Hi all,
I'm new here and am loving all the information and camaraderie and support on these forums
I was hoping to get an answer to a question I've had for a long time and nobody has been really able to help me. I'm from India (I live here in the US ) and was wondering if anybody else who cooks and eats primarily Indian cusine could give me ideas for low cal recipes. I do cook and eat other cuisines but mostly Indian food as that is what I grew up learning form my mother
Are there any particular dishes/entrees that you would like to have lower calorie recipes for? It might be easier for me to try and look up some individual foods/recipes, rather than "Indian food" in a whole general category. If you could list a few things, then I can try and locate some recipes for you.
Hmm...I was brought up as a vegetarian since my parents are both vegetarian so my body does not tolerate regular intake of meat very well. I mean I can eat chicken and fish (beef and pork really screw up my system) say 3 times a week. Also, I am kind of a hot-food (hot as in spicy ) addict so I was looking for recipes for dishes like wet and dry vegetable curries that I can eat more of with rotis (oil-less, indian whole wheat bread) and brown rice recipes etc.. I do realize that it is difficult to find many low-carb indian dishes but I'd really appreciate anything!
Dhal, Dhal, DHAL! I do this for a low fat, high fiber treat:
Wash a WHOLE BUNCH of red lentils. I make enough for days, and days, and DAYS, so I use a 1 lb package. You can soak them overnight if you like, to get rid of the gas-forming compounds and make them cook faster.
Take one onion and mince it.
Heat one or two tbsps peanut oil (not alot when you consider that this recipe makes a HUGE amount of dhal)
Sautee the onion in the peanut oil until soft.
Add the lentils.
Add enough water to cover the lentils by about 1.5 inches.
Add 2 Tbsp ketchup.
Simmer for around 1 hour, adding water as required to ensure the lentils cook well. The lentils must be cooked to a SOFT consistency.
Use a hand-blender to puree the lentils to a thick sauce.
Add salt to taste.
Serve hot over brown rice. YUMMY! Not as authentic as other dhal recipes, but tastes good, is low fat, combines with the rice to form a pretty complete protein, is high fiber, and is really good for you!
Tandoori chicken --
Get some Tandoori chicken spice mix (DRY, not from a can)
Mix 1 -2 tbsps spice mix with no-fat unflavored yogort.
Take boneless, skinless chicken breasts.
Marinate in the spice/yogort mix.
Pre-heat the oven for 30 minutes as hot as it will go (i.e. 500 degrees F, if possible)
Remove the chicken from the spice/yogort mix. Wrap in aluminium foil.
Stick in the oven for 20-25 minutes, until cooked.
Eat with the dhal and rice. YUMMY!
Aloo Gobi (curried cauliflower and potato):
2 x hot green chiles, minced
1 x 2 " piece ginger root,
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp black mustard seeds (I use brown as black are hard to find)
4 tsp peanut oil
3 med potatoes, diced, pre-cooked
1 med cauliflower, cut into florets
2 med tomatoes, diced
1/2 tsp turmeric
2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp garam masala (pre-mixed spice blend, but I'll bet you already know this!)
1 tbsp brown sugar, optional
2 tsp salt (or more to taste)
3 tbsp fresh coriander (aka cilantro), coarsely chopped
Combine chiles, ginger, cumin seeds and mustard seeds in a small bowl. Heat oil in a large pot. When hot, add the spices. When the mustard seeds start to pop, drop in the potatoes and cauliflower. Fry for 4 minutes or so. Add the tomatoes, turmeric, coriander, garam masala, sugar (if used), salt and half the coriander. Mix well, cover and gently heat for 15 minutes. If the vegetables start to stick, add a few drops of water. Top with remaining coriander and serve.
Wow, those are great recipes! Thanks so much freiamaya
I can eat tonnes of dhal but only do so once in a while because of all the gas! Now that you have told me how to get rid of that I'm going to make a lot of dhal It goes great with rotis too! And I never wrap the the tandoori chicken in foil and so I don't like how it comes out but you've given me great tip for that too! Thanks so much and conratulations on your weight loss, you're so close to your goal!!
Thanks! It has been a long, hard road, but worth it. Indian food is one of my absolute favorites -- my father was born in India (during the time of the British EMPAH what what...) and moved to England when he was 16. I was raised on curry/dhal/rice/roti/pappadums/naan/etc., and to this day, my traditional Christmas Eve dinner is a big curry bash. I LOVE it!
Good luck with your plan!
Thats amazing! So you know exactly what I'm going through
I lost a lot of weight doing atkins on tandoori chicken and stuff and then I just stopped because I trained for a marathon and that is all about carbs! After the marathon I was in the best shape of my life ever, until I met my boyfriend who has a huge sweet tooth and absolutely adores indian food. Easy for him because he can stay thin no matter what he eats! I though, steadily gained weight and then we moved in together and now I'm 13 pounds heavier and I'm just terrified I will go back to begin where I was 3 years ago So hopefully something will happen soon
Wow, a guy who has a sweet tooth AND loves Indian food (takeaway, no doubt!) sure makes it hard for you!
Try http://www.fooddownunder.com/ for more recipes from around the world. I am sure that you can get a feel for the taste just by looking at the ingredients, and you can find all ranges of south asian foods there.
And hey, get boyfriend involved in the kitchen! The more involved he is, the more aware he is with respect to the amount of effort it takes. You can still keep your takeaway, but just really, really limited!
Keep it up, you can do it!!!
Indian food?
So hopefully something will happen soon 