Cooking Vegetables

There is a nice article on NY Times on best way to cook the vegetables.

In Indian cooking we cook most of our vegetables and hardly eat any vegetables raw. While strictly adhering to raw vegetables is not beneficial, likewise cooking all the vegetables is also not beneficial.

The way vegetables are prepared affects the amount of nutrients that enters our body.

Fat-soluble compounds like vitamins A, D, E and K and the antioxidant compounds called carotenoids are less likely to leach out in water. Cooking also breaks down the thick cell walls of plants, releasing the contents for the body to use. That is why processed tomato products have higher lycopene content than fresh tomatoes.

Water-soluble nutrients like vitamins C and B and a group of nutrients called polyphenolics are often lost in processing.

In general boiling was better for carrots, zucchini and broccoli than steaming, frying or serving them raw.

Among the various ways to cook vegetables - pressure-cooking, microwaving, boiling, and steaming, pressure-cooking and microwaving seemed to retain more vitamin C.