It’s perfect to eat like this in summer, it’s delicious and convenient for losing fat, even the people setting up stalls come to learn from you!

In the hot summer, appetite seems to rise along with the temperature, but people are always discouraged by the greasy and complicated cooking process. In this season of pursuing lightness and health, a kind of food has quietly become a hot search. It is refreshing, non-greasy and easy to make, and has become a new favorite of many people who want to lose weight and lazy people in summer - that is the soup dishes.

The picture is from the screenshot of Xiaohongshu

Whether it is seafood, vegetables or meat, as long as it meets the carefully prepared sauce, it will instantly turn into a refreshing scenery on the table, which not only satisfies the taste buds, but also takes into account the dual needs of nutrition and fat loss.

What is juicing?

The sauce is not a specific single seasoning, but a compound sauce. It is usually carefully prepared from a variety of common seasonings, including soy sauce, vinegar, oyster sauce, sugar, salt, minced garlic, minced ginger, chili, pepper, sesame oil, etc. These seasonings blend together to form a unique sour, sweet, salty and spicy taste, which can not only stimulate the original flavor of the ingredients, but also add rich layers to them.

The uniqueness of lao jus lies in its balance of freshness and richness. Compared with traditional thick sauces, lao jus focuses more on highlighting the original flavor of the ingredients, and through clever seasoning, the food remains light and delicious. Moreover, compared to cooking three or four dishes in a stuffy kitchen, a lao jus can combine multiple ingredients and simplify the process. These characteristics make lao jus very popular in summer, which can satisfy people's pursuit of taste without putting too much burden on the body.

Image source: provided by the author

How to make and buy?

You can make your own sauce or buy ready-made sauce. Homemade sauce can be adjusted according to taste, and there are many sauce making methods shared on major food platforms.

1. Homemade sauce

If you want to make your own lao jiu, it is not complicated. Take the lao jiu that is highly praised on Xiaohongshu as an example:

Ingredients: two spoons of oyster sauce, 120g steamed fish soy sauce, 100g Yipinxian, 120g spicy fresh sauce, 20g MSG, 25g sugar, 800ml mineral water, 25g balsamic vinegar, 30g pepper oil, 20g sesame oil, 20g Huadiao wine, minced garlic, chili, green and red pepper, and coriander.

Steps: Put all the ingredients into a bowl and stir well until the sugar is completely dissolved. A simple homemade sauce is ready.

You can adjust the recipe according to your personal taste. For example, if you like it more sour, you can increase the amount of aged vinegar, and if you like it more spicy, you can increase the amount of chili.

2. Buy the finished product

If you think it is troublesome to make your own sauce, there are many ready-made sauces on the market. In addition to the formal channels, big brands, reputation and other factors that must be considered, you also need to pay attention to the following points when purchasing:

Ingredients: Read the ingredient list on the product label carefully to understand what ingredients are included in the sauce. If you are allergic to certain foods or have special dietary restrictions (such as gluten-free, low sodium, etc.), please pay special attention to the ingredients. If you are feeding it to children, check whether the ingredients contain alcohol (common ones are Huadiao wine and rice wine).

Image source: Product details page of a certain brand of la jus

Flavor: Choose the appropriate flavor according to your personal taste preference, such as spicy, sour and hot, sweet and spicy, etc. If you are not sure, you can choose a small package of products to try first.

Purpose: Some sauces may be designed specifically for certain ingredients, such as seafood sauce, salad sauce, meat sauce, etc. Choose the right product based on the ingredients you plan to pair them with.

How to match ingredients?

The versatility of the sauce makes it perfect with almost all ingredients, but in order to achieve the purpose of health, it is recommended to give priority to high-protein, low-fat, high-fiber ingredients. According to personal appetite and nutritional needs, the total amount of ingredients per meal is recommended to be 300 to 500 grams.

1. Vegetables (accounting for more than 50% of the total ingredients)

Vegetables are rich in vitamins, minerals and dietary fiber, and low in calories. Not all vegetables are suitable for juicing. Generally speaking, vegetables with a crisp texture or light flavor and complete structure are suitable for this cooking method. Such ingredients are refreshing to eat and do not change the overall taste. If they are particularly easy to become soft or have a strong taste, they are not suitable, because it will affect the overall flavor and the soup will become muddy.

2. Protein (accounting for about 30%, meeting the body's protein needs)

·Aquatic products: Seafood is a common ingredient in broth, and most broth dishes are based on seafood. Seafood is a good source of high-quality protein, low in fat, and rich in some minerals, such as clams, which are high in iron, and oysters, which are high in zinc.

Seafood suitable for frying with sauce is generally firm and delicious. Seafood not suitable for frying with sauce is either too strong to cover the taste of the sauce, or too soft and loose to keep its shape after cooking.

Meat and eggs: Meat and eggs are important sources of protein, iron and various vitamins in the diet.

Meat suitable for gravy is usually lean meat or collagen-rich food. Lean meat should be tender and less fibrous, easy to absorb flavor and maintain a smooth taste. Not only are they relatively low in calories, but they can also add a touch of freshness and flavor when soaked in gravy without being greasy. On the contrary, high-fat, boned or processed meat is not suitable for gravy, so as not to increase the overall calories and affect health. As for eggs, it is recommended to cook the whole egg before eating.

