Six ways to cook a healthier heritage meal

By reimagining classic favourites and using wholesome ingredients, it's entirely possible to create a Heritage Day menu that tickles all your senses, and nourishes your body and soul, while honouring a commitment to prioritising health and wellbeing.

Here are 6 ways you can transform a decadent meal into a healthier version without sacrificing flavour or tradition.

1. Choose leaner proteins
   Consider skinless chicken breasts, lean beef or tofu in place of fatty cuts to reduce fat content while maintaining protein intake. This is the ways to keep things traditional and enjoy your meals, too!
2. Reduce salt and sugar
   Use herbs, spices and naturally sweet ingredients, like dates to enhance flavours and benefit heart health. Think of alternatives to salt, like lemon juice and balsamic vinegar.
3. Add more healthy sides
   Offer a selection of salads, roasted vegetables or whole grain bread to add more balance and nutrition to your meal.
4. Exercise portion control
   Pay attention to portion size to avoid overeating and manage calorie intake. Your plate should ideally be half-filled with non-starchy vegetables e.g. spinach, cucumbers, etc; then, a quarter with lean protein; and one quarter with healthy carbohydrate foods like whole grains and starchy vegetables. See how seven colours can be healthy if prepared well? Use colorful, smaller plates and you won't even notice your portions are smaller.
5. Lighten up desserts
   Make fruit the hero of your desserts, and go for fat-free yoghurt rather than heavy creams.
6. Change up cooking methods
   Choose to grill, bake, steam, sauté and poach to help reduce overall fat and calorie content.

Here's a recipe for a delicious, traditional mielie bread, made the healthy way at our rooftop cooking studio in Sandton, the Vitality HealthyFood Studio.

INGREDIENTS

• 600 g Morogo/kale or swiss chard
• 40 g Butter, soft
• 30 ml Olive oil
• ½ cup Amasi or buttermilk
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
• 2 tbsp Honey
• 80 g Sweetcorn kernels
• 2 Free-range eggs
• 1 cup Maize meal
• ½ tsp Salt
• 35 g Cake flour
• 35 g Wholewheat

METHOD

01 | Grease a medium-sized baking tin.

02 | On a hot grill, cook the greens until wilted. Chop into smaller pieces and set aside.

03 | In a stand-up mixer, mix the butter, honey, olive oil, eggs and buttermilk or amasi. Set aside.

04 | Add the bicarbonate of soda, maize meal, salt, cake flour and wholewheat flour, sweetcorn and greens to the wet ingredients in the mixer and mix until combined.

05 | Place in a greased loaf tin and bake on the braai until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.