How to have a good homemade vegetable broth always ready

The broths are the base of many dishes. They provide flavor and color without thickening too much or monopolizing the entire spectrum of flavors of our preparations.

Sometimes, it is much better to use a broth than just water (Think for example of soups and stews), both for the flavor and for the nutrients that we can add.

The commercial brothsWhether powdered, in tablets or in bricks, they are very useful in the kitchen, especially if we don’t have time to start making a good broth, even if its composition is rather poor: a lot of salt, poor quality fats and a quantity Vegetable story.

Some mixtures of freeze-dried vegetables and herbs (without anything else, neither salt nor oils) they do serve us very well to make broths, as well as dehydrated vegetables for soups (julienne soup for example).

If you like always have homemade broth and not depend on these options, it is best to prepare a good amount when we have a little free time, refrigerate and freeze.

4 vegetable broths ideal to have in the freezer

the broths they freeze perfectlyit is almost all water, so we can freeze them in small or medium containers, to use only what we need.

Defrosting them is very simple: Either you leave them in the fridge the night before or you put the frozen block directly in the saucepan, over low heat, covered, until it completely melts.

How we want it to spread to us, the best thing is to make brothsconcentrates. Thus, instead of freezing 10 liters, we freeze 4 or 5 and add water as needed.

vegetable base broth

Ingredients:

1 onion (yellow or white, whatever you want) 3 carrots 1 medium leek 1 stalk of celery 1 clove of garlic salt (half a teaspoon per liter of water)

Preparation:

Bring 2.5 liters of water to a boil in a pot over high heat. Wash the vegetables and cut them into medium-small pieces. You can cut the garlic clove in half or in 4 parts. Add all the vegetables and salt to the pot, put it on a low heat half covered and let it boil for 1 hour. The broth will be quite concentrated in flavor, so that you can freeze it in ice cube trays or in small-medium containers.If you prefer, you can reduce it even more by putting it on medium heat, uncovered, for an extra 15-20 minutes.Remember that after using it, you will have to add water (more or less as if you used commercial bouillon powder).

With this vegetable broth you can make any dish that requires an extra flavor and sauce. For example vegetable soups, legumes, stews, stews, stews, etc.

autumn vegetable broth

Ingredients:

500 g pumpkin (butternut, for example, not too sweet) 1 yellow onion 1 parsnip 2 turnips 1/2 medium cabbage Salt (half a teaspoon per liter of water)

Preparation:

Bring 2.5 liters of water to a boil in a large pot over high heat. It is important that the pot is large because the cut cabbage will have a lot of volume at first and it may come out if we use a casserole with the right size. Wash the vegetables and cut them into medium cubes. Cut the cabbage into thin strips. Add it all to the pot along with the salt and crush it well so that the cabbage enters. Boil it all together for 1 hour over medium-low heat, half covered. Strain the broth and store it in the fridge or frozen. If you want to reduce it further, you can leave it an extra 15-20 minutes over medium heat, uncovered.

Take advantage of this broth for your soups and stews in the cold seasonespecially those of legumes.

Broth with aromatic herbs

Ingredients:

1 medium leek 2 carrots 6-8 portobello (or white) mushrooms 2 bay leaves 1 sprig of rosemary 1 small bunch of parsley (about 50 g of fresh parsley) a few mint leaves (4 or 5) 1 teaspoon coriander seeds 1 teaspoon salt, approximately

Preparation:

Bring 2.5 liters of water to a boil in a pot.Wash the vegetables and mushrooms and cut them into medium pieces.Add it all to the pot and when it comes to a strong boil, put it over low heat, half covered, for 50 minutes.Save the broth in the fridge or freeze it. To reduce it, first remove the rosemary and mint, because they tend to be very strong, and boil it over medium heat, uncovered, 20-25 more minutes.

This broth will be very good for you soupy rice dishes, pasta sauces and sauces for roasts seitan, tofu, etc.

Dashi with oriental flavors

It is the name that the japanese broths. The most used one usually has bonito flakes, so it is not vegan, but other dashi that do not contain ingredients of animal origin are also made and consumed.

He kombu dashi It’s kombu seaweed broth. It’s super simple: you just have to wash a small piece of kombu seaweed (about 30 grams per liter of water) and boil over medium-low heat, removing the foam that forms on the surface (if any). It will take about 20 minutes to boil. When it comes to a strong boil, remove the kombu pieces and strain the broth before storing it.

He shiitake dashi it is also very easy to prepare and has a stronger flavor than kombu. For this, he uses dried shiitake mushrooms, which have much more flavor than fresh ones. Soak 3 or 4 dried shiitake per liter of water, preferably lukewarm. Let them rest for at least 4 hours (if you can, leave them overnight), drain them well and save the broth.

Of course, you can also make dashi with both the kombu seaweed and the shiitake broth. They are bases excellent for all types of Japanese soups.