4 Healthy Recipes with Low Cholesterol Olive Oil
With today’s fast-paced life, hectic schedules and general disruptions in eating and sleeping patterns, more and more people are falling victim to lifestyle diseases like obesity, diabetes and hypertension. The simplest way to try and balance this anomaly out is by replacing your usual cooking oil with a low-cholesterol cooking oil like olive oil.
Olive oil is not only good for your heart but is also fantastic for your entire body’s health. It is great for you if you are someone watching your weight or simply want to eat healthier and stay fit. You can prepare many scrumptious yet healthy dishes with it and stay healthy without compromising on taste. So, try these scintillating low-calorie recipes made with olive oil and enjoy the taste with health.
Olive Oil Recipes
Recipe #1
Almond and Spinach Soup
When looking for healthy recipes, you can never go wrong with a hearty soup. To make this recipe you need 3 cups of roughly cut spinach, 2 tbsp of slivered almonds, 1 tsp chopped garlic, ½ cup of chopped onions, 1 cup of low-fat milk and 1 tsp of olive oil.
Firstly, in a thick-bottomed deep pan, heat this cholesterol-free oil and add to it onion and garlic. Once the onions turn translucent, add almonds to it and fry for a couple of minutes until tender. To this, add spinach and cook for a few minutes until most of the water evaporates. Now use a blender to blend everything up into a smooth paste and pour milk into it. Mix thoroughly and simmer the flame until one boils. Finally, season it with salt and pepper and your soup is ready.
Recipe #2
Green Peas and Mint Brown Rice Pulao
Although you can take basmati or any other white rice for this recipe, using brown rice in it will increase this dish’s nutritional value. To make this pulao, first heat some of the low-fat cooking oil in a pan. Crackle a spoonful of cumin seeds in it and then put in finely chopped onion and garlic. Fry them on medium flame until golden brown then add whole spices like bay leaf, cardamom, cinnamon and cloves. Saute for a minute then add boiled peas. Fry it well then add a handful of mint leaves together with cooked brown rice. Mix well and cover the pan with a lid. Let it all steam up and absorb flavours for 2 minutes then mix again and switch off the flame. Serve it with some plain curd or vegetable raita.
Recipe #3
Moong Dal, Oats and Vegetable Tikkis
This is a superb dish that can be used as a breakfast item or a quick evening snack as well. We have used moong daal here to add protein to the recipe and as we aren’t using any potatoes here, it will also provide binding to the tikki mixture.
First of all, you need to boil moong daal mixed chopped vegetables (cauliflowers, french beans, peas, beetroot and carrot) separately and set them aside. Now take some quick cooking rolled oats and make a powder of half of it.
Now in a pan put some olive oil and heat. Always try to use olive oil as it is the healthiest cooking oil owing to its numerous health benefits. Once the oil is hot, add finely chopped onions in it and fry them well. Keep this aside when done.
It is time to combine everything now. Gently mash up the vegetables and boiled daal. Add the fried onions, rolled oats to it, salt, amchur and garam masala to it. Slowly add powdered oats into the mixture and fold it until the mixture is no longer sticky and can hold its shape well. Now shape them up into tikkis and shallow fry in the same low-cholesterol cooking oil until browned on both sides. Serve with green chutney and ketchup.
Recipe #4
Methi and Paneer Paratha
Start by preparing a soft dough with wheat flour, salt and water, and set it aside covered. Now heat some of the cholesterol-free oil in a pan and add cumin seeds to it. Once they begin crackling, add chopped fenugreek leaves and fry for 2 minutes with turmeric and salt. After the water evaporates, switch off the flame and add crumbled paneer to it. Mix well and your stuffing is ready.
Make small roundels from the dough, roll them out a little and put spoonfuls of stuffing in them. Bring the sides together and roll the paratha out. Now on a heated pan cook the paratha using olive oil, the low-fat cooking oil, until crisp on both sides. Serve with raita and pickle of your choice.
Now you have four extremely simple yet delicious low-calorie recipes to enjoy and share with your friends and family. In general practice too, you can use olive oil to substitute your usual oil. This low-cholesterol cooking oil will make your food even tastier and also work to enhance your health.