Blanching veggies

Blanching is a fast and easy way to cook your veggies in a big batch and also a great way to pre cook your vegetables for a stir fry. It will also help eliminate any strong odors the vegetable may have. The perfect example I can think of is broccoli. You will need a big pot, a big bowl with ice water and a second bowl and a colander where you will drain your veggies. You can blench almost any veggies and it only takes a couple of minutes.

To start off, place your pot on a stove on medium to high heat and fill up ¾ of the way with water. Place a medium bowl with ice and fill up half ways. Place a second bowl with a colander on top. This is where you will drain your veggies and eliminate any excess water. Rinse and chop your veggies and make sure they are about the same size so they cook evenly. Once water is boiling, throw a handful of veggies in, stir once or twice (this should take 30sec to 1 minute) and pull veggies out using a big spoon. Transfer the cooked veggies over to the ice water which will stop the cooking. Then place them on top of the colander so they can drain.

TIP Each vegetable has different cooking time so if you are cooking a variety make sure you cook one vegetable type at a time.