How to Reduce the Use of Cooking Oil

One way to tick off used cooking oil disposal from your to-do list at home is to actually use less of it when cooking. How to Reduce the Use of Cooking Oil. Not only is “oil-less” cooking generally healthier, it also makes for more delicious, creative dishes.

Cooking oil is plant, animal, or synthetic liquid fat used in frying, baking, and other types of cooking. It is also used in food preparation and flavoring not involving heat, such as salad dressings and bread dips, and may be called edible oil.

Cooking oil is typically a liquid at room temperature, although some oils that contain saturated fat, such as coconut oil, palm oil and palm kernel oil are solid.

There are a wide variety of cooking oils from plant sources such as olive oil, palm oil, soybean oil, canola oil (rapeseed oil), corn oil, peanut oil and other vegetable oils, as well as animal-based oils like butter and lard.

Oil can be flavored with aromatic foodstuffs such as herbs, chillies or garlic. Cooking spray is an aerosol of cooking oil.

How to Reduce the Use of Cooking Oil

Here are some tips that you can use in the kitchen for reducing the use of cooking oil:

• Use an air fryer.
  Designed to simulate frying, an air fryer is a great alternative to traditional frying. It utilizes hot air circulating at high-speed which then browns or crisps the food placed inside.
• Bake.
  While it may seem more tedious than frying, baking is a healthier alternative. There are tons of dishes that you can bake instead of fry: potato croquettes, samosas, fritters, kebabs and patties – these (and more) taste delicious, warm and tender when baked.
• Steam or pre-cook.
  Have you ever had steamed fish? Or steamed chicken breasts? When sprinkled with garlic, pepper, salt and generous amounts of butter, it tastes heavenly! Pair it up with some boiled potatoes and carrots, and you have a quick, healthy dish. Pre-cooking before frying also reduces the amount of oil needed.Use a shallow frying pan. Instead of deep frying, frying from a shallow frying pan with a lid helps consume less oil. It also traps moisture which also helps cook food sooner and make it taste better.

Source: NS