Curry Chicken - test number 1

Is full flavoured food possible with healthy levels of salt. Of course!

Chicken curry
1.5kg chicken pieces
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 medium onions, chopped
3 teaspoons of Galiko All Natural Garlic paste (30mg sodium/100g)
1.5 teaspoons Galiko All Natural Ginger paste (11mg sodium/100g)
3 tablespoons Keen's Hot Curry powder (62mg/100g)
1 teaspoon chilli powder
2 cans Val Verde diced Italian tomatoes (15mg/100g)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander leaves or mint
2 teaspoons Masterfoods Garam Masala
1 tablespoon extra chopped fresh coriander or mint

Cut chicken into serving sized pieces. Add all ingredients except the garum masala and extra coriander to a slow cooker and cook on low for around 8-10 hours, stirring occassionally. Add garum masala and extra coriander 5 minutes before serving with boiled rice.


Rice
I suggest Sun Rice Fragrant Brown Rice (<5mg/100g) - ready in the microwave in 2.5 minutes.


This recipe comes recommended from Bernard and Esther Jansen (I have added brand suggestions I found in the cupboard that were low in salt, substituted ghee (clarified butter ~300mg/100g) with olive oil and deleted the 3 teaspoons of added salt altogether). Following this recipe I found the meat was a little dry despite being a "wet" curry.

We cut chicken breast into pieces prior to cooking and it was skinless. Perhaps, whole chicken pieces would work better? Something to try next time.

Too little, too slowly

Australian processed food manufacturers Kellogg's and Sanitarium have signed a pact to reduce the salt content in their high salt content food (>400mg/100g) by 15% over the next 4 years according to Today Tonight. See here for the article(website accessed 22/03/2010).

This means that Kellogg's rice bubbles, which currently has 690 mg sodium/100g in 2010, will be reduced to a still high 586mg sodium/100g by no later than 2014. Sorry but this is too little, too slowly.

We recognise eating too much salt is a health problem. We recommend healthy adults eat less than 2300mg sodium/100g food. Then we set a target for a single 15% decrease from existing levels that leaves levels far too high? Sounds like smoking 17 rather than 20 cigarettes per day to reduce your risk of lung cancer to me...

How many people will die from heart disease while companies are allowed to continue the production of foods with unhealthy levels of salt?

A lack of cajun

I didn't realise how much of the spice you add from the rack includes an unhealthy dose of salt. I like cajun chicken but discovered that my cajun spice may have as much as 8000mg sodium/100g.

Tonight I tried this mixture on my pan fried chicken to great effect:

- cumin
- paprika
- pepper
- cayenne

and added lemon juice while cooking.

The meat was tender and tasty.

What is the evidence?

For references showing the link between a diet high in sodium and high blood pressure see this position statement from the Australian Heart Foundation.

The Man Eats All-Bran

The Dietary Guidelines for Australian Adults recommends choosing foods that are low in salt.

The Australian Food Standard's Code defines low salt food as having a sodium concentration of less than 120mg/100g.

Kellogg's Australia make a cereal called All-Bran. This cereal received an Australian National Heart Foundation tick of approval and is promoted as a food that helps "you feel healthy on the inside".

I happen to really enjoy All-Bran on my yoghurt most days of the week. Now that I am trying to control the amount of sodium I eat every day I have discovered that this cereal contains 380mg/100g! Kellogg's is clearly marketing All-Bran as a healthy food. Is it really that hard to keep the sodium below 120mg/100g?

Kellogg's do make some low salt cereal options that include Just Right (30mg sodium /100g), Mini Wheats Golden Honey (20mg sodium/100g)and Sustain Selection (90mg sodium/100g. Why don't Kellogg's add All-Bran to the list?

I will be looking for another bran alternative made by a company called Select Naturals that's reported to contain only 28mg sodium/100g.

Cut the gravy!

A single serve of regular gravy from the packet can easily top 300 mg of sodium per serve. That's over 10% of a healthy adult's recommended daily intake.

When you are thinking of using gravy on lamb next time why not try this mint sauce!

3/4 cup of finely chopped fresh mint
2 tsp of castor sugar
60 mL (1/4 cup) boiling water
125 mL (1/2 cup) white wine vinegar

Combine mint and sugar and dissolve sugar in boiling water.
Add vinegar and mix well.
Let stand for 15 min

This is an easy and great tasting way to Eat Less Salt!

Less than 2300 mg/day

If you eat over 2300mg of Sodium a day you are at increased risk of heart disease and stroke.

If you are like me and have a family history of heart disease and stroke the limit is more like 1500mg/day. I recently added the sodium I ate in a typical day and was shocked at how easy it was to eat too much.

Breakfast:

2 pieces of bread: 196mg

2 serves of vegemite: 346mg

2 serves of margarine: 76mg

4 weet-bix: 384mg

1 serve of milk: 128mg

Lunch:

4 pieces of bread: 392mg

4 serves of margarine: 152mg

1 serve of pink salmon: 407mg

1 serve of cheese: 383mg

Total: 2479mg !!

By this stage I was too depressed to add the sodium intake for the rest of the day! No crackers, no chips, no McDonalds and still too much salt. This is going to be harder work than I'd thought!

How to keep your salt intake down?

This link to the Queensland State Government's Health site gives a useful guide.