method of cooking, taken from macrobiotic cooking, allows the vegetables are not subject to long boils, or high temperatures; but they are cooked at low temperature, by infiltration of vapors and water thanks to fall off. Simply contact a minimum fire the first layer of vegetables, while the rest is cooked with the same steam at lower temperature.

Thus, we retain many of the vitamins and those that are water soluble and could move to the cooking liquid, the recovered when ingesting the juice come off.

On the other hand, this method vegetables retain their texture, color and are not bland as often happens when we boil.

Olive oil or ghee we use, serves to enhance the flavor of vegetables and prevent them from sticking to the pan.

Finally, it is clear that it is very important not to be uncovering the pan all the time because that way the heat and steam that was formed is lost.

Let us trust !, vegetables will be cooked well and our eagerness to see what is happening, can make the vegetables from sticking to the bottom of the pan and finish burning.

In today’s post, we will see a basic recipe for a nituke and in future installments, I will show how to use the nituke to make a soup or a pie filling.

Basic procedure:

1. Brush the bottom of a pan or pot with a little olive oil or ghee.

2. Place the vegetables in order of hardness and watery. Also according to the hardness thereof, cut in different sizes, for even cooking. If the recipe calls for some kind of onions, pepper and leek, place them first.

3. Cook with low heat and covered pot. If necessary, use a heat diffuser. The use of the diffuser depends on the pot used. In traditional stainless steel, vegetables burn easily therefore necessary. This is avoided with heavy-bottomed or triple background, as well diffuse heat.

4. The minimum cooking time is about 20-25 min. This varies based on the amount of vegetables and cuts made. It not required to mix or stir constantly.