Okay so we all know how unhealthy desi food can be if we stick to our mother’s recipes full of ghee and oil.
Im curious to know what our fellow cooks here to do make their food healthy?
Are there things you guys skip on? Or substitute?
What are your ways of feeding your family a healthy and balanced meal?
Re: How do you make your food healthy?
What? No one is concerned with feeding their families artery clogging food???
Re: How do you make your food healthy?
when i cooked at the dorm, i used close to no oil and lots of masala powder, garlic and load up on taste enhancers so i don't even miss the oiliness
i make baked fish with lots of masala and no oil, it comes out delicious for me b/c the tastes of the spices and the fish stand out more than the fat/oil/grease which for me is a lot more tasty
it's much easier to make food healthy with a really good quality nonstick pan so the onion doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan and burn.
Re: How do you make your food healthy?
**Spiced fish
**Yield: 4 servings
4 tiny filets of tilapia
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
pepper
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon red chili powder
3 1/2 tablespoons coriander
5 pods of crushed garlic
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
2 teaspoons salt
Make the marinade: In a bowl, combine the fish with lemon juice, cumin, coriander, cloves, red chile powder, chutney, garlic paste, turmeric, salt. Mix with your (clean) hands until all ingredients are combined. Allow fish to marinate for at least 10 minutes, or up to 2 hours.
bake
you can add 1 tsp of oil but i did not b/c it would add a substantial amount of calories
boiled corn as a side dish
Nutritional Info (Per serving)tilapia: Calories: 110, Saturated Fat: 0g, Sodium: 43mg, Total Fat: 2g, Carbs: 0g, Cholesterol: 0mg, Protein: 20g
boiled corn:138 calories, 1.8 g fat
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Re: How do you make your food healthy?
That makes sense…you dont use as much oil as you would have otherwise.
By the way…the recipe…:k:
Looks awesome!
Re: How do you make your food healthy?
use less and better oil, use better cuts of meat, choices of meat.
have roti made from whole grain flour.
limit sugar by better choices for desserts
try baking things instead of always frying, e.g. samosas
cut down on how much white rice is eaten.
desi cuisine is very diverse, try to balance what is eaten.
That being said there are things that are meant to be enjoyed the way they are, you just use them as treats and not staples..mostly its deserts like gulab jamun and shahi tukray, and then entrees like paya.
Re: How do you make your food healthy?
desi cuisine is very diverse, try to balance what is eaten.
Thats right! For me following are the healthy desi dishes:
Lauki ka raita.
Stew with lean meat.
Lentils cooked with spinach.
Mix vegetables - matar, aalo, gajar etc.
Mild curries.
Kitchries.
Re: How do you make your food healthy?
Okay so we all know how unhealthy desi food can be if we stick to our mother's recipes full of ghee and oil.
Im curious to know what our fellow cooks here to do make their food healthy?
Are there things you guys skip on? Or substitute?
What are your ways of feeding your family a healthy and balanced meal?
Whenever I am the one who's cooking, I make sure I use oil instead of ghee or butter and try to use just as much as needed. I don't believe that floating oil on top of a saalan makes it any more flavorful.
Urm, also, I try to go the wholegrain way always. If making any desi dessert that involves dairy products, I skip on ingredients like khoya or cream. Rather, I'd just cook whole milk on low flame so that it gets reduced and thick and, therefore, have the same creamy texture that everyone likes.
And, I try to incorporate a lot vegetable, grains, dried beans, and fruit in the diet. If craving meat, I'd rather have fish or chicken than red meat.
Re: How do you make your food healthy?
Also, I don't like using canned products because 1) they just don't taste fresh to me and 2) we could all do without the stabilizers and preservatives that are added in those products, so yeah!
Re: How do you make your food healthy?
air popped popcorn instead of the ones in the packets with bucket loads of butter in them. the air popped popcorn i can flavor with any seasoning and maybe a tiny bit of parmasan cheese but definitely not much to zilch amounts of butter.
maybe one of those bite sized pieces of chocolate once in a while when i have a craving for it.
Re: How do you make your food healthy?
-use less oil
- use moderate salt and no sprinkling of extra salt on prepared food it's highly unhealthy. Best is not keep salt on your dinning table.
- use less sugary products. My mom use honey in her tea instead of sugar. My dad loves having meetha after his meals so he eats gurr.
-Have red meat once a week. White meat is fine and healthy.
- use plain roti instead of tandoor roti and nans which has baking soda in it.-
- Replace your soft drinks like coke and pepsi with juices. Although most of the packed juices have sugar added in it yet they are better than soft drinks.
Re: How do you make your food healthy?
I cook occasionally and i am more concerned with the final look and taste then the healthfulness. Mom on the other hand uses olive oil, very little of it, doesnt cook vegetables too much, doesnt use canned food etc.
Re: How do you make your food healthy?
I bake my spring rolls, french fries, rarely make parathas and that too with olive oil. Also try to make Chinese style dishes that contain almost no oil. And instead of frying fish or meat I cook it in steam or bake it.
