To eat, humans have learned many cooking methods, and to this day, many of these methods are still retained. However, nowadays, there is an emphasis on "eating healthy" and "eating nutritious." Given different ingredients, what cooking method can best preserve the nutritional value of food and achieve "healthy eating"? Let's take a look together.
1 Raw Eating: Choose Crispy and Tender Vegetables
Raw vegetables can retain 100% of vitamins and minerals, as well as various active health-promoting factors, such as the blood lipid-lowering components in onions, the anti-ulcer components in cabbage, and the antibacterial components in garlic.
However, raw vegetables may be contaminated with pathogenic bacteria and parasites, have pesticide residues, or contain excessive oxalic acid. Additionally, the variety of vegetables that can be eaten raw is limited, and it is difficult to reach the daily standard of one jin (about 500g), especially for green leafy vegetables. People with sensitive stomachs, chronic diarrhea, or intestinal infections may also experience discomfort from eating raw vegetables.
Cooking Suggestions
Crispy and tender vegetables with low oxalic acid and tannin content, such as lettuce, endive, cucumber, tomato, and red cabbage, are more suitable for eating raw. It is recommended to choose vegetables from reliable sources and wash them thoroughly before eating.
2 Boiling: Small Amounts of Water, Multiple Times
Water-based cooking includes boiling, stewing, and blanching, relying on water to transfer heat to the food. The temperature of boiling water is 100°C. Although it does not produce harmful substances, a large amount of soluble substances, such as vitamin C, vitamin B2, and folic acid, can dissolve into the water during the process. If the soup is not consumed, the loss of these nutrients is significant.
Cooking Suggestions
The boiling method is suitable for all foods. Softer ingredients, such as leafy vegetables, can be blanched for a short time, while harder ingredients, such as root vegetables and meats, can be stewed for a long time.
When stewing, the amount of water can be reduced to utilize the soup along with the ingredients. When blanching green leafy vegetables, they must be added to boiling water, over high heat, and immediately removed once the water returns to a boil. For large quantities, it is advisable to blanch in batches to minimize heating time and reduce nutrient loss.
3 Steaming: Spread Ingredients as Flat as Possible
Steaming is almost the most comprehensive cooking method for preserving nutrients. Steamed dishes do not have the nutrient loss from vitamins dissolving into the soup that occurs with boiled or blanched dishes, nor do they have the excessively high temperatures of pan-frying. The heating temperature does not exceed 100°C, resulting in less thermal decomposition and oxidation, no smoke, and no excessive oil introduction.
For cold dishes using the steaming method, you can first steam the ingredients and then pour sauce over them, such as steamed green vegetables or cabbage drizzled with scallion and soy sauce sauce. For hot dishes, there are different heating methods such as steaming with soup, double-boiling, and steaming in a steam pot, as well as flavoring methods like sauce steaming, rice flour steaming, glutinous rice steaming, and stuffed steaming.
Cooking Suggestions
Many people are not very familiar with the steaming method. In fact, both meat and vegetable dishes can be steamed. To maintain the vibrant green color of steamed leafy vegetables, the cooking time must be controlled. The vegetables should be spread flat on a porcelain plate, a bamboo steamer basket, or a woven straw steamer to allow steam contact. Place them in a pre-heated steamer, and adjust the steaming time based on the quantity of vegetables and the heat level, generally 2-5 minutes.