Oil-free Indian recipes

Videhi Sivurusan, a celebrity chef, shares recipes from her oil-free menu. Follow her on www.videhi.co.za and on Veganise with Videhi on YouTube.

I AM excited to share with you my oilfree menu. The recipes are suitable for a diabetic and an insulin-resistance diet, or if you have cardiovascular diseases. They may also reduce the risk of contracting these illnesses.

According to research, oil and fat are among the contributing factors of the above diseases as well as weight gain. My menu is primarily focused on South African Indian/Asian-style cooking. The meals are clean and healthy, and packed with flavour.

Typically, Indian cooking is usually synonymous with using a lot of oil. You have probably heard some people say that certain dishes such as spinach, green beans, cabbage, mushroom etc need extra oil. Well, I disagree.

I have always used a little oil without compromising on the taste. This time, I went from a little to no oil. After trial and error, my oil-free cooking style is easy to follow.

I normally start my Indian cooking with four basic steps for building layers of flavour: popping my seeds to release flavour; adding curry leaves for an aromatic flavour; and then adding onion and braising it for another dimension of flavour and texture. The fourth is the magical blend of masalas (depending on what I’m cooking). Now we can do all of the above oil-free.

♦ Diabetic and insulin resistance diets: consult with your nutritionist or dietician for portion sizes as this is important to achieve your health goals.