We’re talking about the best of both worlds – capturing the irresistible flavors while locking in the nutrients. A recent trend has reflected that 7 out of 10 Malaysians want to eat healthier, with 44% willing to pay more to achieve this.
As a chef or the boss man in the food service industry, you may consider offering your customers healthier cuisine. Keep reading as we give you a culinary-method refresher on 5 different types of healthy cooking methods to incorporate into your menu planning.
Great for large cuts of meat or whole chickens and beef, this cooking method doesn’t require any extra oils or fats to be delicious. However, consider it as an option to add some oil for the extra flavour, just don’t get too carried away. While some people think baking and roasting are interchangeable, the difference is that baking is ‘dry cooking’ and does not add any extra oils or fat, while roasting involves oil.
To perfect this method, remember to leave the skin on vegetables to retain their nutrients and bump up fibre intakes, but at the same time avoid cooking vegetables around the meat, as they may soak up any meat drippings and lose out on juicy flavour.
Stir-frying, the delicious to eat and healthier to cook method that specialises retaining vegetable nutrients while also holding onto their delicious taste. With only a small dash of oil, it means that fat contents stay low while you enjoy healthy and delicious cuts of meat and veggies at the same time.
Some tips about stir-frying: Use an oil spray and avoid overcooking your meals as they generally only need a few minutes to cook, use a non-stick frying pan or wok and lightly spray oil over the surface before frying your culinary delights. Need some extra help on flavour? Seasoning powder might come in handy!
When heating, boiling and frying food to open air, it seeps out the wonderful nutrients of the original meal, but with sous-vide, all of that important nutrients stay neatly encapsulated in that little package. While that is happening, it helps make food easily digestible by breaking down the collagen in meat into gelatin, which also acts as a health booster for your muscles as well as giving glowing skin, hair and nails. The meals cooked with sous-vide are not only some of the most nutritious but also the most tasty.
Sous-vide is also an easier way to prepare large quantities of healthy meals in advance, however may need you to take note of their minimum cook times at 55 degrees celsius and 60 degrees celsius for poultry, as a way to kill off any potentially harmful bacteria but still keeping your nutrients high and tasty.
One of the more simpler methods of cooking – simply cooking fish, chicken or vegetables over simmering water. It’s not only healthy from the indirect heating process which keeps all the nutrients packed in the food, but it also amplifies the taste of the meals by allowing you to dab salt or the type of seasoning you want on.
The only thing to worry about is letting the meals steam for too long, which can break down the texture, colour, taste and its nutritional value. The main point is to steam them for only a few minutes and watch them closely to ensure it’s not overcooked.
A great method for cooking chicken and fish, it’s similar to steaming, except the food is now in the water, and the water can be a broth of wine, or stock, or vinegar or juice. By being poached in water, there aren’t any added fat or calories that are seeping into the dish, and even after that you can use the poach juice as a sauce or broth, just use some salt or dilute with water.
However, do avoid using salty or sweet liquids as they can possibly make your food dry and deplete the dish’s taste and nutrients while dragging up sodium and sugar levels. A tip is to simmer the liquid then add your dish until tender, but remember not to overcook as per usual.
Bonus: How to make things even healthier? Less Salt, Umami it.
Other than less oil, less fat way of cooking, try exploring the less-salt way of cooking too! If you think this will force you to compromise the taste, think again. With AJI-NO-MOTO® Umami Seasoning, reduce up to 40% of salt usage while keeping the delectable taste of your dish. If you are questioning how important this is – WHO stated that overconsumption of salt can increase the risk of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) such as high blood pressure, stroke and heart disease. Here’s another spine-chilling fact – four in five Malaysian adults consumed more than 5g of salt than recommended! So do your part by reducing salt usage when you are preparing dishes for your customers, but retain the exceptional taste with AJI-NO-MOTO® Umami Seasoning instead.
Now armed with the knowledge of the best cooking methods for healthy food and an oncoming trend to ride on, start testing these methods out and begin incorporating them straight into your menu to really make your restaurant the talk of the town over your competitors.
Ajinomoto Food Biz Partner
