Egusi Soup and Pounded Yam

This Egusi soup (an African dish) was cooked using Saladmaster 5 Qt. (4.7L) Multi-Purpose Oil Core cookware.

To make it more healthier, I have used just 1 tablespoon of palm oil. This was added in the  last 5 minutes of cooking in order to ensure the oil retains all its natural goodness plus give the Egusi its rich red colour (without drenching it in oil to achieve this.

PALM OIL
Palm oil used in moderation and prepared the right way when cooking is good for the body but excess oil is very bad for the body. This oil is a potent antioxidant that’s rich in phytonutrients. The recommended daily-intake of Red Palm Oil is two tablespoons (about 28 grams) per day.

COOKWARE
This cookware I used is the ultimate in versatility, performance, ease of use and technology. It has a self-contained “oil core” heating system which requires no stovetop. It provides gentle even heating ensuring the food cooks evenly throughout, in half the time thus maximum nutrition is retained and food tastes delicious without having to add excess salt. It is ideal as a rice cooker, slow cooker, pressure cooker and stockpot.

DAILY RECOMMENDED AMOUNT:
OIL -
As a guideline, men should consume no more than 30g of saturated fat a day and women no more than 20g.
The Department of Health recommends that fat intake should not exceed 35% of our total daily energy intake from food and saturated fat should not exceed 11% of total energy intake from food. 

Fat is a rich source of energy. Excess energy can be stored as body fat which functions as a reserve that is readily available for use during the times of starvation, illnesses and cold-weather conditions.
But over time, excessive body fat promote the development of obesity, which increases the risk of conditions like heart disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer.

Fats are incredible sources of essential fatty acid (EFA). Deficiency of EFAs can result in impaired brain growth, mental retardation and learning difficulties, dermatitis (dryness of skin), hair loss and poor wound healing.

Vitamin A, D, E and K are fat-soluble vitamins which require fats and oils in the food to be absorbed through the gut. 

All fats contain a mixture of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids but choosing foods which contain higher amounts of unsaturated fat, and less saturated fat, is preferable.

Fats with a greater proportion of saturated fatty acids tend to be solid at room temperature (e.g. butter and lard) but some oils (e.g. palm and coconut oil) are also high in saturates.  These should be consumed less often and in very small amounts as too much saturated fat can increase the amount of bad cholesterol deposit at various proportions in different organs and tissues inside our body leading to obesity, coronary artery disease, diabetes, peripheral vascular disease, stroke,...etc.

Also too much saturated fat can increase the amount of blood clots which can lead to heart attacks or strokes.

Unsaturated fats contain a higher proportion of unsaturated fatty acids and are usually liquid at room temperature. Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats help to maintain healthy cholesterol levels and are found in vegetable oils such as olive, rapeseed and sunflower oils, avocados, nuts and seeds.Polyunsaturated fats provide us with essential fatty acids like omega-3 which are important for health.