Going out for a curry...

loudgls89

My friend has invited me out to an Indian restaurant on Thursday night, and I know that I will probably end up eating more calories than I usually eat. I'm going to plan for this earlier in the day by eating a smaller breakfast and lunch, but can anyone recommend what are the best kinds of things to order to stay as low in calories as possible? I'll probably have around 900 calories left to eat, but I have no idea what the menu will be like.

Thanks!

NutellaAddict

Most of the things you find in the menu are also available when you search the food on MFP.

Hbazzell

Here is a link my dear Have fun! I love currrry. mmmm

http://www.weightlossresources.co.uk/diet/eating_out/indian_food.htm

loudgls89

Here is a link my dear Have fun! I love currrry. mmmm

http://www.weightlossresources.co.uk/diet/eating_out/indian_food.htm

Thanks! :-)

loudgls89

Most of the things you find in the menu are also available when you search the food on MFP.

I do find the database very helpful, but I wanted to get a general idea in advance so I'm not sat on my phone compulsively checking everything, not much fun for my friend who is not on a diet!

prdavies1949

Go and enjoy your curry, In an Indian resteraunt most things will be high in calories but what the hell, it is only one meal. You have lost over 50lbs already so you are doing this right. Get back on track on Friday and have a good night on Thursday.

DawnieB1977

Get something with a tomato based sauce, or the one where it's just chicken cooked in spices, but without sauce. Tikka? And maybe get a salad with it instead of rice, although just plain boiled rice is ok.

Enjoy you meal! Curry is yummy!

lozadee

if you eat less throughout the day becareful your not too hungry when you get there and end up over ordering because you was hungry through the day - try drink heaps of water when you leave the house to fill the gap

Tzippy7

I love indian food !
Many indian dishes are cooked with heavy cream. Stay away from those, unless they let you switch it for coconut milk.(still pretty high cal though)
A safe bet is to skip breakfast (sorry! dont yell at me its just 1 day!) and order something without a cream sauce. veggie heavy. and honestly i think those are the most delicious anyway. Minimize naan and rice.
My personal fave is chicken with eggplant. Chicken tandori is also delicious and has no sauce.

kbeech06

Yummmmm! We love curry, and I'm making some tonight for tea. A lot of curry is served with sauces. I just did a search for " healthier" curry options and I got quite a few answers telling me that Tandoori is healthiest. But, I would just order what looks good, and maybe eat a small portion and bring the rest home? Enjoy it!

SRH7

I agree with the others.

* Avoid sauces - so get tandoori or tikka (sometimes they come with sauce on the side so you can make the decision about how much to have)
* Avoid anything deep fried (bhajis, samosas, poppadoms)
* Choose rice (preferably boiled or plain pilau) over Naan bread as it is lower in calories
* Bombay potatoes might be a good choice, too, depending on how they cook it
* If you do go for a saucy curry then stick to ones with a tomato rather than cream, almond or coconut base (so something like jalfrezi or rogan josh)
* Get a side salad
* Don't feel you have to finish it all! Even better, if you are with others, see if you can share some of the food. I find the portions can be huge and far too much for one person. Half a rice does me fine.

And if you can commit to being good tomorrow, then you've got to have a beer with it!

jlohcook

Go easy on the naan, pratha, or rice. Go either or, not both. That's where most of this high calories are. And skip the sweets/desserts, Indian sweets and desserts are full of sugar.

Curries - you can choose chicken rather than mutton or beef. Even if you choose beef or mutton, share with your friend, watch your portion intake. Watch your portion if you choose butter chicken, as the title, full of butter. Very flavorful though. And there are also lentils that can add up to calories, but they are usually very good. Eat in small portion and the trick is slowly.

Skip the chai ( Indian tea), high in sugar and milk. Choose mineral water instead or any diet soda if you really need to.

But with 900 cal, you should be able to have an enjoyable meal. Enjoy!

Laura_beau

I see that you are in the UK? If you live in pudsey chances are I can tell you exactly what the best things are to choose from the specific restaurant as I regularly frequent the Leeds curry restaurants, lol!! (I live in Leeds too).

Here's a good guide though:

Starters- Grilled tandoori meats/fish (Like chicken tikka pieces with salad) stay away from the deep fried pakoras/bhajis etc.

Mains: Go for chicken, prawn or fish curries in tomato based/ dry sauces like bhuna, dopiaza, jalfrezi, madras or karahi. Any good curry place can cook these to your own preference spice-wise.

Sides: Mixed salad, Tarka Daal, Grilled aubergines, spinach, okra, plain boiled rice are all good options.

Try to avoid creamy curries like chicken tikka masala, korma, passanda, makhani, heavy breads like paratha, naan and greasy fried rices/ egg rice etc.

But if you do eat more than you intended do not worry! Just have a kick *kitten* workout the next day )

MeeshyBW

Tikka all day long. Trust me, I'm British and we know almost as much about curry as Indians.

Tikka/Tandori (dry) meat is marinated in spices then cooked in a clay oven. It's by far the most low fat thing you can eat at a curry house. It's just meat and spice.

All naans are out of the questions, they are the worst thing you can eat. Some Indian restaurants will offer boiled rice - this is the best option if you are calorie counting. Pilau rice is fried so not good for a diet at all. A whole serving of rice is a lot to eat in my opinion. Me and Hubby always split a rice. Sometimes I won;t even order it.

If you are worries about all that being too dry maybe get a pickle tray with the mint yoghurt, lime pickle, tomato and cucumber salad or you could just ask them for some extra curry sauce on the size to dip your meat in maybe pour a little onto your rice? My local takeaway will give you extra curry sauce.

Hope this helps

SRH7

Tikka all day long. Trust me, I'm British and we know almost as much about curry as Indians.

fuzzieme

You can ask them to omit the oil and ghee, I always do, I get saag aloo, I think that's what it's called, it has a ton of spinach in it, it's got no meat though but it's really REALLY good

loudgls89

Thanks for all your replies guys, I feel much better prepared now, just going to enjoy myself and try to make wise choices! :-)