How to cook ginger?

Want to know how to properly cook ginger? Then read on, because the root, more precisely, the rhizome of the subtropical plant Zingiber officinale not only helps with many diseases, but has long been used as a spice that can transform any dish and turn it into a piece of culinary art. No wonder in the kitchens of Asian people, the root of ginger is considered to be spice # 1, and gastronomic connoisseurs call its fragrance irresistible.

Also we will tell you what you can cook from ginger and, most importantly, how to do it by all the rules.

What can I cook from ginger?

Keep in mind that the taste of ginger (as well as many spicy-flavored plants) becomes less expressive with prolonged heat treatment - due to the evaporation of essential oils. Therefore, to get a more saturated taste and aroma, ginger is prepared quickly or added to the dish at the final cooking stage.

The root of ginger harmoniously combines with other spices: in unsweetened dishes - with coriander, cumin, garlic, turmeric and mustard seeds, and in sweet - with cinnamon and cloves. Try using it in baking and other desserts, fruit salads and dishes from vegetables, meat, poultry and fish, as well as in marinades and pickles.

So, what can be prepared from ginger, except for therapeutic aromatic tea and traditional for European Christmas gingerbread? By the way, in Europe ginger and ginger bread (which never molded due to the bactericidal properties of this spice) in the XI century brought back from the Middle East crusaders. Gingerbread first started baking in the French monasteries in the Loire Valley (Canton of Pithivier), and this batch was sold ... In pharmacies. And a little later - in the era of the Middle Ages - in Germany began to make famous Christmas gingerbread houses (lebkuchen houses) from the dough with the addition of ginger.

Now we most often drink tea with the root of ginger for colds and digestive problems. How to make tea with ginger, read here. Details on how to prepare ginger with lemon, you can learn from our publication Ginger with lemon.

A comprehensive description of how to make ginger with lemon and honey, as well as how to make ginger with honey, is given here - The root of ginger in cooking.

We answer the question of coffee makers how to make coffee with ginger. For this, you need: natural ground coffee (1 teaspoon per 150-160 ml cup), water (180 ml for one cup) and a thin slice of fresh ginger root (dry ground ginger should not be used, since the drink will be cloudy and not so fragrant). In turku or dzhevos coffee is poured, it is poured with boiling water, mixed and brought to a boil on low heat; at the time of removal from the fire put ginger. In a cup of coffee should be poured after 1-1,5 minutes (when the thickening will settle). Coffee with ginger combines the qualities of both products: invigorates and increases the endurance of the body, especially in the cold season.

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

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

And now let's recall how to make a tincture of ginger. A bottle of 0.5 liters of ordinary vodka will require approximately 300 g of peeled ginger rhizome, which needs to be cut as small as possible (grinding on the grater for this drug is not suitable). Connect the vodka with chopped ginger, tightly screw the lid of the bottle and send it to a secluded place - into the dark (not in the fridge). Periodically, it is recommended to shake the contents of the bottle. We guarantee: after 20 days, the healing tincture of ginger will be ready for use. And use it almost in the same cases as the juice of ginger (see below).

How to make juice from ginger?

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

How to make juice from ginger? Very simple: the root must be peeled and grated on a fine grater, squeeze the resulting mass (through a strainer or double gauze) and pour into a tightly closed glassware. Keep in the refrigerator (the shelf life of the received portion of juice - up to five days).

You can make juice and in this way: clean and cut the ginger into small cubes, add a little boiled water and turn everything into a homogeneous mass with the help of any kitchen-shredder; mass strain (again through gauze). The juice is ready!

With a cold and cough, you need to stir a teaspoon of ginger juice in half a glass of warm water and drink before eating twice a day. Mixed with honey, it will soothe the sore throat with tonsillitis or pharyngitis.

In addition to the already mentioned "utility" of this juice, we add the ability of ginger to cope with viruses, cocci and E. Coli; dilute blood with a tendency to form blood clots; reduce blood pressure and cholesterol in the blood; to stop migraine attacks and reduce the symptoms of dysmenorrhea; significantly reduce the nausea caused by motion sickness or early toxicosis of pregnancy. A study by the Institute of Medical Sciences (New Delhi, India) revealed that the root of ginger (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, and lowering the level of sugar awakens the appetite. In the stimulation of the salivary glands and increased salivation, the main role is played by the burning alkaloid of ginger capsaicin. Also, the root of ginger activates the secretion of bile, so it is contraindicated to use in cholelithiasis. The hypotensive effect of ginger should be borne in mind by people with low blood pressure, and the ban on its use with poor blood clotting is associated with anticoagulant properties of the ginger root.

Adults ginger juice can be taken inside no more than 4 ml per day, children 6-10 years - 2 ml per day; future mothers - 1 ml. For children under two years of juice, ginger is contraindicated.

And further. If you want to have healthy shiny hair, try rich in phenolic compounds and fatty acids ginger juice - Ginger for hair.

How to cook marinated ginger?

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

The Japanese cook only from the young rhizome of ginger, which has a thin peel and a pink pigment on the tips of the shoots. It is thanks to this pigment that the cooked ginger becomes light pink.

