Healthy cooking with Lisa Leong

By Michael Kho Lim, Contributor

09/03/2008

In food, health and good taste are known to be trade-offs. Healthy food is usually assumed to be bland or boring, while scrumptious treats are generally regarded as unhealthy. A celebrated chef went out to prove that both nutrition and great taste can coexist through the “Healthy Lifestyle Cooking Course,” a series of cooking workshops conducted by celebrity chef Lisa Leong. Sponsored by Team Asia Corp. and held at Tang City branches in Robinsons Place Ermita and Glorietta, the recently concluded event taught Filipino participants delicious ways of preparing healthy gourmet recipes.

The gourmand

Lisa Leong is a Singapore-based chef well-known for her groundbreaking culinary style of healthy cooking. She is a valued food columnist who writes recipes and articles in food magazines, newspapers and other publications such as Eat! magazine and Gourmet Living (food and travel section). Leong is also a TV chef and spokesperson of leading branded food products and cookware widgets in Singapore and the rest of the Southeast Asian region.

Apart from being a celebrity chef, Leong is also a leading “gourmetician” with 25 years of industry experience. As a gourmetician, she does not only do chef work, but also educates the chef. “It’s a holistic way of cooking,” she says.

Her specialty is on bread and pastries and extends to new Asian health cuisines that bring together Japanese, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Thai and classic western flavors. Leong shares this passion through healthy cooking workshops in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines. She also has a recipe book out in the market, but during her workshop, she gives practical tips and techniques in cooking and about keeping a healthy lifestyle, which cannot be found in just any recipe book.

On the side, Leong designs culinary programs for local and foreign bakeries, restaurants and other multinational companies, and conducts personal development and customer service training for consumer home appliance giants.

Coconut oil is the key

Chef Leong does not cook with MSG (monosodium glutamate). She only makes use of organic ingredients like coconut oil in making her spicy Burmese cheesy curry special and Dancing tom yam satay.

Coconut oil is becoming increasingly famous for its health benefits. “It is a healthy and great-tasting cooking ingredient,” explains Leong. “It suits my gourmet style and appeals to millions of people in the region who use it in their daily meals.” The naturally occurring oil contains beneficial medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs), which makes it popular among Asian chefs.

Beneficial MCTs are fatty acids that facilitate metabolic processes of the body such as fat regulation, weight control and anti-infection. MCTs also act as a detoxifying agent in one’s body and can be used as a coco milk substitute or even as a coffee creamer.

In essence, MCTs in coconut oil contribute to a holistic diet and help fight the excessive ingestion of harmful trans fatty acids. This is why Chef Leong chooses coconut oil for her New Asian style cuisines, specifically those products from Team Asia Corp.

Great tasting yet healthy

new Asian dishes

A remarkable property of Team Asia’s bestselling coconut oil products is their ability to retain all the health benefits even after undergoing the heating process during cooking. Super Coco Virgin Coconut Oil and Cocos MCT Powder (powdered coconut oil) infuse a distinct flavor into my creations while also increasing their nutritional value,” Leong attests.

For example, Chef Leong uses a cup of Cocos MCT milk (a mixture of hot water and sachets of Cocos MCT Powder) and tablespoons of Super Coco Virgin Coconut Oil in her Burmese cheesy curry special. This, together with bite-size chicken strips, cream cheese, red curry paste, Thai curry powder and tomatoes, excites the senses and nurtures the body at the same time.

Desserts, too, are definitely promising. The cocos sesame peanut crisp is a sweet treat made from toasted peanuts, toasted sesame seeds and dashes of Super Coco Virgin Coconut Oil. In addition, the Jingle Glass MCT Jell-o offers a lighter dessert perfect for the holiday. This is made of gelatin crystals, condensed milk and Cocos MCT Powder.

Leong’s collection of New Asian style cuisines dispels the culinary myth of great-tasting healthy food. “I am showing that flavorful, nutritional dishes with a New Asian twist are possible and easy to make,” she declares.

By conducting Healthy Lifestyle Cooking Course workshops, Chef Leong is presenting the path to healthy gourmet cuisines, a road now easier to navigate with the help of Team Asia’s premium coconut oil products, Super Coco Virgin Coconut Oil and Cocos MCT Powder.

Team Asia Corp. is the Philippines’ leading distributor of consumer health products such as Super Coco Organic Virgin Coconut Oil, Cocos MCT Powder, Highlanders Brown Rice Tea and Nano Wellness Cards.

Through its line of best-selling goods, the company is fulfilling its vision of being “your healthier choice for a healthier lifestyle.”

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