Help with Indian food? Dinner out tomorrow

cavewoman15

Thanks for reading! My friend is having a birthday dinner at an Indian restaurant tomorrow night. I'm not crazy about Indian food, and I don't know much about what their different ingredients are. Does anyone have a suggestion for eating healthy/less terrible at Indian? I don't have any food restrictions. Thanks for your help.

girlonabikedc

Order Roti rather than Naan (roti is whole wheat) if you want bread with your meal OR brown rice. Try to avoid butter/cream based dishes (anything with ghee in it), and steer towards dishes that are cooked in tomato or broth-based sauces. Chicken rather than beef. Take home half your portion to enjoy later (left-over Indian is delish!). I love Indian!

EnchantedEvening

I love getting tandoori - tender pieces of meat usually made into kebobs or "chicken tikka", which has yogurt and spice-marinated chicken. The dip (raita) is a lot like tzatziki sauce.

Dal is a lentil soup, but it can be a little on the spicy side.

Indian food uses a lot of lean meats, veggies, and yogurt-based dips. It's pretty easy to eat healthy, as long as you make sure the soup isn't cream-based and stuff isn't fried in oil.

Pspetal

Get the chicken/lamb kebabs... They're either grilled or baked or fired in an oven. Won't be fried food or creamy sauces.
If you want vegetarian food, ask them which vegetarian dishes do NOT come with gravy. That way you'll avoid all the fat again. An exception to that would anything bhindi/okra. It generally has tons of oil whether its made dry or with gravy. Alu gobi is usually pretty good in terms of oil use.
Go for steamed rice with whatever entree you get. Biryani/pulao/jeera rice etc. come with a healthy dose of clarified butter (ghee).
If you feel like eating bread, go for plain nan/roti. Avoid the butter nan/roti.
Among dals, dal fry is a better option than kali dal/dal makhani because kali dal has a lot of cream and butter.
For dessert, avoid gulab jamuns. Each little red ball is about 350 cals.
Healthier options would dosas (Crepes), idlis ( steamed rice cakes), other south Indian food items. They tend to have hardly any dairy fat, oil etc.
Indian restaurant food is some of the most unhealthy food around. All that said, you could just decide to exercise portion control and eat a very small amount of whatever you want because frankly all the stuff I said to avoid, is also some of the most delicious stuff u get at Indian restaurants! Its why I don't eat out at Indian restaurants any more. I can't exercise portion control and end up eating like 2000 cals easily.
Good luck!

kikiboniki

tandoori chicken! very simple and so tasty!!

eig6

tandoori chicken! very simple and so tasty!!

I have to agree! No sauce to worry about too! My favorite is vindaloo, but the tandoori is definitely healthier and almost as good :-)

lyttlewon

I cook Indian food at least once a week. I love masalas,but restaurant masalas are often made with heavy cream, when I make it at home I just use fat free milk. Dal and aloo gobi are both really good. Personally I would eat whatever and just limit portion size. Nothing tastes better to me than some chana masala and some pakoras. Probably the two most fattening choices if you aren't cooking it yourself!

cavewoman15

thanks for these suggestions! chicken tandoori - i can definitely remember that and it sounds delicious.

i certainly will order things i like sometimes and just have small portions of them, but since i'm not crazy about indian food i would rather get something healthier. thanks!!

melann1974

I am not big on Tandoori chicken (husband loves it). My favorite is Saag Paneer (creamed spinach with homemade cheese)... Yummy... If you like spicy, get some onion chutney to add to your food. I actually had some the other day...although, my meal was heavy in the calories, I just watched my portions.

christyjoyjr

I love chana masala and punjab choley but doubt they're low in calories.

Captain_Tightpants

The heavy calories will be in the rice, the naan bread and the thicker creamier sauces like Kurma or Masala. I would go for a chicken tandoori or bhuna which are less saucy, go easy on the rice and you'll be fine.