The way you cook matters
IT sounds unlikely that one can cook a kilogramme of food with only one spoonful of cooking oil. Most of the time, we are tempted to use much more and what’s worse is we tend to use it again.
Hoping to encourage people to eat healthy by using less oil, French cookware and home appliance maker Tefal introduced the ActiFry electrical cooker. The cooker comes with a measuring spoon of 14ml, allowing users to control the quantity of oil used when they are cooking. Users are also able to cook a large variety of dry and gravy-based recipes from fresh and frozen food.
Groupe SEB (Singapore & Malaysia) managing director Kelvin Mow says the ActiFry offers convenience and a healthy style of cooking, which may be difficult to do with a busy schedule.
“Besides keeping a balanced and nutritious diet to avoid gaining inches around the waistline, we also need to find the time to cook healthy food. Our busy lifestyles may even hinder us from preparing wholesome meals for our family and we resort to buying food or head to the nearest fast-food joint, which offers little to no nutritional value.
HEALTHIER OPTION
“We believe with the ActiFry, consumers are able to do both, cook for their family and also give them healthy food. It can cook any type of dish with one spoonful of oil, which means less fat. For example, usually people will use large amounts of oil for fries. But with the cooker, you only need a spoonful and you will still get the same results. Using one spoonful of oil is enough to cook 1kg of fresh French fries resulting in only three per cent of fat.”
Tefal has designed the ActiFry to cook a large range of fresh food using its patented pulsed hot air circulation system that produces an even hot air flow while cooking. Through this method, it manages to preserve the vitamins and nutritional value, without drying out the natural flavour of the food. The cooking temperature used within the cooker is controlled at 170°C making it suitable for frying different types of food.
“The circulated hot air and turning pedestal are the proper method to cook as these allow for the minimum use of oil. With the temperature set so low, it also preserves food nutrients without compromising on taste,” he said at the launch of the ActiFry recently.
During the launch, Asia Food Channel (AFC) chef Anis Nabilah and nutritionist Dino Goh demonstrated the use of ActiFry to cook simple healthy dishes.
The ActiFry, priced at RM999, also comes with an automatic stirring paddle for optimal dispensing of oil and consistent cooking rotation that enable hands-free cooking. It has a snacking rack that helps to scoop the food out, and drain excess oil and moisture from the dish.
The cooker has a built-in 60-minute digital timer that beeps at the end of cooking to let users know when the food is ready, to prevent the food from burning or overcooking.
LARGE VARIETY
Mow says consumers are able to cook a large variety of dry and gravy-based recipes using fresh and frozen food with the ActiFry, with the inner pot material made out of non-stick ceramic coating.
Goh says as most of the local dishes use oil, it is important to use as little as possible. Although some consumers would choose oil that is deemed healthy, there is still the need to control the amount that is being used.
“Some people do change the recipes to include healthy ingredients, but it is also important to cook the dishes in a healthy way. This can be done by using less oil, not cooking the food too long, and not using too much heat.
“It does not take longer for the food to be cooked even when the temperature is lower, which also helps preserve the nutrients. If you cook in a pan, the bottom is hot and you need to stir constantly, and you also tend to let food to be over-cooked. This will cause the food to lose its nutrients. So the best way is to cook health food in a healthy way.”
Source: New Straits Times
Published: 15 Apr 2014
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