Beetroot, the root vegetable is dark purple in colour. The leaf with stem as well as the root are fit to eat. Can be eaten raw, parboiled or cooked. Goes in salads, sandwich, Soup, Juice, Cutlet / Tikki, Dry side dish, Gravy (sambar), Variety Rice.
Beetroot is rich in anti-oxidants, Iron, Sodium, Potassium, Vitamin B, Calcium etc. Very good to improve anaemic conditions. Helps reduce high BP when consumed with less salt. The iron content in beetroot will not create constipation.
Beetroot takes more time to digest compared to normal vegetable so those who have poor digestion, don't take it at night times. You can drink a soup, juice made of beetroot to get its health benefits.
To suit children and old people, I advise, after cleaning and peeling, pressure cook the whole beetroot till 4 to 5 whistles. Then grate or chop and use. This way it will be easy for them to digest.
How to Select :- Should be blemish free, smooth skin, good shape. The tip of the beetroot (when the stem is cut) will show you how much fresh the beetroot is.
How to store : If you buy it as a whole plant, then cut leaving a stem of 5" above the root and store for 4 to 5 days in refrigerator or at room temperature. With leaves, if you wrap in a cloth cover can be stored fresh for two days in the refrigerator.
Now let us get on making the wonderful health soup
Ingridients :- (serves 2)
- Beetroot - 1 big
- Shallots - 5 nos (small onions/baby onions) - optional
- Salt to taste
- Water - 2 and half cups
Procedure :
- Wash the beetroot and peel the skin.
- Dice it into cubes, pour two & half cups of water, boil it. [Pressure cook it (whole beetroot - don't cut) till 4 to 5 whistles if preparing for young children and old people. ]
- Allow it to cool. in the mean time, clean the shallot (small onion) chop.
- In a small pan, add few drops of oil (only few drops - just enough to lightly grease the onions) and fry till they become transparent. [I use coconut oil as we prefer that flavour]
- Now take out the beetroot cubes (preserve the water), in a blender or mixer grind the fried onions and boiled beetroot cubes together to a smooth paste.
- Transfer the ground contents to a vessel. Add the preserved water (in which beetroot is boiled) and salt to taste.
- If you want to dilute it further, you can adjust the consistency by adding more water little by little.
- Bring to boil, remove from fire.
- Healthy, Yummy beetroot soup is ready.
Note :
Adding onion will give a nice flavour to the soup. If you don't like onions avoid it and go ahead & enjoy your soup. Small onions have medicinal values hence I prefer to use small onion in the recipe.