How to cook marinated ginger (recipe from Asian Pickles: Japan):

• 450 g of ginger root to peel from the skin with a sharp little knife for vegetables;
• with the help of vegetable-cleaning or a very sharp knife cut the ginger into the most thin, almost transparent slices;
• Sliced ginger folded in a colander and brewed in boiling water for 30-45 seconds;
• colander with blanched ginger to put for complete drainage of water;
• Prepare marinade: in an enamel saucepan mix 0.5 liters of rice vinegar (you can use the same amount of apple cider vinegar), 150 g of granulated sugar and a tablespoon of large salt, boil the mixture over medium heat (until the sugar grains disappear completely);
• fill sterilized jars with sliced ginger, cover with hot marinade and cover with lids;
• cool (natural cooling) and remove the refrigerator.

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

How to cook ginger candies?

Now a step-by-step instruction for those who do not yet know how to make ginger candies.

1. Take 300 g of fresh ginger root, peel it from the skin and cut into slices 3 mm thick.
2. Put sliced ginger in a saucepan and pour cold water over it to cover the slices.
3. Cover the pan with a lid and cook over medium heat for about 25 minutes to ginger soft enough, but not boiled.
4. Drain the cooked ginger through a colander and again put in a saucepan.
5. Add 600 g of granulated sugar, 0.5 liters of water and a pinch of salt to the pan.
6. On medium heat, bring the contents of the pan to a boil and cook, stirring, for 3-5 minutes (this process is called culinary culinary).
7. After that, slices of ginger with a sieve are removed from the syrup and transferred to a flat dish or tray - so that they cool slightly.
8. Each slice needs to roll in the sugar or (so quickly) sprinkle all the candied ginger sugar and gently shovel from the bottom up.
9. Ready candied fruits are laid out on a grate for drying - for 7-8 hours.
10. Fold the candied fruit in a sealed container. Shelf life - 12-14 days.

It is possible to extend the shelf life of candied fruits from ginger for 6 months (and even longer) if after drying and putting in a container pour them with cooled syrup, in which they were cooked.

How to cook meat with ginger?

We want to share a recipe for a simple Japanese shogayaki (shogayaki) - roasted meat with ginger. So, how to cook meat with ginger for this recipe.

The raw pork loin is cut very, very thinly (so that the slices are visible). Throw them with salt and black pepper and fry on both sides until golden brown - in a pan with non-stick coating with the addition of two tablespoons of vegetable oil.

Of course, you can use other types of meat, but not pork, but in Japan, the shogoiaki is prepared solely 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 (the fourth part of the middle bulb) and chopped clove of garlic. Salt and pepper - to taste.

Rice vodka sake and sweet rice wine Mirin successfully replaces - dry white wine (4 tablespoons of wine plus a teaspoon of granulated sugar).

Fried meat is laid out on a dish, 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, in the Middle East they prefer to cook chicken with ginger, honey and nuts.

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

We take 400-500 g of chicken fillet, mine, let it drain off and cut into small long pieces (across the fibers). Middle onion finely chop, rub a small grated carrot and pass the onion and carrots in a deep frying pan in vegetable oil for about 4 minutes. Then we send chicken meat, salt, pepper, add half a teaspoon of ground coriander and a teaspoon of finely chopped ginger. Mix and cover with a lid.

After 5 minutes, pour a little hot water into the pan (that chicken pieces were half in the liquid) and cover again with a lid.

We peel two medium-sized apples from the peel and cores and cut into pieces in 1-1.5 cm. We put the apples in a frying pan, everything mixes. We cook under the lid on low heat for about 15 minutes.

How to cook ginger for weight loss?

For those who are thirsting for a slender figure, it is useful to know how to cook ginger for weight loss.

As found out by Australian biochemists, ginger contributes to maintaining the sugar content in the blood within the physiological norm. This is important, because its reduction leads to a feeling of hunger, that is, it increases appetite.

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

Another study conducted in 2012 at the Institute of Human Nutrition (Columbia University, USA) led to somewhat different conclusions. According to data published in the Metabolism Journal, this study showed that ginger does not have any effect on the level of glucose, insulin, lipids or markers of inflammation. Nevertheless, drinks with ginger enhance thermogenesis (burning calories) and reduce the feeling of 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). A ginger improves digestion and stimulates metabolism.

How to prepare yogurt with ginger: prepare juice from fresh ginger root (see above) and add it to kefir - half a teaspoon of juice for a glass of low-fat kefir. Or pour in kefir ground ginger (at the tip of the 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. In unroasted green coffee beans, there is more chlorogenic acid, which is believed to be useful in cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and obesity.

The buzz about green coffee began in April 2012 after the release of the American television show Dr. Oz (Dr. Oz), dedicated to green coffee and the problems of combating obesity (which affects two-thirds of the US population). Sales of this product (which the retail buyer did not demand) immediately jumped several times. Sam Leader Mehmet Oz made an astonished look and called the effect of his TV show "the beginning of the marketing apocalypse" ...

Both colleagues-doctors, and journalists criticize Dr. Oz, so the study of the effectiveness of green coffee for fat burning was not carried out, except for 100 ladies who agreed to drink this coffee for two weeks. The results of such an experiment doctors are unconvincing, especially since no one provided statistical analysis.

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