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Top 6 Tips for Cooking Healthy Chinese Meals

So one might expect Chinese cooking to be unhealthy most of the time, judging by what comes through the door when you order Chinese takeaway. Actually when cooking your own Chinese meals they can be pretty healthy! Here are the top 6 reasons why:

1

LEAN MEATS

When cooking with meat you can choose leaner cuts of meat to cook with. It doesn’t make a huge amount of difference to the taste and it’s a lot healthier.

2

SODIUM CONTROL

Obviously if you’re cooking yourself, you can control the amount of salt that goes in. Remember that soy sauce also counts as a seasoning, so if you add a lot of that, try to balance it with the amount of salt you have so that overall you’re not over-doing it.

3

OIL

If you stir fry your meal, add less oil to the wok. Alternatively steam your food which can taste even better than stir frying. Our favourite steamed dish is literally adding pork to a bowl, marinade it with soy sauce, salt, sugar, cornflour and then add a teaspoon of black beans in, then steam for 15-20 minutes. Serve with boiled rice, it’s so delicious!

4

CONTROL CARBS

In Chinese culture everybody has a minimum of 1 small bowl of rice for dinner. Then anything from 2+ amount of dishes are then presented in front of them i.e. steamed fish, pak choi, sweet and sour pork ribs etc etc, seriously it can be never-ending up to 12 dishes or even more. It’s then a free for all in terms of what you want to take with your rice. It’s a very social affair.

The point is, is that unless you choose to eat a lot of rice and noodles, you’re not presented with a large tin of rice and a large tin of noodles to eat alongside a large meat dish and a starter, as is the case when you order Chinese takeaway.

Maybe learn from the Chinese culture and have just a small bowl of rice/noodles as your minimum limit and eat that with your meat dish.

5

EAT FRESH

The good thing about Chinese cooking is that it prides itself on using fresh fruit/vegetables and fresh meat. The fresher it is, the tastier really. And what a way to get your 5 a day as well.

6

AVOID MSG

If you decide to order takeaway you can always request for the chef not to add MSG. If you buy packaged meals like instant noodles we actually advise not to use powdered flavouring but to create your own! Sesame oil, salt, soy sauce, even chicken stock can make a really flavoursome noodle soup.

That’s our top six tips for cooking healthy chinese food. Let us know if you have any more tips. Chinese cooking really doesn’t have to be seen as unhealthy!



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