·Soy products: Rich in high-quality plant protein, dietary fiber and various minerals, they are moderate in calories and easy to digest. They are a good source of meat substitute for vegetarians.

In the cooking method of frying, bean products with a firmer texture are particularly suitable. They can not only fully absorb the deliciousness of the frying sauce, but also maintain their original chewy or tender taste. However, some bean products that are fragile or have too high water content may lose their original shape due to soaking in the frying sauce, affecting the eating experience.

Other categories (no more than 20%)

Although some ingredients rich in dietary fiber and low in calories do not belong to the above types, they can not only absorb the deliciousness of the sauce, but also provide a lasting sense of fullness and help control the overall calorie intake, such as konjac silk, buckwheat noodles, and corn. Warm Tips: If you are making shellfish, add an appropriate amount of salt and a few drops of oil to clean water and let it stand for 1 to 2 hours to spit out the sand. When cooking, put it in after the water boils and cook for 3 to 5 minutes to avoid the meat becoming old due to too long a time. Vegetables with a harder texture, such as broccoli and celery, need to be blanched for 1 to 2 minutes to maintain their crisp and tender taste and nutrients.

How to eat? How to store?

The method of making sauce is simple, but be careful of safety risks. In fact, cold dishes represented by sauce have prominent hygiene problems. From 2016 to 2020, Shanghai sampled 10,521 samples of 20 types of ready-to-eat foods to check hygiene conditions (total colony count, Escherichia coli) and six pathogenic bacteria (such as Vibrio parahaemolyticus). The results showed that bacterial contamination was more prominent in cold rice noodles, salads and Chinese cold dishes.

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When saving, keep the following points in mind:

1. Refrigeration must be in place, otherwise bacteria will grow

Eat now: Because the sauce is poured on the ingredients after pre-treatment, and there is no subsequent reheating step, it is best to eat now. Take out the excess in advance and seal it in the refrigerator: If you make a lot and can't finish it in one meal, you can take out some in advance and put it in a clean and well-sealed fresh-keeping box for refrigeration and eat it within 24 hours. Before eating, check the color and smell of the ingredients. If they are spoiled, they need to be thrown away in time. If possible, it is best to fully heat it before eating.

2. Choose fresh ingredients to avoid cross-contamination between raw and cooked food

The World Health Organization emphasized in the "Five Keys to Food Safety" that when handling food, raw and cooked food must be separated, not only the cutting boards, but also the knives, plates, etc. should be separated. In addition, if you touch cooked food with your hands after touching raw meat, this practice also increases the risk of contamination.

These people try to eat less or no food

Although the sauce is delicious, healthy and low in fat, making it easy to eat, some friends still try to eat less or no sauce at all.

1. Patients with high uric acid and gout should eat less seafood juice

Since seafood contains high levels of purine, purine will be converted into uric acid in the body, aggravating the condition. Therefore, people with hyperuricemia or gout should eat less seafood in sauce to avoid triggering gout attacks.

2. For patients with hypertension, choose low-sodium condiments when making

Many sauces have high sodium content due to the addition of soy sauce, salt, oyster sauce and other high-sodium condiments. Therefore, people with high blood pressure should choose low-sodium sauces, or use low-salt soy sauce and other condiments when making them. When eating, eat more vegetables and less seafood and meat, and pay attention to the ratio of vegetables to meat reaching 2 to 3:1.

3. People with sensitive stomachs should avoid eating cold foods with juices

Many video tutorials suggest putting food in the refrigerator for 1 hour after cooking before eating, so that the ingredients can fully absorb the flavor. However, if you are usually sensitive to cold food, raw and cold food may irritate the stomach and intestines. It is recommended to skip this step to avoid irritating the stomach and intestines. Of course, if you want to absorb the flavor, you can also take it out of the refrigerator and leave it at room temperature for a while, so that it is not so cold before eating. Laju is a simple, healthy and delicious summer lazy dish. It not only brings you a cool taste, but also meets your nutritional needs. While enjoying laju, we should also pay attention to the selection and matching of ingredients to ensure the health and safety of the diet.

References

[1] Song Xia, Xu Biyao, Cai Hua, et al. Analysis and evaluation of microbial contamination status of ready-to-eat foods sold in Shanghai from 2016 to 2020[J]. Chinese Journal of Food Hygiene, 2022, 34(04): 767-772. DOI: 10.13590/j.cjfh.2022.04.021.

[2] Yuan Congwen, Sun Yanqi, Wang Xiangyu, et al. Analysis of foodborne disease surveillance data in a tertiary general hospital in Shandong Province from 2019 to 2021[J]. Modern Hospital, 2024(003):024.

[3]WHO.Fivekeystosaferfoodmanual.https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241594639

[4] Yang Yuexin. Chinese Food Composition Table 6th Edition Volume 1 and 2[M]. Peking University Medical Press, 2018

Planning and production

Author: Li Chun, registered nutritionist

Review | Ruan Guangfeng, Deputy Director of Kexin Food and Health Information Exchange Center