Enrich your plate with healthy cooking

This week knows the  seven healthy ways to prepare food in your day to day . We propose you to try them, to extend and improve your way of cooking, and thus optimize the nutritional quality of your food.

Often monotonous cooking habits are adopted, especially with vegetables, thus reducing the range of possibilities and nutrients of food. The raw diet  can bring you numerous depurative and revivifying benefits, depending on each constitution, health condition, climate, emotional state and tastes. On a daily basis you should add cooking styles that will warm you up and help pre-digest the food. There are several methods of food preparation, some of them very simple, contributing to improve the nutritional quality and digestibility of the daily food .

Later we will show you in depth the therapeutic, biochemical and energetic effects that each one of the cooking styles contributes.  For the moment, let's start by giving an overview to be able to experience seven cooking that we consider healthy and simple to taste over a week.

Short sautéed

• Ingredients : All kinds of vegetables or vegetable proteins, can be seasoned with soy sauce, ginger juice, healthy sweeteners, fresh herbs and all kinds of healthy condiments.
• Cut:  to matches, to slices and to similar cuts.
• Heat 1-2 tablespoons of oil or water in the wok or frying pan , sauté the vegetables on a live fire with a pinch of salt for 3 to 4 minutes, move with a spatula quickly to make them evenly on all sides , Add the seasoning as the soy sauce and / or ginger juice and saute a few seconds more, serve the moment.
• Time : 3-5 min
• Utensils:  a wok  or frying pan and a wooden or silicone spatula .
• Benefits: it is a style of cooking that energizes, activates and imparts heat, this heat is distributed evenly throughout the surface thanks to the concave shape of the wok, which allows a fast and homogenous cooking. The food hardly absorbs oil and has not been over-cooked, obtaining a vivid color and a crunchy texture. There is little nutrient loss  due to the short cooking period.
• Recipes:  rice and vegetable wok ; S alteado of zucchini, mushrooms and cashews ; Stir-fry of seitan with vegetables .

Steamed

• Ingredients : vegetables , fruits, cereals, tofu, tempeh or fish.
• Cut:  Medium or large, of similar size between them (small vegetables and fish should eat whole).
• Put about 3 fingers of water to boil in a pot,  place the ingredients and cover the pot. Water should not touch food.
• Time : vegetables, fruits, vegetable proteins and fish 5-10 min approximately, and cereals with the cooking time of each cereal. Vegetables and fruits should be removed when they have a vivid color and still retain their crisp texture.
• Utensils:  glass steamer ; Steamer;  Adjustable grids
• Benefits of steam cooking: Food preserves almost all nutrients intact  and  enhances the natural flavors of food. It does not require fat or oil to cook and is a very simple and quick way of cooking. Foods are juicier and easier to digest  for people with a weak bowel, and if you use non-green vegetables, some of the chemicals go into the cooking water.

The pressed salad

• Ingredients : raw vegetables like carrot, radish, beetroot, onion, fennel, celery, collard, cabbage, radish, turnip, pepper, cucumber, zucchini ... We will add a salty seasoning like sea salt, umeboshi vinegar or soy sauce .
• Cut: we cut with mandolina or matches, in small cut and because it is a fast fermentation, the fine or small cut will give us a bigger surface so that the salt penetrates more quickly.
• Massage the vegetables to loosen the water and leave to rest pressing them with a plate or bowl on top and a weight.
• Time : between 1 -24h. (Drain excess water when we are going to consume it).
• Utensils: mandolin ; Vegetable grater ; Glass bowls ; Weight to press: stone, water bottle, any heavy object.
• Benefits: improves the digestibility of raw vegetables by pressing them with salt. It is essentially a way of brewing fast ferments that gives us beneficial bacteria for our intestinal flora . In addition, it keeps its live enzymes intact and is less chilling than a raw salad.

The long stew

• Ingredients : sweet vegetables such as carrot, pumpkin, onion, sweet potato, vegetable protein, and sporadically animal protein. Seasoned with soy sauce, ginger juice, sesame oil ...
• Cut:  to medium / large pieces and similar between them. The larger the pieces, the more nutrients and integrity will be preserved.
• Add the vegetables to the pot, add about 1-3 cm of water and a pinch of salt and   cook over low heat  and with lid. A piece of kombu seaweed can be added to the bottom of the pan to add minerals to the stew. Another option is to brush the bottom of the casserole with a little oil before adding the vegetables and cook them on very low heat in their own juice.
• Time : for 30 min-45 min.
• Utensils: skk pots , pans porcelain , crock pot , ceramic pot , casserole glass
• Benefits: cooking  brings heat and energy; Vegetables are cooked in their own juice; Is a dish that brings sweetness and calm.
• Recipes:  e stofado winter sweet,   braised seitan

The dehydrated

• Ingredients : vegetables , fruits, nuts, seeds, sprouted cereals, condiments.
• Cutting:  we can dehydrate pieces or whole foods of any size, it goes very well the cut to thin slices made with the mandolin. The important thing is that the sizes are similar.
• It is about extracting only the water, by means of a gentle heat that does not alter the nutrients.
• The technique of dehydration will depend on the food we use, we can dehydrate from fruits and vegetables whole or rolled and make  jams , cakes, pizzas, crackers, crepes, cookies etc.
• Time : will depend on the water content of the food to be dehydrated and the desired texture.
• Utensils: dehydrator , mandoline
• Benefits of dehydration:  If we choose temperatures around 40 °, all the enzymes  and thermolabile vitamins in food are kept intact. The flavors intensify and your preservation  will extend the life of our foods like fruits or vegetables that we do not spend, before they are spoiled. In addition you can make healthy dry fruits  without sulphites, neither flour nor preservatives.

The blanching

• Ingredients : vegetables of all types
• Cut:  to dice, strips or sheets with mandolin.
• Introduce the food for a few seconds in boiling water over medium heat. When the vegetables take a brighter color remove them from the water and cool them with cold water to cut the cooking.
• Time : between 10-30 sec, depending on the cut and type of vegetable.
• Utensils: pot and tongs or skimmer .
• Benefits: There is minimal loss of nutrients due to short exposure to boil; The vegetables are crisp, tasty and more digestive than raw; Decreases the cooling  effect of raw vegetables; Is a style of cooking that brings us freshness.

Soups or creams at less than 80 ° C

• Ingredients : vegetables, seeds, nuts, condiments.
• Cut:  large pieces.
• It is a semi-hard preparation that, because of the friction of the Vitamix mixer , for only 5 minutes, produces heat and a perfect crushing.
• Time : 5 min
• Utensils : Vitamix
• Benefits:  As it does not go from 80-85º and last a short time, the nutrients of foods suffer less deterioration than with cooking; The microtrituration enhances the flavors and gives a perfect texture; r healthy apidez : in no time you can prepare a soup or hot and very healthy cream.