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I've shown you how to create guilt-free cheeseburgers
that contain much less calories and almost five times less
saturated fat than a typical fast-food cheeseburger. Of
course there's one food that goes perfectly with a cheeseburger—French
fries. But typical French fries are packed with calories
and contain lots of fat, usually not the good kind either.
So now I'll show you how to create your own fries at home
that contain less calories and that are cooked using "good"
fat.
But
before I show you how to create healthy fries at home, I
want to talk a little bit about potatoes. The poor old potato
has been getting a lot of criticism lately—mostly from
diet gurus who say that they will cause a massive rise in
blood sugar and will make you horrendously fat. I've even
heard some diet gurus talk about how eating a potato is
the same as eating pure sugar.
Well,
I beg to differ. For a start, potatoes in their natural
state are low in calories. In fact a medium-size potato
contains only around 130 calories.
However,
what we have a tendency to do in the West is eat potatoes
with lots of high calorie foods such as sour cream, butter
or cheese. Another way we add lots of calories to potatoes
is by deep frying them to make French fries and potato chips.
So it's actually the way we typically eat potatoes, and
not the potato itself, that's fattening.
Potatoes
and blood sugar levels
And
don't be concerned about getting a rapid rise in blood sugar
and insulin levels from eating a potato. The rate at which
a potato is converted into blood sugar (glucose) and released
into your bloodstream is directly affected by what you eat
with the potato. If you sat back and ate a plain potato
you would get quite a rapid rise in blood sugar. But when
you eat a potato with slowly digested foods such as fish
and poultry, fibrous vegetables and healthy fats you don't
end up getting a rapid rise in blood sugar and insulin levels.
Potatoes
are also very good for you from a nutrition standpoint.
They contain high amounts of health-promoting nutrients
including vitamin C (a powerful antioxidant),
dietary fiber, and potassium (which
helps to maintain the stability of heart cells and the central
nervous system). And the carbohydrates in potatoes provide
your muscles with energy and your brain with fuel.
How
to make healthy fries
Now
that you know potatoes can be good for you if they're eaten
the right way, let's get down to the nitty gritty of how
to make healthy French fries.
Before
I show you step-by-step how to do that, here's a nutrient
comparison between a typical large serve of fries from a
fast food outlet and our healthier version:
As you can see, our fries contain around half the calories
of typical fries and also much less fat. And unlike fast
food fries, which are cooked with either unhealthy partially-hydrogenated
fat or beef fat, these fries are cooked with heart-healthy
canola oil.
Here's
how to make these fries at home. This recipe makes two serves:
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Peel
the potato and square off the edges
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Peel two good sized potatoes (floury potatoes like
Russet, spunta or sebago are best) and slice off the
sides and ends of each to form a rectangular shape.
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Slice
the potato lengthwise
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Slice
each potato lengthwise into approximately 1cm (½-inch)
slices.
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Stack
and slice into sticks
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Stack the slices on top of each other and cut into
1cm (½-inch) sticks.
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Pat
the sliced potato dry with paper towels and put in
a bowl with 1½ tablespoons of canola oil. Toss
gently with your hands to coat.
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Preheat
the oven to 250°C/480°F. Place the fries
on a baking tray in a single layer (not touching
each other) and bake for 35 minutes in the center
of the oven.
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Sprinkle
with salt and serve
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Sprinkle
with a little salt and serve immediately.
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