indian healthy food tips plz

omg, all, well a majority of indians are stick thin. and they eat like crazy, with ghee (clarified butter), and curry. so im indian and ever since i can remeber i've had a curry everyday. the curry my mum makes are reasonabley good, but not healthy. does anyone have any tips on how to make indian food healthy.

I have some questions about Indian food as well. I'm not Indian but I'm crazy about Indian food and there are so many vegetarian choices which is great. But when I am dinning out in an indian restuarant i'm always a little cautious about the portion since i'm not familiar with the cooking process, like how much fat there is or sugar. Most types of cuisine that i usually have, i can tell the ingredient from the taste( more or less),so i can log them after. like chinese food, i log at least 2 tbsp of oil for every dish. but i have no idea how many calories there is in Indian food. I do realise there is oily "residue" at the bottom of a dish, that's pretty scary.

I'm Indian... and honestly speaking, if you are looking for "authentic" North Indian food with lots of spices and ghee, there's no way to make it healthy
 

 I was spoiled by the wonderful culinary skills of my mother. Consequently, when I had to leave home and manage cooking on my own I realized what I received by tradition: a tongue... hard to please by experimental and novice cooking. With that revelation, food had to be tasty.

Which meant--not till a long time ago--that healthy food cannot be tasty!

But grad school taught me one more lesson, the hard way: most of the time, in Indian Cuisine, with such long periods of boiling and frying stuff, I guess all we are left with are fibre, oil and of course... awesome taste!

Nonetheless, thought I would share what I learnt in the process:

1. Always use non-stick cookware.

2. Put only the oil you need and not the oil that looks good. If you see oil floating around, get rid of it with a teaspoon, via the sink!!!

3. A better alternative to using oil is using oil sprays, whenever possible!

4. Get a grill. It's one of the investments you'll never regret. You could get crispy, crunchy, fried flavour of vegetables minus the calories and the troubles of frying! Sprinkle a little "Chat masala" on fried stuff and it would taste just as delicious! (For "bhajis"). Virtually, you can cook anything you would like in it....fish, shrimps, chicken patties, .....you name it!.... sans the fat.

5. Microwave stuff. Innovate on recipes and try to make them microwaveable....it cuts down the cooking and boiling time of food, keeps its nutrients in and also requires less oil to cook.

6. Use flavourings on oil before cooking. Heat oil, and before putting in other stuff, try using "asefoetide",  a tsp of "Cumin Seeds", "Coriandeer", "Kalonji (Onion seeds) and so.....work around with tomatoes and cilantro leaves, crushed garlic and natural flavours. That way, you would need to use less spice and therefore less oil to fry the spices (and bring up the aroma)

Bon Appetit!!

wow emo... thanks for those tips...

i'm an indian and a wreck in the kitchen... but i'm trying to learn cooking and will use these tips as a ground rule... that'll help me cook the healthy way!!

someone suggested i use olive oil for cooking... how far does that make a diff???

also for all the fried papad's try using the microwave minus the oil... it tastes the same without the fat!!!

 

I've never tried olive oil in Indian cooking, but in some other forum, I heard people say different things; some said it made no difference to the taste, others said it did! I do stick to Canola oil while cooking and use Olive oil only when cooking cuban dishes/grilling/salads.......in Indian cooking....you can just try it for once!

And yes, you are right about the papad bit! I also microwave my papads when I eat them (which is not at all frequently though!) 

 

How is ghee different from regular butter. What does "clarified butter" really mean?

I love Indian food!

ghee is wen they cook unsalted butter until all the water has boiled off and the protein has settled to the bottom. lol. :) i luv indian food aswell

So is that better for you than regular, grocery store butter? Does it spread well?

Pure and authentic "Ghee" is not as smooth as butter but is has some texture.. and it has an awesome aroma and a very distinct flavour.

In lieu of ghee, we work with butter too

What does your mother put in her curry?  I've found that, aside from the ghee, curries are usually healthy, with lean meats and lots of vegetables.  The spices are good for you too.  For instance, turmeric is good for the digestion and cinnamon is heart healthy.   

I love Indian food and wish I could come to your house!  I make a lot of dal - all kinds - because of the high protein and fiber, and vegetable curries.  I use about a quarter of the amount of fat, and it's canola oil, not ghee.  I do raita using fat free or low fat yogurt and find that fat free Greek style yogurt taste as rich as full fat.  I make home made paneer (cheese curds) with fat free milk and one of my favorite dishes is saag paneer - the spinach is a great source of iron and vitamins! 

to eat healthier, stay away from anything deep fried, and go easy on the breads (easier said than done!) and eat a little less rice.

