Veganomicon_ The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook - Isa Chandra Moskowitz [18]
Now, here comes the less-than great news: you can have too much of a good thing. Yes, sopping up that fresh, crusty bread in herbed olive oil may not clog your arteries like saturated fat will, but over time it can make those jeans just a little tighter. So especially if you have weight loss in mind, keep those wonderful oils in your cupboard and in your salads, entrees, and other dishes. Just use less of them.
SAUTÉ WITH LESS OIL
Maybe the most obvious thing in the world, but happily it’s the easiest thing to do. First off, the venerable non-stick skillet is your friend here (see page 14). With your high-quality, nonstick skillet in hand, you can approach recipes with a critical eye as to how much oil is really necessary to get the approximate degree of browning and crisping. Usually if a food is just going to be browned or lightly grilled, less than a tablespoon of oil should work. Depending on the “sticky factor” of the item, it might require more or less. A spray bottle filled with oil is a godsend here, as it will distribute only the lightest coat of oil evenly over whatever you are cooking.
For sautéing veggies, tofu, tempeh and seitan, you can substitute vegetable broth for most if not all of the oil. Our favorite method is to use a tiny amount of oil to initially lightly brown that tofu, tempeh, asparagus, and so on, then add the broth to finish the job. Technically this might be braising, except that we may or may not find it necessary to cover the pan. If you’re cooking a tough vegetable that requires a longer cooking time (such as cauliflower or broccoli), then covering the pan is the way to go.
When sautéing garlic and onions as the base of a soup, stew, or sauce, you can usually get away with only a teaspoon or two of oil. Here’s a little trick: Put a teaspoon or two of oil in a pool on one side of your pan, don’t coat the entire pan. Now, add your onions and garlic to the oil. Sauté in that little corner of the pan, preferably using tongs. When moisture begins to release from the onions, usually after 3 minutes or so, you can spray on a little more oil. Then use broth to cook them further, if needed. Many of our soup and stew recipes call for two tablespoons of oil, which really isn’t very much when divided among six to eight people, but you can use this method if you want to reduce the fat even further.
ADD MORE VEGGIES
It’s also a good idea to boost meals with more fresh vegetables in place of other calorie-dense items, whether or not you’re trying to drop a few pounds. Particularly these should be of the leafy, green variety (spinach, bok choy, etc.) with the addition of red vegetables (tomatoes, red peppers, etc.) and a few other colors to that rainbow. So have that pasta, but instead of two cups of pasta with one-half cup of veggies, have one cup of pasta with two cups of veggies. See our vegetable section for a million ways prepare veggies. Well, a couple dozen at least.
When NOT to Cook Low-Fat!
BELIEVE it or not, there are key times when you don’t want to cook low-fat meals:
Situation 1: First-Time Vegan Food-Tasters
They may not know it yet, but your flesh-eating dinner guests are going to go vegan. Someday. And part of your devious plan is to render them speechless with a most outrageous richly sauced seitan piccata, creamy garlic mashed potatoes, and “buttery” cookies slathered with homemade chocolate-hazelnut spread. This is where you want to pull out all the stops and smother them with tender, loving fat. Don’t let their first memory of vegan eating be steamed kale and fat-free