Lean gravies are especially delicious. With their help, you can change the taste of potatoes and pasta at least every day. Even in the old days in Russia, boiled vegetables were served as a separate dish and they were called sauces. It would seem that the sauces are borrowed from Western European cuisine, they are not typical for Russian cuisine, but the chronicles speak of something else. The Russians had vzvars - thick, sour gravies prepared on a vegetable basis, and sauces, which were called flour makers and were divided into light and dark.
The basis of such sauces are vegetable and mushroom decoctions, sautéed vegetables, flour and vegetable oil. The amount and composition of the ingredients depends on your taste and preference. The process of making thick sauces is most often the following: a decoction is prepared from fresh or dried mushrooms, as well as potatoes, onions, carrots or cabbage. At the same time, vegetables are fried in a frying pan in vegetable oil with the addition of ketchup (optional). A flour dressing of 2-3 tbsp is prepared separately. l. flour and 1 tbsp. l of vegetable oil. When the flour dressing cools slightly, it is diluted with mushroom / vegetable broth. Then everything is combined together, salt, spices to taste are added, brought to a boil and cooked for 5-10 minutes. with constant stirring.
You can make lean sauces without flour. Then, when sautéing vegetables, add more ingredients: it can be bell peppers, and fresh tomatoes, and canned beans, and canned mushrooms. If you want to make a hot sauce, you can add 1 small hot pepper.
You can surprise your pets by making a sweet and sour onion sauce. Fry a spoonful of toasted flour with 2-3 tbsp. l. vegetable oil, dilute with 2 cups of water, in which 3 large, finely chopped onions were cooked. Add vinegar, salt, burnt sugar, boil. Rub through a sieve, add herbs. Serve with boiled potatoes or pasta.
Please note: homemade sauces can be stored in the refrigerator in sealed jars for up to 1 week.
