Braised Cabbage with Butternut Squash and Carrots
A simple, light, vegetarian dish — or a delicious vegetable side! Braised cabbage with squash and carrots is a wonderfully versatile dish. For one, it works as a light vegetable side alongside meat, chicken, or fish. For another, it's sure to please vegetarians, anyone cutting back on animal products, and those watching their diet or their waistline. Braised vegetables come together simply and quickly, the ingredients are easy to find, and in summer they're a real treasure trove of vitamins and nutrients.
Cooking method
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Step 1:
How do you make braised cabbage with squash and carrots? Prepare the ingredients. You can round out this basic set of vegetables with your favorite spices and herbs. The dish is best made with fresh, young vegetables, of course. But if it's not yet peak season, you can use frozen squash that's already cut into cubes, for example.
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Step 2:
Peel off the outer leaves of the cabbage and cut it into small pieces, or shred it into thin strips — however you prefer. A large family may go through a whole head, so be sure to cut out the core, or it'll add a bitter note to the dish.
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Step 3:
Onion improves the flavor of the dish, so add it too. Peel and finely chop the onion. If you have a red onion on hand, feel free to use it — it's sweeter.
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Step 4:
Wash, peel, and grate the carrot on a medium grater.
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Step 5:
Put the chopped cabbage and carrot in a braising pan or deep skillet and add enough clean, filtered water to cover the vegetables by an inch or so (a couple of centimeters). Cover and set over the heat; once the water boils, lower it to medium and simmer for about 25 minutes.
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Step 6:
Then add the squash and onion to the pan and stir. Season to taste — you can keep it to just salt and ground black pepper to let the vegetables' own flavor shine, or add whatever spices you like. Cover again and simmer for another 15 minutes or so. Then take off the lid; if there's still a lot of liquid, stir and continue simmering the vegetables uncovered.
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Step 7:
Once almost all the liquid has cooked off, take the pan off the heat, leaving the last bit of liquid in the pan rather than draining it. Divide the braised cabbage with squash and carrots among plates, spooning a little of the pan liquid over each. Sprinkle with chopped fresh parsley and dill, which add a lovely flavor and aroma. If you like, you can serve it with sour cream, mayonnaise, or any sauce, or offer it as a side to meat. Enjoy!
- Any oil is only good up to a certain temperature — its smoke point, where it begins to burn and form harmful compounds, including carcinogens. For how to gauge frying temperature, choose the best oil for frying, and which oils are better avoided altogether, read here.
- Important! The wrong pan can ruin even the best recipe. For all the details on choosing the perfect pan for different dishes, read here.
- Keep in mind that how you cut the carrot shapes the final result: grated carrot cooks down into a soft purée that blends evenly with everything else, while carrot cut into strips or sticks holds its shape.
Caloric content of the products possible in the composition of the dish
- Pumpkin - 29 kcal/100g
- Carrots - 33 kcal/100g
- Dried carrots - 275 kcal/100g
- Boiled carrots - 25 kcal/100g
- Ground black pepper - 255 kcal/100g
- Salt - 0 kcal/100g
- Onion - 41 kcal/100g
- White cabbage - 28 kcal/100g
- Boiled white cabbage - 21 kcal/100g
- Olive oil - 913 kcal/100g
- Fresh frozen soup greens in a package - 41 kcal/100g
- Greenery - 41 kcal/100g
