5 extremely healthy ways to cook your food

Here are five methods of cooking which are extremely healthy.

Home-made food is always considered to be the healthiest food. The essence of healthy cooking is selecting a nutrient-dense, low-fat food without giving up the flavour. Any healthy cooking method should not involve excessive use of salt or fat. Selecting a healthy and right method of cooking is as important as selecting the right ingredient. Healthy cooking is inexpensive as well as easy and does not require any special equipment for it. Let's have a look at five easy ways of cooking in a healthy way.

Steaming

As the name explains, steaming is a cooking method in which the food is exposed to steam for cooking. Steam is the vapour which is produced by boiling water. The food does not come in contact with the boiling water but only with the steam. This is one of the healthiest method of cooking as the fat used is minimal and the nutrients, colour of the food and flavour are sealed.

Foods suitable for this method include fish, chicken and vegetables.

Stir-frying

Another easy method which involves cooking the food at high temperatures for a short time. In this method, the ingredients are cut into small pieces so that each piece is cooked thoroughly, perfectly and quickly. This cooking method may require a little more attention as one has to keeping stirring and tossing the ingredients to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pan. This method too requires less oil, as oil is only sprinkled on the top while cooking.

Foods suitable for this method are vegetables such as capsicum, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, paneer, tofu and mushroom.

Pressure cooking

This is the most common method which involves cooking the food in a pressure cooker with little water. This is also the quickest method of cooking as it provides steam which is produced inside the cooker and all the nutrients are retained. The biggest benefit is it saves time and energy to prepare meals as foods cook up 60% faster.

Foods suitable for this method are rice, dals, pulses, vegetables like potatoes, peas, beetroot, and meat.

Grilling

In this method, the food is directly exposed to heat often at higher temperatures. The equipment used for this method of cooking is a grill or grill pan. High temperatures keep the food tender thus, no extra oil or fat is required. This reduces the calorie intake and makes it a very healthy cooking method. Also, as the food is exposed to high temperature, it gets cooked faster thus retaining more nutrients and this gives it a delicious taste too.

Foods suitable for this method include chicken, fish, paneer, tofu, vegetables like capsicum, onions and zucchini.

Poaching

In this method, the ingredient is cooked with small amounts of water just before it reaches the boiling point. It is mostly used for delicate foods and does not require addition of fat at all. Egg omelette can be made by this method without any addition of oil/butter (usually by other methods it does require oil/butter).

Foods suitable for this method are eggs, fish, fruits like apple and pear.

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• 10 unhealthy and fattening Indian snacks
• A bachelor's guide to eating healthy
• 5 common cooking mistakes that can make your meals unhealthy!
• Healthy North Indian food choices

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