Beet tops are used in folk medicine and cosmetology, and they also gained popularity in cooking. The tops are used to make filling for pies and pies, prepare salads, casseroles and first courses, and also prepare it for future use: dried, salted, pickled and canned.
Beet tops recipes
Beet tops are often used to prepare first courses; they are added to borsch, okroshka, botvinya, beetroot and even fish soup.
To prepare botvinya, you need to take:
– 1 liter of bread kvass; – 250 milliliters of white kvass; – 3 young beets with tops; – 2 cups of sorrel (scalded); – 1 glass of young nettles (scalded); – ½ lemon; – 1 tablespoon of horseradish; – 1 teaspoon of mustard; – 1 cucumber; – green onions; – fresh dill; – sugar; – salt.
First of all, very well, rinse the beet tops and root crops from all sides. Then chop the tops with a knife and pour over with boiling water. This will make it tender and soft and completely destroy the specific aftertaste that may not be to everyone’s liking. After that, cut the root vegetable into small pieces and simmer it along with the tops in a little water.
Pre-washed and scalded sorrel and nettle, finely chop and mix with prepared tops and beets. Wash green onions and dill, chop, grind with salt and add to the rest of the ingredients.
Mix bread kvass with lager kvass. Scald the lemon, grate the zest and sprinkle it with granulated sugar, and squeeze the juice from half the lemon. Add lemon zest and juice to kvass, add mustard and grated horseradish, as well as beets, greens and finely chopped cucumber. Mix everything well and put in the refrigerator for 20 minutes to infuse.
To prepare vitamin okroshka with beet tops, you need to take:
– 3 bunches of young beets with tops; – 3 cucumbers; – 2 eggs; – 1 tablespoon lemon juice; – 1 liter of kefir; – 100 milliliters of sour cream; – 2 tablespoons of finely chopped dill; – salt.
Separate the beet leaves from the petioles. Wash young roots thoroughly and grate on a coarse grater. Cut the beet stalks into cubes. Put everything in an enamel saucepan, add freshly squeezed lemon juice, cover with hot boiled water and heat everything together for 2-3 minutes over low heat. Then remove from the stove, let it brew for 10-15 minutes.
While the broth is cooling, rinse thoroughly and cut the beet leaves into strips. Peel the hard-boiled eggs and chop finely. Wash and cut the cucumbers into thin strips. Then combine all prepared foods and transfer to a saucepan with broth. Mix a liter of kefir with half a liter of cold boiled water, season with salt and pour this mixture over the vegetables and tops.
Serve vitamin okroshka with sour cream, sprinkle with chopped dill.