Tuesday, July 24, 2007

How to Save 8 Grams of Fat Per Meal

Save 8 gm. fat!
Tip #37

Sauté Without Oil
WOULD YOU BELIEVE: A one-cup serving of vegetables sautéed in oil can be as high as 8.4 grams of fat per cup or 42% fat by calories.

SOME FACTS: Usually, people sauté their vegetables in oil. (This is also called frying.) Unfortunately, sautéing with oil causes the fat to seep into the vegetables, and your High EMI dish slides all the way down to the low end of the EMI scale.
Frying in oil is never necessary. It always adds calories to any meal. A better solution is to learn how to cook without oil. One way is to use a nonstick skillet and simply sauté your foods in water. The small amount of water keeps the vegetables from sticking to the pan and will cook the vegetables nicely.
If you want to add some flavor, simply sauté in vegetable broth. You can use a vegetarian powder to mix with water, or simply use a low-fat canned vegetable broth, which can be found in any supermarket.
Another flavorful sauté sauce is wine or sherry. Cooking wines are delicious and you can experiment with other wines as well.
One way to make foods especially tasty is to sauté onions and/or garlic in vegetable broth first until they are slightly translucent and then add other vegetables to complete the sautéing process. In this way, you can get a delicious vegetable stir-fry without adding oil. You've already been using this method in some of the preceding recipes.

WHAT YOU CAN DO: Now try the following to see how delicious a vegetable stir-fry can be.



Vegetable Stir Fry
1 can Mushrooms or 1/4 cup dry shiitake
mushrooms, soaked and sliced
1 med. Carrot, sliced diagonally
2 stalks Broccoli, sliced diagonally
2 stalks Celery, sliced diagonally
1-1/2 Round onion, sliced into
thin crescents
1 piece Ginger, crushed
1 clove Garlic, crushed
1-1/2 Tbsp. Corn starch
1/4 C Water
Seasoning:
1 Tbsp. Oyster sauce (vegetarian)
1 tsp. Soy sauce
1 C Stock
Heat pan. Sauté ginger, garlic, and onion in water, remove from pan. Add seasonings and cook 2 minutes. Add stock, mushrooms, carrot, broccoli, and celery and cook until vegetables are crisp and tender. Make a paste with corn starch and water to thicken the gravy. Makes 4 to 6 portions. (1 portion = 59.4 calories, 0.3 grams fat, 19% protein, 77% carbohydrates, 5% fat)

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