Asians and Asian food

tunktunk5583
tunktunk5583 Posts: 76 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Dear fellow Asians and Asian food lovers,

Since joining MFP, how have you dealt with eating (or not eating) any Asian food...and by that I don't mean "Chinese" take-out-I mean the REAL stuff that your parents (if you're Asian) cooks at home.
Did any of you give it up completely or tweak you recipes? Interested in hearing what all of you have to say!

Replies

  • directorj
    directorj Posts: 537 Member
    Everyone thinks I'm weird for not eating rice. I eat a little bit once in a while. Unfortunately I told my parents and relatives that I can't eat any of our foods. If I know a party is coming up, usually I workout before the party and just call it a cheat day. However there are "healthy" Asian food like Vietnamese spring rolls or certain types of sushi.
  • Prettyasmi
    Prettyasmi Posts: 72
    Indian .... And I love Indian food. Lot of vegetable and pulses options :) I love Indian chapati (Bread).
  • rainbowbow
    rainbowbow Posts: 7,490 Member
    I have a friend who's like 95 pounds and eats Korean food everyday. Kimchii and brown rice with bean sprouts. With tea. For like every meal. O_o
  • bruintamer
    bruintamer Posts: 183 Member
    I still eat white rice...in very small portions. Pho...still in a big bowl but less noodles and more veggies. Spring rolls with lean meats and less vermicelli noodles in them. Papaya salad is still my best friend! Stir fry with Pam spray instead of oil. Bake my stuffed chicken wings instead of deep frying them. Too bad egg rolls don't bake well... so no more of those. :-( And no more coconut milk heavy curries either... :-/ And no more AYCE for $19 Korean BBQ...hahahah
  • horror_mama
    horror_mama Posts: 29 Member
    I usually go for less fried items and cut the portions down. It’s worked for me and I still get to enjoy!
  • Strudders67
    Strudders67 Posts: 989 Member
    I'm not Asian, but I do cook a lot of different curries and stirfries.

    I always use considerably less oil than the recipe calls for. I also bulk out all dishes with lots more veg than the recipe suggests - where a recipe may say it serves 4, with all the extra veg I usually find it's enough for 6 portions. That then means that the high calories in my oil, coconut milk etc etc is divided by 6 not 4. Also, at least here in the UK, you can buy packs of (solidifed) creamed coconut to which you add differing amounts of water to make coconut cream or coconut milk. The advantage of this is that I can make smaller quantities of coconut milk than the 400ml that I'd get if I opened a can. As I cook in bulk and portion everything up to go into the freezer, I don't like too much sauce as I find it doesn't defrost particularly well - I prefer to start with less liquid and simmer it right down.

    I've pretty much stopped having rice and noodles too. I did try cauliflower rice, but it's a lot of faff and I didn't particularly like it. Instead, I adapted a recipe that I found for sauted cabbage and love using that as a base for most things that I eat now. 200g of finely sliced white cabbage (as you would for a coleslaw), sauted in 10g of butter for approx 25-30 mins, works well under curries, stirfries, bolognese, chilli, most things you can think of. It's quite a lot of volume on my plate but equals fewer calories, fewer carbs and more fibre than rice, noodles, pasta or potatoes.

    Obviously these suggestions only help if it's you doing the cooking. If not, a good starting point would be to request that less oil goes into the pan.

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