
Home Made Oyakodon
The oyakodon is a classic Japanese bento dish.served in many Japanese restaurants including here in Malaysia. Check out this recipe and try making your own.
Like us, we’re sure you LOVE adding olive oil to your home-cooked meals. It contains a myriad of healthy monounsaturated fats and antioxidants, and is highly beneficial for heart health & cancer prevention – in fact renowned American heart surgeon Dr. Steven Gundry said in a recent podcast that you should consume 1 litre of olive oil a week! That seems a little ‘extra’ for us, but we love it just the same and enjoy incorporating as much as we can into our meals.
Popular as it is, there are still common misconceptions and myths about Olive Oil, which we’ll help debunk along with some useful pro-tips below:
What is a good Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)?
EVOO is simply olive oil extracted from fresh olives that have been processed within 24 hours of being harvested. For all budding olive-oil connoisseurs, you should be looking for EVOO that is ‘fresh’ and ‘fruity’ in flavour, giving off a herbaceous aroma and a slight hint of bitterness to the palate. When swallowed, you should get a subtle spicy taste
How do you taste it?
Without trying to sound too ‘gaya’, start by taking a small sip of oil, and aspirate (let in a bit of air while it’s still swirling in your mouth), and continue to swirl it. The flavour will spread over your mouth, and you can ingest it or spit it out into a spittoon.
Oiling Out Some Misconceptions:
Don’t eat light, be the light
To all our health-conscious readers, remember that all grades of olive oil contain the same number of calories. The labeling of ‘Light’ or ‘Extra-light’ tells you about its flavour, not fat content.
It don’t matter if you’re green or… light green.
If you’re judging an olive oil based on its colour, say no to oliveoilism (yes we made that up) – all olive oils carry the same quality regardless of colour. The colour difference is simply caused by geography, different types of olives, growing conditions, and the timing of the harvest.
Olive a short life
Olive oil does not get better with age – check your mother’s kitchen cabinets for any expensive EVOO that she has kept for ‘special dishes’ and use it up quick! The taste and aroma will degrade over time and exposing the bottle to sunlight and heat will speed this process up.
Never meant to be so cold
We sure you’ve heard that extra virgin olive oil is not suitable for cooking, but this is not true! EVOO has a smoke point between 160 and 215 degrees Celcius, while regular olive oils have a smoking point of between 199 and 244 degrees Celcius. Since the average stove-cooking temperature is about 350 degrees, using any kind of olive oil for cooking is safe.
Come celebrate Extra Virgin Olive Oil Day with us at B.I.G. this 30th September – take your pick from our range of quality oil brands such as Chateau d’Estoublon, Borgo, Ionio and many more. May you find the EVOO that suits you best and remember to always stay healthy!
The oyakodon is a classic Japanese bento dish.served in many Japanese restaurants including here in Malaysia. Check out this recipe and try making your own.
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