Healthy eating tips from Chef Seralanyane
The good chef, Angela Seralanyane says people should avoid eating fatty and junk foods but stick to healthy meals.She shares with The Food Court that roasting, baking and braised meats is the ideal choice for preparing healthy meals. Like any other chef, she takes pride in her cooking skills and believes that she is unique.
“What makes me stand out is the fact that I am generally in the kitchen and I enjoy pressure,” she says. Although she has always liked cooking, from a young age, she boasts that joining hotel and catering back in 1995 has really sharpened her cooking skills to become the best that she is today.
She has worked with hotels like Mowana Lodge in Kasane and Adansonia Hotel, where she is currently employed.Seralanyane cooks everything from sweet to sour and salty food. She explains that during her spare time she caters for parties, weddings and any kind of an event, which she reiterates enlightens her because she enjoys the pressure of cooking good food for a group of people. She says people should make happy homes by preparing good meals at all times because family is all about enjoying good food together. “Learning to do a variety of recipes is very important because in this case, we get to know who needs to eat what in a healthy way,” she says adding that, an elderly, an infant and an active person’s diets differ.
Her favourite dish in the kitchen is Beef Strogonof and Pilaf rice. She says the meal is favorable to anyone. In order for one to make this dish, she advices, “beef strogonof requires beef steak cut into strips, pan fried then add onions, green pepper and mushrooms also cut in strips then sauté and add a bit of flour and beef stock granule, salt and pepper then add water and let it simmer then finish with cream and serve”.
On the other hand, she explains, “Pilaf rice requires fried chopped onions, then add rice into them and continue to fry as you add bay leaf, gloves then chicken stock, salt and pepper to give taste and cover the pot with a foil and bake it in the oven until cooked”.She says that her favorite dessert is lemon tarts and emphasizes that she likes mouth-watering food, yet healthy.
“To come up with this scrumptious dessert, one needs short paste cut into round then baked at the back of a muffin tray to make a small basket then prepare lemon curd, hot milk then stir in a mixture of corn starch, egg yolk, sugar, milk, and lemon zest to thicken the hot milk then add lemon juice and remove it from the heat and cool it in the fridge covered with cling wrap then add whipped cream to the cooled curd and mix the pipe to the baskets and finish with piped whipped cream, a slice of lemon and a mint leaf,” shares Seralanyane.She also highlights that whenever she plans a menu, she looks at the number of people, the type of people and the kind of an event she prepares for as well as the availability of ingredients that should be considered first.