You can enjoy low calorie Chinese food

BY KARI ANDRADE

I love Chinese food. The more authentic the better. Having spent a lot of time in China I consider myself a bit of an expert. I love to cook Chinese food and have since high school. Six course meals are my specialty. Have you ever noticed how much oil and fat is in Chinese food?  It is ridiculous sometimes. And then there is the rice—one cup of short/medium grain white rice is 270 calories. One regular size (2.07 oz) Snickers bar is 280 calories! How is that even possible?? Chinese people in general are not heavy and in the past have eaten mainly rice and veggies with a little meat.

I guess most of their calories are in the rice and the abundant oil that they stir fry everything in.

I can get away from the oil by using Pam, which has no calories. I don’t understand how that is possible, but I love it. Pam is my new best friend. I Use Pam all the time now and to make my Kung Pao chicken I only use Pam so the calories are very low. I cook the veggies in water and “fry” the
marinated chicken in Pam and thicken with cornstarch. It is fabulous, healthy and low calorie.

Well, I have never loved rice the way my family does or the way I love Snickers. So I gave up rice. I just don’t eat it anymore for the most part. Too rich for my blood; too many calories for my tummy. I do really enjoy cabbage—one cup cooked cabbage is 30 calories! BINGO! There is my rice
substitute. I make steamed cabbage for me, rice for the family and I love Chinese food again.

Kung Pao Recipe—Feeds 3
1 boneless skinless chicken breast—diced (130)
1 carrot—diced (30)
1 celery stalk—diced (10)
1/4 cuke—diced (10)
1T cornstarch (30)
1T soy sauce (10)
2T oyster sauce (50)
1 scallion—chopped (5)

Hot pepper sauce and peanuts to taste on top (My family doesn’t eat spicy so I put lots of peppers in mine only.)

Marinate the chicken in soy sauce and one-half of the cornstarch, “fry” in Pam until just under done. Remove from pan. Add veggies to pan, cook with water and rest of cornstarch until just under done. Add oyster sauce and chicken, cook together for one to two minutes. Garnish with peanuts and chopped scallion.
TOTAL calories 275 (not per serving) without peanuts or pepper sauce. Isn’t that amazing? And if I put on 1/4 cup of peanuts it adds 160 calories—so careful with the peanuts. I had to tell my husband to take the peanuts to work today because I don’t want them in the house.

So I have my 150 calorie portion including peanuts with one cup of steamed cabbage (30) and am very, very happy. I make egg drop soup, which is just one egg, chicken bouillon powder and cornstarch, cuke with Asian dressing (Ken’s low cal) and extra garlic for the salad and they have a big pot of rice that I don’t touch. It is not the six-course meals I used to make with lemon chicken, bacon corn sugar and red peppers, fried won tons or egg rolls and everything cooked in lots of peanut oil, but it is close enough to make me very happy. I love Chinese food and now it loves me back and doesn’t take me off my plan. Down to 191.8 this morning after a great Chinese meal last night. No guilt and great results. Stay tuned for pork in garlic sauce, mushu, lettuce wraps, tom yum and other Asian delights that I make lo-cal and delicious without the guilt, oil and calories.