How do you cook ginger?

Want to know how to cook ginger properly? Then read on, because the root, or rather the rhizome of the subtropical plant Zingiber officinale not only helps with many diseases, but has also been used since ancient times as a spice that can transform any dish and turn it into a work of culinary art. It is not without reason that in the cuisines of Asian peoples, ginger root is considered the number 1 spice, and gastronomy experts call its aroma irresistible.

We will also tell you what can be made from ginger and, most importantly, how to do it according to all the rules.

What can be made from ginger?

Keep in mind that the taste of ginger (like many spice-flavoring plants) becomes less pronounced with prolonged heat treatment - due to the evaporation of essential oils. Therefore, to obtain a more intense taste and aroma, ginger is cooked quickly or added to the dish at the final stage of preparation.

Ginger root goes well with other spices: in savory dishes – with coriander, cumin, garlic, turmeric and mustard seeds, and in sweet dishes – with cinnamon and cloves. Try using it in baked goods and other desserts, fruit salads and vegetable, meat, poultry and fish dishes, as well as in marinades and pickles.

So, what can you make from ginger, besides medicinal aromatic tea and traditional European Christmas gingerbread? By the way, ginger and ginger bread (which never got moldy due to the bactericidal properties of this spice) were brought to Europe in the 11th century by the Crusaders returning from the Middle East. Gingerbread was first baked in French monasteries in the Loire Valley (Pitiviers Canton), and these baked goods were sold... in pharmacies. And a little later - in the Middle Ages - in Germany they began to make the famous Christmas gingerbread houses (lebkuchen houses) from dough with the addition of ginger.

Nowadays, we most often drink tea with ginger root for colds and digestive problems. How to make tea with ginger, read here. You can learn more about how to make ginger with lemon from our publication Ginger with lemon.

And a comprehensive description of how to prepare ginger with lemon and honey, as well as how to prepare ginger with honey, is given here - Ginger root in cooking.

We answer the question of coffee lovers, how to make coffee with ginger. For this you need: natural ground coffee (1 teaspoon per cup of 150-160 ml), water (for one cup - 180 ml) and a thin slice of fresh ginger root (dry ground ginger should not be used, as the drink will be cloudy and not so aromatic). Pour coffee into a Turk or cezve, add boiling water, stir and bring to a boil over low heat; add ginger when removing from heat. Coffee should be poured into a cup after 1-1.5 minutes (when the grounds settle). Coffee with ginger combines the qualities of both products: it invigorates and increases the body's endurance, especially in the cold season.

Although this drink is also very popular in hot countries. For example, in Indonesia, black coffee with ginger is brewed with the addition of ground nutmeg, cinnamon, cardamom and cloves, and in Yemen, they like coffee with ginger, cardamom, anise and fennel seeds.

Some people are interested in how to make a ginger decoction. Why do you need a decoction? After all, when boiling, the valuable essential substances of ginger (antibacterial and antiseptic terpenes) will simply evaporate. Therefore, it is better to make a water infusion: pour boiling water (250-300 ml) over the crushed root (a piece the length of the upper phalanx of the thumb), close the container tightly and leave until the temperature of the infusion drops to room temperature.

Now let's remember how to make a ginger tincture. For a bottle of regular 0.5 liter vodka, you will need about 300 g of peeled ginger rhizome, which should be cut as finely as possible (grinding on a grater is not suitable for this potion). Combine the vodka with the chopped ginger, screw the bottle cap tightly and put it in a secluded place - in the dark (not in the refrigerator). It is recommended to shake the contents of the bottle periodically. We guarantee: in 20 days the healing ginger tincture will be ready for use. And it is used in almost the same cases as ginger juice (see below).

How to make ginger juice?

Ginger juice added to drinks (2-3 drops per 100-120 ml of liquid - no more than twice a day) is useful for: stomach disorders; irritable bowel syndrome; type II diabetes; muscle fatigue and joint pain; ovarian cancer, colon cancer (Cancer Prevention Research Journal) and liver cancer (Biochem technology, University of Tokyo) and even Alzheimer's disease.

How to make ginger juice? Very simple: peel the root and grate it on a fine grater, squeeze the resulting mass (through a sieve or double gauze) and pour into a tightly closing glass container. Keep in the refrigerator (the shelf life of the resulting portion of juice is up to five days).

