Wok pan: the key to a he althy diet

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

As you know, it is not customary to argue about tastes. But if people who do not even know each other are asked which meat is tastier, boiled, stewed or fried, then, most likely, most of the he althy people surveyed will choose the latter. And how many absolutely he althy after 30-40 years? The question is rhetorical. Indeed, today living conditions, ecology, and the quality of products leave much to be desired. And the first taboo in many diseases is fried and fatty foods. Unfortunately, most often you want and like exactly what is forbidden. This is where the wok pan comes in handy. Many Chinese dishes are simply impossible to cook without it.

This unusual pan comes from Southeast Asia and China. There it can be considered a long-liver, because it has been used for cooking for the second thousand years. The classic Chinese wok, unlike its Western sisters, historically has a globular bottom. It is thanks to her that all the unique properties of the pan are manifested. Earlier in China, food was cooked on specially designed open charcoal stoves adapted to the shape of the bottom of the wok. Now, of course, they have been replaced by gas and electric ones.

In Europe, a rare restaurant hassuch stoves, not to mention home kitchens.

This is why the wok comes with a flatter bottom. The temperature regime becomes somewhat worse. The principle of cooking, tested in China for centuries, is preserved, but for this the bottom should be no more than 13-14 centimeters in diameter. With a larger diameter, the special properties of the pan disappear, and the cooking process ceases to differ from the classic European one. In wok cooking, all products are prepared in advance, cut into small and thin pieces of the same size, and placed next to the stove. For home cooking, the best wok pan is cast iron: in it, the oil heats up quickly and evenly, does not smoke or smoke. She appeared much earlier than her steel relatives. Pieces of meat or vegetables dipped in hot oil are instantly covered with a protective crust, they turn out fragrant, juicy and at the same time retain all the useful substances to the maximum, because the cooking time is much less than with the usual technology.

And then the dish is cooked with continuous stirring from the hot center to the colder edges. It turns out that in the center of the wok the food quickly fries, and at the edges it stews. The ingredients are laid in turn one after another, starting with the hardest and toughest. Because the contents of the wok are constantly agitated during cooking, very little oil is needed, resulting in low-fat, low-calorie meals.

The wok is a versatile kitchen utensil. ATit can be stewed under the lid, quickly fried with stirring, deep-fried dishes, and in models with grills, cook and steam. Food cooked in it is useful for people suffering from diseases of the liver, gastrointestinal tract, overweight, and metabolic disorders. If you want to be he althy, then cook only in the wok!