Monday, November 10, 2014

How to reduce intake of salt in south Indian diet???

How do you prepare potato stir fry? Boil Potatoes with salt and then add salt again while you do the stir fry? Then this write up is for you.

A famous old saying in tamil : Uppilla Pandam Kuppaiyile; meaning unsalted food goes to trash. Now what do you say: Miga Uppulla Pandam Kuppaiyile, meaning more salted food need to go to trash. In school days, I would like to start any essay with a famous saying so as to attract the teacher. Now its you.. !!!

One with high blood pressure (or even slightly high blood pressure) is advised to reduce the intake of salt by everyone whom he meets. Here are few tips that would help anybody who wants to reduce their salt intake.




Do not add salt while cooking plain rice: I've come across many (especially a lot of lovely grandmothers of south india) who add salt while cooking rice . Do we eat rice as such? Not at all; We are going to mix it in any curry or sambar for sure, which has enough salt in it. So if at all you are doing this, please stop. 

Do not add salt while kneading dough or chapati: This is something that I've learnt from my neighbor's friend. I've always wondered why didn't I know this before. There was no difference in taste as I feared initially. Anyways,we like to dip it in any curry that has salt in it. I think this would be a new tip to many of you.

Do not add salt while sauteing onions: Everyone who sautes onions are taught to add salt for fast cooking. No No !!! Let it take few more seconds to get done.

Then When to add Salt: Add Salt at the end of any cooking and that would obviously require only less salt. 

If you are preparing stir fries with vegetables or root vegetables, sprinkle salt when it is done before you could add grated coconut. If the recipe does not require grated coconut, then addition of salt would be the final step. The same thing suits for curries and sambar too.

Avoid Pickles: We very well know that pickles require lots and lots of salt to preserve it for a long time. If you are pickle lover and cannot stop pickling ;) with curd rice, go for instant pickles. For ex. Raw Mango pickle.. Cut it into fine pieces. Add salt, chilli powder, and other masala. consume it within 1-2 days.

No Processed Foods: 

Sauces: Just like pickles. all the finger licking sauces have toooo much amount of salt in them. It is better to switch to home made sauces with less salt. If at all you need to try the recipe with ready made sauces, do not add any further salt.

Chips: No supermarket exists without different flavors of potato chips. Irresistible!!! just because of the too much salt content. It is not that easy to prepare thin potato chips at home without a perfect cutter. But it is easy to prepare potato wedges with an oven at home. Or simply switch to raw banana chips that can be easily made at home.

And many more processed foods: Strictly say No.

I am still experimenting how to reduce salt. These are the few steps that I've started following since few months.

What say friends???!!!! Share your tips. I would like to hear and follow.

P.S: I am not an expert. I've shared here few tips that I've followed.

I would have used you at many sentences.  It generally means many of us or few of us. 

7 comments:

Kaveri Venkatesh said...

Nice post Laxmi..

Lifewithspices said...

Laxmi.. i too dont add salt while cooking only after finishing cooking i add.. more so over there is this salt Sendha namak how much you add it will never increase the salt content.. v hv been using this for last 2 yrs.. since my father in law has a failed kidney n high salt v only add a pinch of this n the whole family got used to it.. n ayurveda recommends this salt for every day use..

Rafeeda AR said...

Nice tips dear... I never add salt to rice, but to chapathi, very little... in fact, umma hates my cooking because she feels the level of salt is too less in mine! The only time I add salt is when I saute the onions, after that I never add salt unless somebody complains about the lack of salt... I guess that explains why my BP is always on the low... hehe... keep sharing your insights, would love to read...

Sangeetha M said...

Nice and Informative post, I was adding little(1/4 tsp) salt to my rotis but I stopped that 4 months back. Otherwise I follow most of ur tips. thanks for sharing and keep them coming. TC!

Ruxana Gafoor said...

Me and my mother both use very little salt in cooking and we both have a low BP.My BP level goes so down that I start to faint and vomit,and the doctors here tell me "go eat salted olives"hehe...I do add salt in everything but I thing its very low.Thanks dear for sharing all those very useful tips...keep going :)

lkjhgfd said...

hey turns out the 3 day average of salt consumption for my family falls to just a little over 6 grams per person per day. which although on a higher side, is acceptable. I was perhaps getting a little more concerned than I should have. Thanks for pointing that out!

animalbobb said...

Nice tips dear... I never add salt to rice, but to chapathi, very little..
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