You can also make juice this way: peel and cut the ginger into small cubes, add a little boiled water and turn everything into a homogeneous mass using any kitchen appliance-chopper; strain the mass (again through cheesecloth). The juice is ready!

For colds and coughs, mix a teaspoon of ginger juice in half a glass of warm water and drink before meals twice a day. Mixed with honey, it will soothe a sore throat with tonsillitis or pharyngitis.

In addition to the already mentioned “usefulness” of this juice, we will add the ability of ginger to cope with viruses, cocci and E. coli; thin the blood with a tendency to form blood clots; reduce blood pressure and cholesterol levels in the blood; stop migraine attacks and reduce the symptoms of dysmenorrhea; significantly reduce nausea caused by motion sickness or early toxicosis of pregnancy. A study by the Institute of Medical Sciences (New Delhi, India) found that ginger root (in the form of adding its juice to water or other juices) also easily relieves severe nausea after chemotherapy in cancer patients.

Ginger helps to reduce blood sugar levels, and a decrease in sugar levels stimulates appetite. The main role in stimulating the salivary glands and increased salivation is played by the burning ginger alkaloid capsaicin. Ginger root also activates bile secretion, so it is contraindicated for use in cholelithiasis. The hypotensive effect of ginger should be kept in mind by people with low blood pressure, and the ban on its use in case of poor blood clotting is associated with the anticoagulant properties of ginger root.

Adults can take no more than 4 ml of ginger juice orally per day, children aged 6-10 years – 2 ml per day; expectant mothers – 1 ml. Ginger juice is contraindicated for children under two years of age.

And one more thing. If you want to have healthy shiny hair, try ginger juice rich in phenolic compounds and fatty acids – Ginger for Hair.

How to make pickled ginger?

Pickled ginger is often served as an appetizer or as a garnish for meat and fish, while pink pickled ginger – gari or shin-shoga – is one of the condiments for Japanese sushi.

The Japanese prepare gari only from young ginger rhizomes, which have thin skin and pink pigment on the tips of the shoots. It is due to this pigment that the prepared ginger turns light pink.

How to make pickled ginger (recipe from Asian Pickles: Japan):

• Peel 450 g of ginger root with a small sharp vegetable knife;
• using a vegetable peeler or a very sharp knife, cut the ginger into very thin, almost transparent slices;
• Place the chopped ginger in a colander and blanch in boiling water for 30-45 seconds;
• Place the blanched ginger in a colander to drain the water completely;
• prepare the marinade: in an enamel pan, mix 0.5 l of rice vinegar (you can use the same amount of apple cider vinegar), 150 g of granulated sugar and a tablespoon of coarse salt, boil the mixture over medium heat (until the sugar grains completely disappear);
• fill sterilized jars with chopped ginger, pour hot marinade over them and close with lids;
• cool (naturally) and remove from the refrigerator.

How to prepare ginger for sushi if our supermarkets only sell mature roots? If you want the pickled ginger to be pink, add 1-2 dessert spoons of juice squeezed from grated raw beetroot to the marinade. And everything else is already described in the recipe.

How to make candied ginger?

Now here are step-by-step instructions for those who don’t yet know how to make candied ginger.

1. Take 300 g of fresh ginger root, peel it and cut into 3 mm thick slices.
2. Place the sliced ginger in a saucepan and add cold water to cover the slices.
3. Cover the pan and simmer over medium heat for about 25 minutes, until the ginger is soft enough but not overcooked.
4. Drain the cooked ginger through a colander and return it to the pan.
5. Add 600 g of granulated sugar, 0.5 liters of water and a pinch of salt to the pan.
6. Bring the contents of the pan to a boil over medium heat and cook, stirring, for 3-5 minutes (chefs call this process candiing).
7. After this, the ginger slices are removed from the syrup with a slotted spoon and placed on a flat plate or tray to cool slightly.
8. Each slice should be rolled in granulated sugar or (this is faster) sprinkle the entire candied ginger with sugar and carefully mix with a spatula from the bottom up.
9. The finished candied fruits are laid out on a wire rack to dry for 7-8 hours.
10. Place the candied fruits in an airtight container. The shelf life is 12-14 days.

