MY FAVOURITE COOKING METHODS
Eating healthier does not mean eating hospital kind of food . Unfortunately, there are still many prejudices towards those who choose healthier eating and there is a tendency to label their food choices as boring, tasteless and bland. But the truth is that healthy cooking means doing it in a simple way, but also in a modern way, combining for instance elements of our culinary tradition with some foreign influences, using healthier and faster cooking techniques.
Here are a few that I like to use:
WOK METHOD
I love cooking with a wok pan, as very little fat (olive oil or seed oil) is used in the preparation.
The wok is a deep pan with a flared edge, typical of Chinese and generally oriental cuisines. I assure you that it is the most versatile pan imaginable because it can be used for sautéing, browning, frying, even steaming. In my wok pan I particulary love making my stir-fries: complete and nutritious dishes that combine different vegetables with shrimp, chicken, meat or vegetable alternatives.
STEAMING METHOD
I also like to cook by steaming food. It is still a recent method here in Italy, but it has a long tradition and a thousand-year history coming from the Far East. Don't think of the steaming technique as something that gives you some poor white meal like the classic steamed sole. If you use the right tools like bamboo baskets or a pressure cooker, the food will preserve its bright colours, crunchiness and its vitamins and nutrients.
With steaming technique, the best part are the seasonings: soy sauces, mustard, flavoured oils, fresh herbs, various seeds. This type of cooking also has the advantage, in addition to be quick, of not requiring the addition of fat.
One of my favourite dishes to make with the steam technique are Chinese dumplings stuffed with vegetables, which remain crispy inside their soft dough, and my veggies garnishes.
GRILL METHOD
Grilling is easy, quick and healthy because it also avoids adding fat and seasonings. However, it is necessary to develop a certain dexterity with it, because it is not an easy method.
It is essential to understand the timing and temperature, because if you grill something for too long, the food can burn and become harmful for your health. Also, it is better not to grease the grill itself but the food, and only add the ingredients when the grill is hot enough: this is essential to retain the juices inside the meat or fish (also do not pierce them with knives or forks as this would cause the liquids to escape).
AIR FRYER METHOD
The air fryer is an alternative to the oven, now well known to the 'general public' mainly through advertising, but it has become fairly well established in recent years in our country. Beware of the name (pure marketing strategy) the air fryer does NOT fry in the classic way, but it simulates frying without using oil (or using very little) and does so thanks to the speed of the air circulating inside the cooking basket. This appliance does not just fry, but is capable of cooking practically anything that can be done with a traditional oven: from toasted bread to main courses of meat and fish, from side dishes of all kinds to vegetables au gratin or stuffed, as well as savoury pies, cakes and much more.
The process is quite healthy, because the fat contained in the food, or the little oil that is used, never reaches extreme levels. I personally use the Philips air fryer, and I love it. It is suitable for the whole family, and it’s perfect for crispy and tender food as well as cakes.
If you are not used to these cooking styles then give it a try and let me know how you get on!
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