How to make lighter chicken korma

Put that takeaway menu down and make this easy curry instead – it’s got all the flavour but less fat and fewer calories. 

Prep 10 min Cook 25 min Serves 4

200g brown rice

½tbsp olive oil

1 large red onion, sliced

3 garlic cloves, crushed

450g skinless chicken breasts, cut into chunks

1tbsp mild curry powder

300ml hot reduced-salt chicken stock

35g ground almonds

150g mangetout, thinly sliced lengthways

50g extra-light soft cheese

2tbsp chopped fresh coriander

1tbsp flaked almonds, toasted

1 Cook the rice according to the pack instructions, then drain.

2 Meanwhile, heat the oil in a wok or large pan, then cook the onion for 2-3 min. Add the garlic and cook for 1 min. Add the chicken chunks and stir-fry for 4-5 min until they start to brown. Stir in the curry powder and cook for 2 min.

3 Add the stock and ground almonds and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, for 8-10 min until the sauce is creamy and the chicken cooked. Add the mangetout and cook for 5 min. Stir in the cheese and coriander, then season with ground black pepper.

4 Serve the curry with the brown rice, sprinkled with the toasted flaked almonds.

PER SERVING

448kcal, 37.2g protein, 12.4g fat, 1.9g saturates, 49.9g carbs, 6.6g sugar, 5.2g fibre, 0.8g salt, 112mg calcium, 4.3mg iron

For more healthy recipes, pick up your a copy of Healthy Food Guide March issue, which is in the shops now.

How to cut salt in children’s diets

By Hannah Sherwood

If UK adults are still consuming way too much salt, what about children? Their recommended maximum daily amount is even lower yet their consumption is ‘worrying’, say experts. What’s gone wrong, and what can we do about it in Salt Awareness Week?

Adults should be limiting their salt intake to 6g a day, but the maximum amount for children is much lower, at 3g for five to six-year-olds, 5g for eight to nine-year-olds, rising to 6g for those aged 13 to 17. We all know children can find it hard to resist salt laden treats like crisps, but a new study shows the salt in their diets is coming from more unexpected quarters such as breads and cereal products (36%), meat products (19%) and dairy products (11%).

‘Children, particularly teenagers, are eating a worryingly high amount of salt,’ says Katharine Jenner, registered nutritionist and campaign director of Consensus Action on Salt and Health (CASH). ‘What is most surprising about this new study is that this salt is not coming from the salty foods you’d expect teenagers to eat, such as crisps and snacks, which account for just 5% of their daily salt intake, but from breads and cereal products, which don’t taste salty but account for a third of their daily salt intakes! Children are not choosing to eat salty foods - the salt is hidden in there by the food industry and they must take it out.’

WHY ALL THE FUSS?

‘Salt puts up our blood pressure – the highest risk factor for stroke,’ explains Professor Graham MacGregor, chairman of Consensus Action on Salt and Health (CASH). ‘Reducing our intake would save thousands of people from suffering and dying from a stroke.’ In fact, raised blood pressure accounts for 62% of strokes and almost half of all cases of coronary heart disease. But that’s not all. According to CASH, a high salt diet is linked to many other conditions, including stomach cancer, osteoporosis, kidney disease, kidney stones and obesity, as well as exacerbating the symptoms of asthma, Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes.

Victoria Taylor, senior dietitian at the British Heart Foundation, which funded the study, says, ‘Childhood and adolescence is an important time for the development of our tastes and of food habits that can last a lifetime. Salt is a learned taste, so it’s worrying that so many of the children and young people in this study were already consuming more than the recommended amounts.’

DO A QUICK LABEL CHECK

Healthy Food Guide expert and nutrition scientist Bridget Benelam says, ‘It's important to check food labels for salt, especially those we eat everyday like bread and cereal. Although a lot has been done to reduce the salt content of foods, most of us are still eating too much. Look at traffic light labels for an at-a-glance comparison of salt content or check the nutrition information on the back of pack.’

Victoria Taylor adds, ‘The majority of salt in children’s and young people’s diets is coming from manufactured foods. This reinforces the need for continued food industry efforts to reduce the salt in their products. However, the adoption of colour-coded labels by manufacturers and retailers is also important as it will help parents and children make healthier choices.’

If a product has more than 1.5g salt/0.5g sodium per 100g of food it is considered high in salt. Aim for those with less that 0.3g salt/0.1g sodium

5 EASY WAYS TO USE LESS SALT AT HOME

*When you do use it in cooking or at the table, measure it out with your fingertips rather than pouring liberally from the tub or salt shaker.

*Buy a salt shaker with the smallest hole you can find – and look out for grinders that can be adjusted so less comes out.

*Opt for fine table salt rather than coarse crystals.

*Don’t rely on flavoured salts – choose other flavour enhancers instead (see below).

*Consider a reduced-sodium salt alternative, such as LoSalt.

10 WAYS TO FLAVOUR YOUR COOKING

Instead of relying on salt, use these natural flavour enhancers:  

*Fresh or dried herbs

*Pepper

*Fresh ginger

*Tomatoes and tomato purée

*Lemon (and other citrus) juice and zest

*Garlic

*Onions

*Celery

*Chilli (fresh or dried)

*Red or white wine

Healthy green juices

By Hayley Kirton

They say the grass is always greener on the other side, so are green juices really all they’re cracked up to be? Read on for the nutrition facts, plus a special Healthy Food Guide recipe…

Once upon a time, juice options were limited to orange and grapefruit and, if you were adventurous, maybe apple or tomato. Now juicing has adopted an entirely new hue as the trend for juicing vegetables to create green juices continues to grow. This vogue already has a dedicated celebrity following – Hollywood actress Gwyneth Paltrow published a number of green juice recipes in her cookery book It’s All Good – and sales of juicers in the UK have shot up over the past year. But is green juicing really that good for you?

Fans of juicing argue that eating the amount of fruit and vegetable that goes into a green juice would be impossible and that juicing is a fast, easy and tasty way to increase your vitamin and mineral intake. Many dedicated juicers are also quick to point out how much healthier they feel since starting their habit. Take, for example, Sarah Cadji, founder of London juice company Roots & Bulbs, who told the Evening Standard she hasn’t had a cold since she started juicing three years ago. Then there’s Australian Joe Cross, who documented his own transformation for the film Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, which saw him drink only juice and water for 60 days, dropping an astonishing amount of weight and a chronic skin condition in the process.

However, before you invest your life’s savings into juicing, there are some drawbacks to be aware of. Juicing fruit and vegetables rather than eating them whole means that you won’t get as much fibre, which is one of the biggest health benefits that fruit and veg have to offer. Some combinations of juice ingredients are also not as beneficial as their colour portrays them to be, offering only a fraction of your daily needs for vitamins. You should also watch out for recipes that contain a high proportion of fruit as these may push you over the recommended maximum daily intake of 90g sugar.

But if you’re keen, there’s certainly no harm in giving it a go. Healthy Food Guide’s recipe consultant Phil Mundy has created this green juice, so you can rest assured it’s healthy, fresh and tastes delicious.

Healthier green juice

Juice 2 large celery sticks, 1 medium courgette (or ½ a cucumber), 1 kiwi fruit (no need to peel), 1 apple, a handful of spinach leaves and a small chunk of root ginger (about 20g). Squeeze in the juice of half a lemon or lime (its easier to do this manually).