You can extend the shelf life of candied ginger by 6 months (or even longer) if, after drying and placing in a container, you pour the cooled syrup in which they were cooked over them.

How to cook meat with ginger?

We want to share a recipe for a simple Japanese dish called shogayaki – fried meat with ginger. So, how to cook meat with ginger according to this recipe.

The raw pork loin is cut very, very thinly (so that the slices are translucent). They are seasoned with salt and ground black pepper and fried on both sides until golden brown - in a non-stick frying pan with the addition of two tablespoons of vegetable oil.

Of course, you can use other types of meat instead of pork, but in Japan, shogoyaki is made exclusively from pork.

Ginger sauce for meat is prepared as follows: soy sauce (two tablespoons) is mixed in a bowl with sake (two tablespoons), mirin (two tablespoons), grated ginger root (one teaspoon), grated onion (a quarter of a medium onion) and crushed garlic clove. Salt and pepper – to taste.

Rice vodka sake and sweet rice wine mirin can be successfully replaced with dry white wine (4 tablespoons of wine plus a teaspoon of granulated sugar).

The fried meat is placed on a plate, poured with sauce and sprinkled with finely chopped green onions. Shagoyaki is ready!

How to cook chicken with ginger?

Chicken with ginger and green onions is very popular in China, while in the Middle East they prefer to cook chicken with ginger, honey and nuts.

And how to cook chicken with ginger, which will go well with any side dish (mashed potatoes, boiled rice, pasta)? And at the same time, the only "exotic" thing you will need is ginger, and the whole process will take you a maximum of half an hour...

Take 400-500 g of chicken fillet, wash, drain and cut into small long pieces (across the grain). Finely chop a medium onion, grate a small carrot and sauté the onion and carrot in a deep frying pan in vegetable oil for about 4 minutes. Then add the chicken meat to the pan, salt, pepper, add half a teaspoon of ground coriander and a teaspoon of finely chopped ginger. Stir and cover with a lid.

After 5 minutes, add a little hot water to the pan (so that the chicken pieces are half in liquid) and cover with a lid again.

Peel and core two medium apples and cut into 1-1.5 cm pieces. Put the apples in a frying pan, mix everything. Cook under a lid on low heat for about 15 minutes.

How to prepare ginger for weight loss?

For those who want to regain a slim figure, it is useful to know how to prepare ginger for weight loss.

As Australian biochemists have found out, ginger helps to maintain blood sugar levels within physiological norms. This is important because its decrease leads to a feeling of hunger, i.e. increases appetite.

In addition, the biologically active substances in ginger root help the body better absorb nutrients from smaller amounts of food.

Another study conducted in 2012 at the Institute of Human Nutrition (Columbia University, USA) came to slightly different conclusions. According to data published in Metabolism Journal, this study showed that ginger has no effect on glucose, insulin, lipids, or inflammation markers. However, ginger drinks increase thermogenesis (calorie burning) and reduce hunger.

So the first recipe for weight loss is green tea with ginger. Green tea is used to suppress appetite due to the content of epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). And ginger improves digestion and stimulates metabolism.

How to make kefir with ginger: make juice from fresh ginger root (see above) and add it to kefir - half a teaspoon of juice per glass of low-fat kefir. Or add ground ginger to kefir (on the tip of a knife). It is recommended to drink this kefir half an hour before meals.

The question of how to make green coffee with ginger also requires clarification. Unroasted green coffee beans contain more chlorogenic acid, which is believed to be beneficial for cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and obesity.

The buzz around green coffee began in April 2012 after the release of the American TV show Dr. Oz, dedicated to green coffee and the problems of fighting excess weight (which affects two thirds of the US population). Sales of this product (which was not in demand among retail buyers) immediately jumped several times. The host Mehmet Oz himself looked surprised and called the effect of his TV show "the beginning of a marketing apocalypse"...

Both fellow doctors and journalists criticize Dr. Oz, as no studies have been conducted on the effectiveness of green coffee for burning fat, except for 100 women who agreed to drink this coffee for two weeks. Doctors consider the results of such an experiment unconvincing, especially since no one has provided statistical analysis.

We tried to tell you in detail how to cook ginger. We hope that this information will be useful for you.