In the majority of people’s view, fried foods are generally bad for health and you should limit them as much as possible. However, one thing cannot be denied is that they are on the list of favorite foods of many people, especially crispy fried dishes. So how can you still enjoy delicious fried foods without affecting your health too much? Let’s refer to the following tips!
1. Choose and heat the cooking oil
– To make fried foods healthy, the first thing you need to do is to choose a type of cooking oil that can withstand high temperatures. Soybean oil, rapeseed oil, and peanut oil are good choices and quite economical, which you can easily find in any grocery store or supermarket.
– Heat the cooking oil slowly, do not rush to turn on high heat as it can easily cause the oil to burn, which is harmful to the body. Besides, if possible, you should choose a frying pan size that is suitable for the amount of food you want to fry, because if you choose a small pan for many foods and large pieces, you will have to put too much food into the pan, reducing the temperature of the oil and also make the fried dish not as delicious.
2. Coat the outside of the fried dish with flour
There are some fried dishes that do not need to be coated with flour; for example, cakes; because they already contain flour in their ingredients. However, dishes such as meat, fish, or salty food in general need to be coated with a layer of flour on the outside so that the inside remains the original sweet and tender taste; besides, if you fry meat/fish directly, they often release water, making the dish dry, less delicious, and the oil can also be easily splashed. You can mix a wet dough or use a coating of flour – eggs – breadcrumbs to coat the outside of the food.
3. Observe the frying temperature
When you put the food into the pan, the temperature of the cooking oil can drop. So you should slowly put the food into the pan, do not put too much food at once, which will cause the temperature to drop suddenly.
Similarly, while frying, you also need to observe if the cooking oil shows signs of burning, then immediately reduce the heat or the burnt oil will make the fried dish not good for health.
4. Drain excess oil after frying
Many people, for various reasons, overlook and do not have the habit of draining the oil on the food after frying; which makes the cooking oil stay on the fried dish; when eating it quickly becomes greasy and not good for your health. To drain the oil properly, you should scoop the food out of the pan with a slotted spoon or strainer then immediately transfer it to a plate lined with oil-absorbing paper for about 2-3 minutes.
The oil-absorbing paper helps to absorb the excess oil remaining on the food. If you don’t have specialized absorbent paper, you can use 2-3 layers of odorless tissue paper as well.
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