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Cooking food in a healthy way only requires a little extra effort. While it’s often easy to overlook the importance of eating healthy, the payoff - improved general health - is well worth it. Here are some simple ways to prepare healthy meals for your loved ones, using moist- and dry-heat cooking methods.
#1 - BOILING
This method doesn’t need any oil and makes nutritious and delicious soups and stews. Continuous boiling of meat allows any fat and impurities to rise to the top of the soup, where they can be easily removed. Boiling also tenderises the meat, turning it into a succulent delicacy.
#2 - ROASTINGThis method needs only a little oil and helps ensure that food is crisp and fragrant, while also retaining its flavour. As the meat is suspended on a rack, the high heat helps to ensure that excess fat is drained away. When vegetables like potatoes, onions and garlic are roasted, they become soft and flavourful.
#3 - STEAMINGNone of the flavour is lost when food is steamed. This is also an extremely healthy method of cooking as there’s no need to use any oil. Food can be placed on a steaming tray in a wok, or you could consider a steam oven which boils water from an internal reservoir to create steam. Steam ovens are fairly easy to keep clean as well, since food seldom solidifies within the oven chamber.
#4 - MICROWAVINGThese ovens cook food fast and don’t need any oil. Short cooking times also mean that ingredients retain much of their nutrients. These versatile devices can cook a variety of dishes and even bake cakes.
#5 - STIR-FRYING
When food is stir-fried in a wok, very little oil is needed. The shape of the wok conducts heat very efficiently through the pan, allowing ingredients to be cooked rapidly. This in turn means that ingredients retain much of their nutrients.
#6 - BROILING
This method leaves food exposed to direct heat, helping ensure that ingredients are crispy on the outside, but juicy and flavourful on the inside. Ingredients can either be wrapped in aluminium foil or brushed lightly with oil. This method works very well with most types of food, from meat to seafood and even fruits.
#7 - PRESSURE COOKING
This cooker is basically a pot equipped with an airtight lid that locks into place. The food is cooked rapidly as the sealed pot creates steam under pressure and raises the cooking temperature rapidly. It can rapidly cook vegetables and tenderise meat.
#8 - GRILLING
This method calls for little oil and involves heating the food from below. The food is usually placed on a grid and turned once during cooking. As the food has to be placed very near to the source of heat, it tends to cook very fast on the outside.
