“Ehh..not this oil…wait a minute” mom said and moved away hurriedly only to be back with another bottle of oil in her hand.

She lovingly tilted the bottle and poured a thin stream of that dark coloured oil on my steaming hot savory Baafla baatis (steamed savory buns).

“Baafla Baatis must be eaten only with ‘Kachchi Ghani til ka Tel’ (cold pressed sesame oil)” she told as a matter-of-fact and sat down on the chair next to me.

Back then, I never questioned her food choices….not that I knew much about it either 🙂

But some of her preferences started to bother me once I took independent charge of my kitchen after marriage in 1996.

Why does she prefer only ‘Kachchi Ghani’ mustard oil for all her pickles and Baingan Bharta (Brinjal mash) or uses nutty cold pressed sesame oil to savour Baatis and millet rotis.

I never understood mom’s logic of using a particular oil for her recipe until I started to blog, recreating some of her recipes at home.

The subtle differences between cold pressed or Kachchi ghani oil and high smoking oils started getting cleared by reading various online articles. And now I am able to appreciate the finer differences between various oils I use in my cooking. Here are a few pointers from some of the information I gathered over the years:

Cold pressed or virgin oil:

A cold press oil or Kachchi ghani oil is extracted mechanically by crushing the nuts or seeds and is bottled immediately for future use.

And yes, we were fortunate enough to have our own farm at my grandparents village. The farmers in the field would use the strongest bulls to rotate the Ghani (indigenous machine to take out oil manually) and take out fresh oil from mustard and sesame seeds.

I have watched the entire process with amusement many a times without even thinking what the end result was 🙂

Cold pressed oil retains most of the natural properties and flavors in it which gives wonderful results when added to salad as dressing.

Oil with high smoking point:

The natural oil goes thorough various processes such as bleaching to get refined oil with high smoking point which is neutral in flavor and has longer shelf-life.

Smoking point is the temperature at which oil starts breaking down releasing toxic fumes and harmful free radicals.

Hmm…in simple terms when you heat oil in a kadai and it starts releasing fumes and smoke, that’s when the oil breaks down and becomes unfit for use.

Refining is a technique to make the oil more stable at higher temperature so that it does not break down easily. The higher the smoking point for an oil, the more ways it can be used in your cooking such as sauteing, stir-frying and deep-frying.

Fortune rice bran oil: I started using this oil in my cooking sometime back and I am pretty pleased with the results. The fact that it’s high smoking point does not make the food sticky and help absorb less oil makes it a good deep- frying oil.

The presence of Oryzanol in it gives this oil slightly dark hue, but that does not alter the flavor or taste of the recipe.

I have been reading a lot about the benefits of rice bran oil lately. I found out that rice bran oil has good stability and is suitable for deep frying and many other cooking techniques and the oil absorption is also low.

Presence of a unique component in rice bran oil called Oryzanol makes it a special oil with many benefits.

Rice bran oil has the most balanced SMP ratio, which is, saturated fats: monounsaturated fats: polyunsaturated fats when compared to any other edible oil available in the Indian market (as read here).

You can read more informative articles about various kinds of Oils here:

Rediff

Huffington post

Healthy Soya Nugget Pops

Soya nugget or chunk is textured soya protein made with soy flour or concentrate. These high-protein and zero cholesterol nuggets have mild beany flavor and can be dehydrated before use.

These nuggets are bland in taste and easily absorb the flavors of the spices and marinate in it.

The shallow fried Soya nugget pops have a chewy bite inside and make a perfect guilt free snack recipe. I am slightly apprehensive when it comes to adding colour to the food, but you may add food grade red colour to give a more appetizing look to your Soya nuggets.

Ingredients;

(serve 3)

Soya nugget Pops 

• 2 cups soya nuggets
• 3 tbsp. Yogurt
• 2 tbsp. cornflour/rice flour
• 1 tbsp. semolina
• 2 tsp. ginger-garlic paste
• 1 tsp. red chilly powder
• 1/2 tsp. garam masala
• Oil to shallow fry
• Salt

Method; Soak soya nuggets in 4-5 cups of hot water for 15 minutes.

Squeeze remove excess water from the nuggets. Soaking softens the nuggets and helps in better absorption of marinate.

Combine yogurt, red chilly powder, garam masala, semolina, cornflour or rice flour and salt in a large bowl. Add a few teaspoons of water to make it a thick batter.

Add soya nuggets in marinate and coat each nugget with the batter. Cover the bowl and let the nuggets sit in the marinate for 15-20  minutes.

Baking: Pre-heat the oven at 190°C and grease a baking tray.

Place all the marinated Soya nuggets on the tray and bake for 15 minutes. Rotate the nuggets in between baking for even cooking.

Griddle: You can also shallow fry the marinated soya nuggets in a large pan. Heat a large pan or griddle and place the nuggets on it, drizzle a little oil around all the nuggets and cook on medium heat. Turn the nuggets and repeat the same process to get crispy nuggets.

Sesame dipping sauce

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp tomato sauce
• 2 tbsp. Soya sauce
• 2 garlic pearls
• 2 tbsp. chopped spring onion
• 1 tbsp vinegar
• 1 tbsp Cornflour
• 1 tbsp. oil
• 1 tsp. pepper powder
• 1 tsp. honey or sugar
• Water as required

Method: Combine tomato sauce, soya sauce, cornflour and one cup of water in a vessel.

Add oil in pan and add finely chopped garlic. Pour the above prepared sauce in the pan and continue cooking at low heat for 4-5 minutes.

Add pepper powder, vinegar, honey and simmer the sauce for another 2 minute and put off the flame.

Serve the healthy Soya nugget pops with the Sesame dipping sauce

These Soya nugget pops are slightly chewy in texture but makes a healthy snack and a party appetizer.

Notes;

1. You can deep fry the marinated soya nuggets for more crispy bites.
2. The batter coats well with the nuggets, but make sure it is not too runny or too thick to coat.
3. Use the smaller variety of nuggets as the nuggets double in size after soaking. Large variety of nuggets will not soak batter properly and the center will remain unappetizing.

“This blogpost is in association with Fortune Foods as a part of their Desi Health Bites activity– The Hunt for the Best Rice Bran Oil Recipes. For more updates and healthy recipes using Fortune Rice Bran Health Oil, follow Fortune Foods on Facebook  and on Twitter @fortunefoods “.

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