Indian cooking is among the most intricate, labour-intensive cuisines globally, involving a hodgepodge of cooking styles and flavors. Finding an oil that can handle that can be hard. The oil needs to be able to:

  • Cook the food just right
  • Handle all the delicate flavors with ease
  • Avoid overwhelming the palate
  • Cope with everything from tempering whole spics; sautéing aromatics like ginger, onions, and garlic or veggies and protein; shallow frying of kebabs, cutlets, toast; deep frying bhajias, samosas, papads; grilling/tandoor of veggies, paneer, breads, and meat
  • Should also play an integral role in boosting health

Sunflower oil is hands down one of the most powerful and healthiest cooking oils in this regard and is known to produce the best results in Indian recipes. Pressed from the seeds of sunflower, this light amber colored oil has made its way into Indian kitchens and stayed put owing to the myriad benefits it has to offer:

  • If you have ever encountered an oil leaving clouds of smoke when left on a pan for as little as a minute, you are encountering an oil that has a low smoke point, and anything you cook in it is likely to taste burnt. The oil is also likely stripped of its nutrition because of the lack of high heat tolerance. But not sunflower oil. With a smoke point of 450° F, it can fry food to the crispness you crave without burning out and imparting a bitter taste to food.
  • If you don’t want much of the flavor of the oil infused in your food – like finishing oils such as olive oil do, sunflower oil is the way to go. Seeing as in most Indian foods, oils largely function as carriers and distributors of flavors and aroma, render texture to food, and cook a variety of ingredients, oil that has a mild flavor and does not interfere with the flavor of what is cooking works best.
  • In authentic Indian cuisine, since hot, fresh food is part of every meal, oil is used day in and day out, so we are likely to go through packets of oil faster, but that doesn’t mean it has to be heavy on the wallet or health. Sunflower oil can be very economical when compared to other types of oil, such as canola.
  • It is also nutritious. Vitamin E in sunflower oil is higher than in most oils, at 37% of the daily recommended intake. Each tablespoon contains 5.6 mg, which helps the proper functioning of the body and also slows down processes that damage cells. It also has vitamins A and D, which ensure strong bones and a lot of calcium.
  • It can cut across the cooking styles and oil needs of different cultures. Since the essence of Indian cooking lies in the diversity of the different foods prepped in the country, it is essential that the oil fits perfectly well in the entire food landscape. Nothing beats sunflower oil when it comes to being an all-rounder, and it is embraced whether the dish being cooked is based in Kerala, Hyderabad, or Punjab.

As a result, sunflower oil is amongst the best cooking oils to have on hand. Among the most trusted brands on the market is Freedom Refined Sunflower Oil, made from the choicest of ingredients. Get your hands on a pack and say hello to good health!