Don’t let the nutrients in your food go down the drain

Right nutrition begins much before we put the first morsel in our mouth —from selecting fresh vegetables and fruits to chopping and cooking them correctly.

“It’s important to select the right cooking method to maximise the nutritional quality of your meals,” say Neelu Malhotra, Mohali-based nutritional expert. “Because inadvertently we make many mistakes in the kitchen or while cutting or cooking vegetables, salads, lentils, poultry, meat, etc, that affect or compromise many nutrients in them.

For example, we have always been advised by our moms or chefs on TV shows to add some salt while sautéing as it can hasten the process, or many of us add salt before boiling/cooking lentils and pulses (dals, rajmah, chana, etc). Adding salt in the beginning or even during cooking of any dish can af