Frying is a form of cooking that can easily make the food tasty, giving it a mouthwatering aroma and attractive looks. But improper ways of frying can lead to a significant loss of nutritional values, while high temperatures can break the internal structure of the food ingredients and transform them into toxic substances.

Using the macrobiotic pottery pan, the runner-up of the 2013 edition of the cooking show called Golden Spoon Awards shows how to fry two of the most popular Vietnamese dishes - banh xeo, or crispy pancake, and spring rolls, in a way that can minimize the chemical changes inside the food, but still ensure that they remain attractive and stay crispy for hours.

Banh Xeo Pancake (Central Vietnamese style)

Ingredients: 500 grams banh xeo (Vietnamese pancake) mix, one liter of water, 300 grams of pork belly, 300 grams of shrimps, 500 grams of bean sprouts, 2 eggs, green onion.

The dish is usually served with sweet and sour fish sauce (with chili and garlic) and raw vegetables.

Rinse all ingredients and let dry. Boil or stir-fry the pork belly and shrimp. Slice the cook pork belly into thin and small pieces and peel the shrimp.

Sieve the mix into a large bowl until smooth, then add a liter of water and mix well. Banh xeo mix is already seasoned, however, you can add an egg to thicken the batter.

Brush a thin layer of oil at the bottom of the macrobiotic pan. Preheat the pan and wait until the oil is hot before reducing to low heat. Stir the batter evenly. Scoop half a soup bowl of batter to pour into the pan.

Tip and rotate the pan to spread the batter as thinly as possible, then add the pork belly, shrimp and bean sprouts, and put the lid on. Wait about two minutes.

Remove the lid and wait for another two more minutes until the cake is crispy gold, fold it in half and serve hot.

Now get the dipping sauce and herbs platter ready for a healthier meal. Importantly, you don’t have to worry that the pancake gets soft and soggy anytime soon. Fried in the macrobiotic pan, Vietnamese pancakes can stay crispy for several hours.

Spring rolls with lotus seed

Ingredients: 200 grams of ground pork, 80 grams of lotus seeds, 15 grams of carrot, 15 grams of wood ear mushrooms, shallots, green onion.
10 spring roll rice paper, 2 eggs and cooking oil
1 gram of black pepper, 1 gram of sugar, 2 grams of seasoning.
The spring rolls are served with a sweet and sour fish sauce, rice noodles, cucumber slices and fresh raw greens.

How to cook: Boil the lotus seeds for 15 minutes until soft, but not overcooked, then strain. Julienne the carrot, soak wood ear mushrooms in water and julienne them too. Mince the shallot and the green onion.

Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl, add spices and an egg, mix them up and leave for 10 minutes.

Divide the ingredients into 10 equal portions, roll with rice paper, brush the rim with egg wash to finish rolling. Pour about 750 ml of cooking oil into the pan, bring to boil in 3 minutes, then lower the heat. Put the rolls in. What's special about frying with the macrobiotic pan is that the oil does not splatter and you do not have to worry if it is hot enough because it retains heat steadily for a long time.

After 20 minutes, take the cooked rolls out and place them on oil-absorbing cooking paper. The dish is served with raw vegetables, garlic and chili fish sauce, and rice vermicelli.

In what way the macrobiotic pan
is helpful?

At some home kitchens fried food used to be cooked in smoking hot oil, the frying temperature then can reach 160°C for food to be evenly done and stay crisp. Scientists advise that it is safer to cook at medium-low temperature (under 150°C). At this point, the food is cooked and remains its authentic nutritional profile better.

Macrobiotic porcelain cookware is fired as a whole at high temperature, enhanced with heat radiation and heat-retaining properties that stabilize cooking temperature throughout. As a result, Minh Long Healthycook cookware can fry food at safe, low temperature ranging from 120 to 130°C. Especially, when fried at low temperature, the food is still evenly cooked, stays crispy longer, achieves golden brown look and delicious aroma and no oil stored inside. At this temperature, oil does not get too hot, hence, no toxic substances are released, which mitigate toxic and chemical accumulation, cancer risks and cardiovascular diseases through cooking.

In addition, as the oil is heated evenly, the pan remains the structure.

Besides using the pan to keep the frying temperature stable, here are a few tips to make delicious fried food without worrying too much about your health:use olive oil instead of regular vegetable oil, use gluten-free flour, avoid used oil or add baking soda to the batter.