Methods to cook dinner greens in a wholesome approach

Greens are meals that mustn’t ever be lacking on our tables as they’re wealthy in nutritional vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Due to this fact, to maintain these vitamins at their greatest, you will need to know essentially the most appropriate cooking strategies that protect them and the elements that affect their content material.

One of many elements is thewater, it’s important for all times however the enemy of water-soluble nutritional vitamins and mineral salts which can be vital for our physique. Among the many water-soluble nutritional vitamins which can be dispersed in water we discover the C vitamin, highly effective antioxidant, ally of our immune system contained above all in peppers, lettuce, rocket. Even the B nutritional vitamins contained in chard, asparagus and broccoli. Second issue is the TIME which acts on the lack of some nutritional vitamins which can be extra delicate to extended warmth over time.

Due to this fact it’s essential to eat the greens in a crunchy approach, al dente or you need to really feel them in your mouth whenever you eat them. An exception? it’s the extended cooking of the tomato: the lengthy cooking breaks the lycopene, antioxidant that’s pleasant to the pores and skin and highly effective antitumor and makes it extra lively. Many greens reminiscent of zucchini, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli are additionally glorious uncooked.

Which cooking methodology to decide on?

  • BOILING: it’s not good for the palate or for well being. It’s higher to blanch for a couple of minutes in a little bit salted water to restrict the lack of vitamins;
  • IN THE PAN: style and plenty of well being for the pores and skin. When finished accurately, it permits you to put together tasty and nutrient-rich greens. Finely reduce the greens or into cubes and sauté them in a pan for 4-5 minutes with a tablespoon of oil and spices or herbs to style, you’ll get crunchy greens;
  • VAPOR: it’s significantly helpful for broccoli, cabbage, broccoli. the average warmth and humidity of steaming make the glucosinolates, anticancer substances, extra lively with out damaging them. As well as, it permits us to protect as much as 90% of the B nutritional vitamins, to pay attention the flavors and make the colours extra good.
  • VACUUM COOKING: is a low temperature cooking method because of which it’s potential to cook dinner meals closed inside particular plastic luggage appropriate for cooking. It’s cooked in water at not too excessive temperatures that are between 50 ° C and 100 ° C. All greens are nice cooked this fashion, particularly root greens, carrots and turnips which retain their vivid colour and retain all their taste. Why cook dinner at a low temperature? with this method the meals don’t lose their pure colour, nor the dietary properties, all of the flavors stay inside. Meals are tastier, more healthy and extra colourful. As well as, it additionally permits the shelf lifetime of the product to be prolonged as much as 3 instances, because the absence of oxygen slows down bacterial proliferation and oxidation.
  • FRYING: it’s the methodology that preserves many nutritional vitamins very properly if finished in the fitting approach can include much less fats than a big salad. If finished badly, it absorbs plenty of fats, inflicting an overproduction of free radicals that may result in the onset of tumors. As well as, poisonous substances dangerous to well being can kind throughout frying.

To organize a wholesome frying with much less fats and extra nutritional vitamins, listed here are some ideas:

  1. Flour the meals (greens, meat or fish) with rice flour because it absorbs much less fats;
  2. Use a top quality oil reminiscent of olive oil or excessive oleic sunflower oil or peanut, wealthy in heart-friendly monounsaturated fatty acids and really secure to warmth;
  3. the meals have to be flippantly coated or floured with respect to breading, they take up half the fats. Batters and tempures, which maintain plenty of fats, must also be prevented;
  4. be careful for the temperature of the oil, it have to be considerable (1 l per 100 g of product) and at a relentless temperature of 170 ° C it’s advisable to have a digital thermometer or a deep fryer with a digital thermostat. The meals have to be chilly because the larger the distinction between the temperature of the oil and the meals, the decrease the amount of fats absorbed by frying;
  5. drain the fried oil properly with tongs after which dab with absorbent straw paper to get rid of the oil outdoors the meals. Repeat this operation at the least 3 instances;
  6. keep away from the formation of poisonous substances reminiscent of acrolein, a substance poisonous to the liver and acrylamide, a carcinogen for our well being.

Methods to cook dinner greens in a wholesome approach, Dr. Antonia Cassavia Nutritionist Biologist