Look for books by Madhur Jaffrey.  She has a healthful approach that I love. 

Hi Shaheen,

I hear you! Indian food can be as healthy or as unhealthy as you can make it. Curries can be very healty if you put less oil and make the gravy out of tomatoes and onions and fat free yoghurt- thats what I do. My curry had no ghee- just little olive oil or Pam Spray (Olive Oil dsnt seem to change the taste) and I put in ground tomatoes and cut up onions. You can use a little milk or yoghurt instead of the cream. Do no fry paneer/ potatoes, etc just put it uncooked or micowaved. For meat dishes- I just saute it with little oil or microwave it.

At restaurants- order stuff without the regular buttery gravy (look out for the word makhni- its a danger sign- it means butter/cream filled gravy) Even palak paneer in a restaurant is filled with cream. Better choices would be tandoori stuff- chicken/ kababs or kadhai chicken/ paneer which has no gravy. And always ask for roti- which is whole wheat. Naan is made of white flour.

Hope this helps!

 

thx, fat2fit77. i'll try tht. :)

the "unhealthy" part may also come from the way you serve it. Myself I flavour the rice with the curries. Not curry with rice on the side like with western foods like steak, which is meat with potato and a bit of veggies on the side.  Not even one third meat, one third vegetables and one third potatoes(or bread). Most Asian word for meal or food translates as rice.   You are asked will you eat rice,meaning will you have a meal.  Of course on special occasions, one ends up eating less rice as one samples everything in sight, just like with special turkey dinners at Christmas.

I gained 15-20 lbs in one year and I blame New Dehli for it's damned deliciousness.  It's an all you can eat buffet and its overflowing with heavy cream and ghee mmmmm.

My boyfriend and I went every Friday for about a year and half. 

I've stopped for about 6 months and keeping my weight lower has been easier... but now we have an authentic Indian Delivery service called Tiffin.  I'm really bummed because all of the vegetarian food (i'm vegetarian) is so heavy.  Plus it's served with carbs (rice) and fried carbs (naan). BUT ITS DELICIOUS.

so yeah... how do these indian girls stay stick thin???

Here's a recipe for my saag paneer - I eat a soy/mixed berries shake for breakfast with soy ISP, "saag paneer," and stir fry with chicken and tofu minus the rice for dinner, with apples, oatmeal, yeams, etc. in between and diet cocoa for dessert. It is the only way I've been able to keep going and lose the weight w/o crashing during the day at work. I cook all my meals on sunday and dip into the pots during the week so that I don't have to cook during the week.

Here's a week's worth of saag paneer, my way:
- 1 big tub fat free cottage cheese,
- 3 _CANS_ low sodium (or not) spinach - no frozen, works best with canned, weird, but true
- i diced tomato
-1 diced onion
-lots of garlic and ginger, gresh if possible
-2-3 bay leaves
-2 or 3 tsp. garam masala
-2 or 3 tsp. curry powder

I slice and bake a brick of extra firm tofu until it is chewy like meat and season it with garlic salt.

I drain 3 cans of spinach of all the water possible, easiest way - gross - is to squeeze it with your hands into spinach snowballs.

Meanwhile, I mix diced garlic and ginger and a chopped onion and brown it in a frying pan sprayed with non stick spray until the onion is transparent, then add a diced tomato and a couple of bay leaves and cook for 40 seconds.

I then add the spinach and start cooking it for 2-3 minutes, then add about 1/2 or 2/3 the big tub of cottage cheese. It gives it a creamy texture, actually melts pretty well, and tastes great and substitutes for the paneer.

- After mixing the cottage cheese and spinach, I
add the garam masala and curry and cubed tofu. I cook it for about 5-10 minutes, and then it's ready!!!

This ends up being a super food and is really filling. A little bit takes you a long way and is low calorie, high protein and tasty, especially the first and second day.

Good luck!

thx seekifonics, i've always found it hard to be indian and lose weight. i mostly find that the indian girls who are skinny, are usually pressureized by their parents. my family repeatedley taunts me about my weight. anyway, before i go tellin you my life story, thx, i'll make tht recipe tommorow.  

Awesome, and you're welcome!!   I hope it was tasty and turned out well for you.