HEALTHY COOKING SECRETS

1. Hung Yoghurt instead of mayonnaise and sour cream
If a recipe has sour cream as an accompaniment, substitute it with hung yoghurt. To get hung yoghurt, put yoghurt in a muslin cloth and hang it for a few hours till the water drains off. You can season this and use it as a dip instead of mayonnaise or as a substitute for sour cream.

2. Yoghurt as a marinade
With a lot of Indian recipes, you can use yoghurt as a marinade for chicken and meat dishes along with other spices. They turn out delicious, and you avoid using a lot of oil. The yoghurt covers the meat, doesn't allow it to stick to the bottom of the pan, and saves you the bother of using excess oil.

3. Unsaturated oil instead of butter or margarine in cakes
Unsaturated oil can be used as a substitute for butter or margarine, while making cakes and pies.

4. Salad Dressings
Switch to lime juice, tomato and orange juice dressings. They have far fewer calories than the regular dressings. As an option, you can also Balsamic vinegar as a salad dressing, all by itself.

5.Skimmed Milk instead of cream
Thicken gravies with skimmed milk and flour instead of cream. Better still, use arrowroot or cornstarch. Alternatively, you can use extra vegetables to thicken soup.

6. Egg whites instead of whole eggs
Replace some of the whole eggs with 2 egg whites. Each egg replaced with two egg whites saves you 5 grams of fat. For taste, you can use one whole egg with other egg whites.

7. Use fruit purees instead of fat in cakes, muffins, cookies and other baked goods.

8. Lean meats
Use lean meats like chicken and turkey, or opt for lean ham if you must. Avoid sausages, red meat and ham. Always, trim off any visible fat from chicken or meat.

MASTER THE TECHNIQUES

Bake
Instead of deep-frying vegetables, chicken or meat, cover them with the appropriate batter or marinade, brush them with oil, and bake them in an oven.

Grill
Grilling means cooking by dry heat. The meat, fish or vegetables are put on an iron grid or tray that is brushed with oil, and cooked over a fire or electric grill.

Stew
A time consuming exercise, but well worth the wait. Stewing means cooking in a closed pan with a little liquid. Since the liquid is boiled and then allowed to simmer, the food actually gets cooked in the steam over a slow fire.

Non-stick cookware
Purchase the best (i.e. heaviest) set of non-stick cookware you can afford. Use good teflon baking pans -- they will help reduce the amount of oil needed in cooking.
Tip: Coat your baking pans with flour or corn meal to prevent sticking -- you won't have the added fat and calories of shortening or oil.

Stir-fry
Instead of deep-frying, use a good wok and learn to stir-fry. You can stir-fry using broth or vegetable juices in place of oil, without compromising on texture or taste.