Recipes Blog

Cooking oils are an integral part of food preparation all over the world. Cooking completely without using any type of oil is an absolute no for most people from any part of the world. Traditionally, people from different parts of the world choose different types of oil for cooking. Olive oil, Canola oil, Sunflower oil, Coconut oil, Butter, Margarine etc are used by people from different parts of the world for cooking. In many communities, the choice of a cooking oil is part of the community tradition. They have been using that particular variety of oil forever they can remember! Here we are looking at the difference between these oils as far as our health is concerned.

Basically all oils are fat. By definition, fat is not healthy for you. Are they all unhealthy? All fats are not the same. Fats can be divided in to four categories. Saturated fats, Trans fats, Monounsaturated fats and Polyunsaturated fats. Of this, saturated fats and trans fats are considered as bad fats and are unhealthy for your body. Monounsaturated fats and Polyunsaturated fats are considered as good fats. The bad fats are responsible for increasing bad cholesterol and reducing good cholesterol in our body. Good fats does the opposite; increase good cholesterol and decrease bad cholesterol. Thus, in order to stay healthy, your cooking oil must have a very high percentage of good fats and very low percentage of bad fats in it.

Based on this condition, the best cooking oils available for you are canola oil, peanut oil, olive oil, sunflower oil, corn oil etc. The worst cooking oils available for you are hard margarine, butter, palm oil, coconut oil etc. Out of this, coconut oil is considered to be the worst and contains a higher percentage of bad fats than even animal fats!

If you use cooking oil sparingly, any of these oils can get the job done for you. Heavy use of any oil is not recommended. This applies for even heart healthy oils.

Another category of difference you will find in olive oil, coconut oil etc is extra virgin and refined. Extra virgin olive oil is gained from the first pressing of the olives and is done physically without the use of any chemicals at all. Refined olive oil is gained by using chemicals to preserve it and to neutralize any unpleasant taste or smell associated with it. As extra virgin ones contain natural ingredients and no chemicals, they are best for your health. Refined cooking oils can be much lighter in nature and may contain preservatives or chemicals. Thus, this can be harmful for your health.

Refined cooking oil will be free of smell, color etc and this is a reason why millions of Americans choose it. But that need not be the case always. Oil can have a color too. A good cooking oil can have a smell as well. In fact, natural oils with its own flavor and color are a lot better for your health than highly refined, bland, colorless, odorless cooking oils.

Note: The lamb tagine can be served spooned over couscous or rice. Toss some toasted almonds on and serve each serving with a slice of lemon. In order to prepare this recipe, you require a 5 to 6 quart size slow cooker. To get the desired results, the lamb shoulder must be weighed after it is boned and trimmed.

Ingredients:

4 teaspoons of ground cumin

2 teaspoons of ground turmeric

2 teaspoons of salt

1/2 teaspoon of pepper

1/2 teaspoon of smoked paprika

1/2 teaspoon of finely ground chilly powder

3 lbs of boneless, trimmed lamb shoulder, cut into 2 inch cube size

1/4 cup of flour

2 tablespoons of oil

1 tablespoon of butter

2 large onions, cut in to ½ inch size pieces

10 shallots, peeled and left as whole

4 teaspoons of sliced garlic

1 tablespoon of minced ginger

1 cup of dried apricots

1/2 cup of raisins

1 tablespoon of honey

2 or 3 cinnamon sticks

1 1/2 cups of vegetable broth

1 cup of pitted dates

Directions:

In a bowl large enough to hold it all, stir together the cumin, turmeric, salt, pepper, paprika and chilly. Add the cubed lamb pieces and mix until these pieces are uniformly covered in the spice mix. Sprinkle the flour and mix to give the lamb a light coating. If there is any flour left out in the bottom of the bowl, you may use this to thicken the tagine.

Heat a large saute pan or stove top-safe slow cooker over medium-high heat. Add the oil and butter. Once these are melted, add the lamb pieces in a single layer, (you may have to do this in multiple sessions) and sear until all the pieces are properly browned on all sides, roughly 8 minutes for each session. Remove the lamb with a slotted spoon back in to the large bowl.

Now, add the onions and shallots in to the pan. Saute them until the onions are just softened and turn slightly golden, roughly 5 minutes, stirring regularly. After this, remove the pan from heat.

Place the onions and shallots in an uniform layer in the slow cooker insert (if it is not in use already). Mix in the garlic, ginger, apricots, raisins, honey, cinnamon sticks and broth. Place the lamb pieces on top of the onion mixture in an uniform layer. Now you can sprinkle any left over flour over the lamb.

Close the insert and set it in the slow cooker. Set the slow cooker on to the high heat setting. After 2 hours, remove the lid and sprinkle the dates over the lamb. Replace the lid quickly as heat is lost whenever the lid is opened, and cook for an additional 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until the lamb is fork-tender.

Now, remove the insert from the heat and slightly prop the lid open to let the mixture to cool a bit. Slowly stir the lamb with the vegetables and fruit items. Be gentle with the apricots and dates as they can be crushed easily if stirred too hard.

Total time: 40 minutes, plus cooking time (3 to 4 hours on high; 6 to 8 hours on low).

Servings: 6 to 8.

I saw an induction cooker at work for the very first time in a flower show. That was a few years back. It looked a bit devilish to me at first. The sales man placed a pot of water on the stove and the water started boiling in hardly any time at all. And there was absolutely no flames of any sort. Once the pot was removed, I was asked to touch the stove. I was skeptical and did not take the bate. After the sales man himself touched the stove and proved that the stove is not hot, I touched it myself. And it was not hot at all. I was really amused and asked to see if it needs a lot of electricity for its operation. The sales man told me that the electricity cost will be only a third of what propane needs. As sales men are known to hyperbole and try to sell stuff, I did not buy the instrument that time.

It took me another couple of years before I got an induction stove for myself and started using it. It seemed to me to be a bit similar to microwaving except that you cannot use metallic cookwares in a microwave. But in an induction cooker, only a magnetic flat bottomed metallic cookware can be used. In a microwave, the food is getting heated and then some of the heat is passed on to the pot. In induction cooking, the pot is getting heated first and then transfers most of that heat on to the food.

In normal electric cooking instruments, the cooking element gets heated due to electric resistance to the metal, and then transfers that heat on to the cooking pot. In induction cooking, the stove is not getting heated at all. What it does is heats up the cooking pot directly and thus warms up the food inside it.

The process of induction cooking is achieved through magnetic hysteresis loss. The cooking element on the stove will generate an alternating magnetic field on the cookware and this will in turn create heat due to magnetic hysteresis. This works only on certain type of cooking utensils like cast iron cookware, enamel-covered iron cookware, carbon steel cookware, some stainless steel cookware etc. Not all stainless steel cookware can be used for induction cooking.

How do you figure out an induction friendly cookware?

Any cookware which attracts a magnet to its bottom can be used for this purpose. It should have a flat bottom too. If the bottom of the cookware is not flat, the cooking won’t be efficient. Of late, many cookwares has a description on it saying whether it is suitable for induction cooking or not. If you are not sure about this, you may ask the sales man and clarify your questions.

Some Advantages Of Induction Cooking Over Electric Cooking

• Cooks faster
• Heats up faster
• Much more easier to clean
• More child safe
• More energy efficient
• Do not heat up the kitchen as much