Top 10 Healthiest Chinese Foods

Healthy Chinese food, seems like a paradox, but does not have to be. Most take out places have given Chinese food a bad rap by deep frying or serving thick sodium high sauces with almost every menu offering. Depending on how much they are willing (or able) to customize your meal, you could end up with a relatively decent meal that is not bursting with calories and saturated fat.
Here are 10 are options that can make Chinese take out much less of a diet nightmare than it usually is:

Healthy (not bland) Menu:

• Soup: No Chinese meal can start without a soup of some sort. Go for the wonton or hot and sour kind. Although still high in sodium, they are the leaner kind, and a better choice than corn flour thickened broths like sweet corn, or egg drop.

• Dumplings: These are good steamed, and if you pick at the filling and leave the dough pocket on the plate. Also these are a better choice than egg rolls or spring rolls both of which are deep fried.

• Chicken with green beans (pick this over lemon chicken which is battered and stir fried then smothered with sauce)

• Shrimp stir fried with snap peas and chestnuts (again head and shoulders over a sauce thickened with corn flour and sugar)

• Beef with broccoli if you can pass on some of the beef. This is lightly sautéed and contains less oil compared to the breaded or deep fried orange beef.

• Any fish seared and then splashed in light hot sauce (take care that it is not breaded and fried).

• Stir fried ginger beef (or pork) that is usually loaded with a lot of veggies.

• To accommodate your carb fix, go for Lomein, preferably with a lot of vegetables (unlike chowmein the caloric content is lower because it is not fried but sautéed)

• Moo goo gai pan ranks lower because of sodium count, but still healthier than sweet and sour or Kung Pau chicken.

When we talk about the health aspects of Chinese food, ever wonder why no one talks about making these dishes at home? I did, and came up with a few tips on lowering the sodium and cholesterol content of these foods.

• Make stir fries; they are the ultimate in flavor and kind to your waistline. Use about two teaspoons of a flavored oil (like sesame), and a light soy sauce as seasoning. Load up on veggies, and garnish with the meat instead of the other way around.

• Use ginger or garlic to spice up your dish. Not only are they friends of metabolism, the flavor from them will lessen the need for added salt.

• Fuse your style: When cooking, substitute the cornstarch based sauces with curry pastes diluted in water. For soup bases and seafood curries use fish sauce and cut down on the oil. In addition to cutting down on calories, these will add a twist to the flavors and infuse, Thai, Korean and even Indian undertones.

• Pick sides wisely: Steam green beans or brown rice to complement your stir fried chicken or pork. They are quick to make and sensible too.

You would be surprised what a little bit of common sense and some up front planning can do. Armed with these, you don’t even have to read through the ‘diet’ options on the Chinese menu. Keep your eyes open, ask questions, customize where you can, and make a guilty pleasure a little less guilty.