completely confident in the quality of vegetables that you yourself will select and package. At the same time, save money and be able to regulate the quantity and composition of the finished product yourself.
In order for vegetables to retain their original appearance and all vitamins, and not turn into a block of ice, you need to properly process them before freezing. The Mexican mix includes bell peppers, carrots, peas, asparagus and corn. All vegetables, except peppers, must be blanched, that is, dipped in boiling water for a few minutes, and then quickly cooled in ice water to stop the cooking process. Blanching will destroy the enzymes that cause the vegetables to brown quickly. They will keep better and last longer.
Ingredients
- green peas 200 g
- asparagus beans 200 g
- carrots 200 g
- corn 200 g
- bell pepper 200 g
How to prepare Mexican mix for the winter
- We peel the green peas from the pods. Then immerse in boiling water for 2 minutes.
We throw the blanched peas into a colander and immediately pour over them with ice water to stop the cooking process. Then pour the peas onto a piece of soft cotton fabric and blot from moisture.
We place green peas in a container for freezing or in a bag. We send it to the freezer - while we are preparing the remaining vegetables, it will have time to freeze slightly.
young asparagus beans cut into small segments of 3-4 centimeters.
Blanch the asparagus in boiling water for 2 minutes, then pour over with cold running water. Then dry and also place in a container and place in the freezer.
Peel the carrots, wash and cut into small cubes.
Blanch the carrots in boiling water for 2 minutes, then cool in ice water, dry with a towel and also place in a container or bag for freezing.
Peel sweet corn or cut the kernels with a knife along the cob.
Blanch the corn kernels in boiling water for 2-3 minutes, then pour over with cold water, dry and send to the freezer.
We wash the bell pepper, dry it, remove the stalk and seeds. Blanching it is not necessary, otherwise it will lose its taste. Cut the pepper into small cubes.
We combine and mix peppers, carrots, asparagus, peas and corn.
Homemade Mexican mix is ready, it will be an excellent base for all kinds of stews, lechos or soups. We divide the mixture into portions, pack it into containers and send it to the freezer for storage for the winter.