As a followup to my question: I have a very small nonstick
frying pan that I use to cook the onion/spice mixture in, so
this also helps keep the oil needed to a minimum. I have tried
using cooking sprays, but have found that a quick spritz is
not enough, and a heavy spray is about the same as adding a
1/2 tsp oil. I have been thinking about tring to bake the
spices ahead of time, but this would be really time consuming.
(Side discussion about cooking sprays): In fact, once I
realized how I *really* used cooking sprays, I stopped buying
them (they are expensive), and now judiciously add a small amount
of oil directly, using a paper towel to blot up the excess--
its much cheaper to lightly oil a pan this way, IMHO, as long as
you don't fool yourself into using too much. I start with about
1/2 tsp per medium pan, and use a paper towel to spread it
around and blot up the excess. Once I started counting the
number of seconds I was actually using the spray to coat a pan,
then calculated the amount of calories it really was, I was
suprised to find out how much oil I was really adding. A
short 3/4 second spritz is about 6 calories, if I remember
right, so a 4 second blast is about 32 calories, or about
3/4 tsp oil, give or take.
Tracey Sconyers
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