Two styles of cooking vegetables for maximum vitamin intake.

Greetings my fellow steemit friends.

We all know the importance of vegetables in our diet but if you using the wrong cooking methods then all that effort can be wasted.

You can spend all your time hunting down farmers markets or spend all your money buying eye wateringly expensive vegetables from whole foods, but if you're using bad cooking techniques then it's all for nothing and the benefits you stood to gain from those otherwise delicious vegetables will be lost.
But fear not I will be going through two of the better ways of retaining the goodness in your veggies and it's surprisingly simple to do.

Nearly all of the fantastic nutrients you'll find in vegetables are in fact water-soluble substances. What this means for us cooks is that the nutrients want to be in water, so if you doing like the Brits do and boil everything to death then you may as well just drink the water and throw out the vegetables as that's where all the goodness will be.
The nutrients will leach out into the water and you'll be left with soulless, lifeless disgusting globs of gross vegetable matter that will taste hideous. It will basically feel like you having dinner at my parents house!

The best cooking methods for retaining most of the water-soluble nutrients (which are vitamin C and the B vitamins in case your were wondering) are steaming and sautéing. Both methods are quick, simple and most importantly; easy to clean up afterwards!
When cooking vegetables like this its better to undercook than overcook so check for tenderness often until you get a feel for the timings. You definitely do not want them to go too long and end up with mush, it's better to go high heat and quick leaving a little bite in the veggies.

Steamed Vegetables

Sauteed Vegetables

Both these methods brings out a different yet delicious flavour of the vegetables and brings them to another level on the plate and the palate! Using either of these two techniques means the vegetables will hold their shape and retain a wonderful vibrant colour and will still be bursting with goodness and flavour by serving time.

So next time you thinking of throwing some veggies into a pan of scorchingly hot water before settling down to the next season of Game of Thrones remember my advice and try either steaming or sautéing your vegetables instead and bask in your friends admiration as they pronounce you a vegetable culinary God!