Alternatives to the nutritious tuber
More and more often the potato on the table is exchanged for pasta, rice, wraps, quinoa or couscous, but there are also other options. Did you know that there are plenty of tasty tubers, carrots and cabbages that are a perfect alternative to the potato? And also very healthy.
1. Sweet potato
The sweet potato, also called sweet potato, is a vegetable, unlike the regular potato. It is not seen as a vegetable in the Netherlands. Yet we often prepare the sweet potato in the same way. You can cook it, bake it or prepare it as chips in the oven. The sweet potato is also very suitable as a puree or in a soup.
The orange sweet potato is probably the best known variety, on the outside it is usually brown, red or pink in color. However, the inside can also be yellow or white and purple sweet potatoes are also for sale. The taste is sweet and spicy.
Quite a few health benefits are attributed to the sweet potato. The glycemic index of the sweet potato is slightly lower than that of the regular potato. The orange sweet potato is also rich in beta-carotene and you will find a lot of fiber and vitamin C in the sweet potato. If you are sensitive to it, the sweet potato can make you windy.
2. Cauliflower
Potato avoiders mainly use the cauliflower as a puree. Cook for about ten minutes, puree and then season with, for example, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Cauliflower puree is easy to digest and contains few calories. In addition, cauliflower is rich in vitamin C.
Due to its mild, accessible taste, cauliflower is one of the most popular vegetables in the Netherlands. It is grown in the Netherlands, but also in France and Italy. The most famous is the white cauliflower, but there are also green, purple and orange ones.
3. Pumpkin
Most people mainly use the pumpkin as a decoration, but the fact that the pumpkin is also very tasty and healthy is slowly starting to sink in. You can also easily make puree from pumpkin, and it is also very suitable as a base for a stew or vegetable dish.
The fruit has a low energy value (few calories), but it contains a lot of fiber and is rich in calcium, iron, vitamins C and E. The orange pumpkin in particular is also full of beta-carotene.
4. Jerusalem artichoke
It is also called topinambour or Jerusalem artichoke: Jerusalem artichoke. They are capricious root nodules, sometimes light brown or violet and sometimes pink or white in color. The aroma reminds a bit of artichoke: somewhat sweet and nutty.
You can eat the Jerusalem artichoke raw and prepared. Fresh raw Jerusalem artichoke is brittle and crispy. Prepared, it forms the perfect basis for soup and stew, but the Jerusalem artichoke is also very suitable for stir-frying, deep-frying or steaming. The tuber is especially rich in minerals such as calcium, potassium, magnesium, iron and sodium. The same applies to the Jerusalem artichoke as to the sweet potato: it can make you windy.
5. Parsnip
For most people, the parsnip is a forgotten vegetable, but it used to be just as popular as the winter carrot. The root is long, ivory-colored and sometimes weighs up to 300 grams. The taste is somewhat like aniseed: intense and sweet. The parsnip contains quite a bit of sugar, but also quite a bit of fiber. You will also find folic acid, potassium, vitamins B2, B12 and C and calcium in this root.
As far as the preparation is concerned, you can go in all directions with parsnips. Eat it raw, stewed or boiled, or as a base for soup or casseroles. Frying into chips is also very good. As a puree, the parsnip is also very tasty in combination with, for example, pumpkin and carrots or potatoes.
6. Celeriac
Another suitable basis for puree, but the celeriac is also delicious au gratin from the oven or processed in a salad. You may occasionally use this firm tuber in pea soup, but there is so much more possible. You can eat both the tuber and the leaves.
The taste is spicy and the tuber is often very cheap. Celeriac contains few calories and carbohydrates, but a lot of fiber. There is also no shortage of minerals such as potassium.
7. Cassava
The cassava is the root of a shrub that grows mainly on the savannah. After the potato, it is the most eaten root vegetable in the world. The root contains a lot of starch and is therefore very nutritious. Cassava naturally contains the toxic hydrocyanic acid. Hence, it is recommended not to eat cassava raw.
The taste is similar to that of the potato, but the structure is firmer. Prawn crackers and chips of cassava are especially known here, but this tuber also has more options. Cassava porridge is eaten a lot, but it also goes well in soup or wok dishes.
8. Kohlrabi
It is often confused with the turnip, but the kohlrabi is – the name says it all – related to the cabbage. The turnip does grow underground. Like other cabbages, it is rich in vitamins, including vitamin C, but the kohlrabi also contains beta-carotene and calcium.
It is a typical winter vegetable and very suitable for cooking or stewing. The yellow fragrant meat then acquires a soft, sweet aromatic taste that goes perfectly with cheese and lamb, for example.
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