Healthy options at an Indian Restaurant

Get chicken badami and enjoy.

Indian restaurant food is no way like real Indian food consumed at home, we eat foods very similar to Indian food (just on other side of border to India )

Eating healthily at an Indian buffet is so easy, just fill your plate full of everything, eat it, and return at least once or twice. Otherwise your appetite is not healthy, and your self control is too high.

If you've never had it before, please just do a little extra cardio or something and ENJOY!

I would also recommend thali (I love to get vegetable thali). It's basically what you'd call a "sampler". Even if not on the menu, just ask ( I think it's pronounced like "dolly", but a little more "t" than "d"). It's all very yummy.

Without getting into a debate about what "healthy" means (so I'm going to use my colloquial definition, something like lower calorie), I'd say avoid anything creamy.

Most people like murgh makhni, chicken makhni, butter chicken, chicken tikka masala (these dishes are either synonyms for each other or are very similar). The sauce is pretty much a lot of butter with cream (depending on where you go). Not low cal.

You'll probably want things called "masala." if you get bindhi (okra) masala or channa (chick pea) masala or lentil masala, they should have a sauce that isn't as fatty.

However, I like what HereOnOut said. JUST ENJOY YOURSELF! Indian food is too good to play the low-cal game with. Don't cheat yourself. And try something with lamb. A good lamb vindaloo could change your life!

The Indians definitely don't eat healthy food, hence why all of India is overweight and Western nations are slender and athletic. Oh, and yoga.

I thought this was a joke?

Shhhhh!

Weighing in (ha ha) from The Subcontinental 'Hood here ... As Augustremulou said above, diabetes is absolutely soaring in this part of the world. "Indian Food" (e.g. South Asian food in general) is healthy in theory, but most people cook with oil + oil + ghee + mounds of rice! Veggies are great; veggies coated in oil, not so much. It's fine and arguably even quite healthy when you're doing a traditional amount of physical work, because it's basically veggies with the body's needed fat coming from oil or ghee. Amounts of meat on the plate, if served at all, were small. (Actually still are, compared to the West.) But I have relatives who live in rural areas, very "traditional," who struggle with diabetes now -- along with half their neighbors. Everyone has "sugar" these days. And the main cause is good old "Indian cooking." Tasty, but not healthy if you're sedentary and don't control things like amounts of rice (which most people don't). Yes, there's a lot of undernourishment, but that's another issue; those people aren't exactly eating like the offerings at an Indian restaurant - or like their middle-class neighbors who struggle with diabetes.

It CAN be healthy. I cook healthy "Indian style," but honestly it's kind of a mental challenge -- though a fun one -- to figure out how to come in under my calorie limit for the day cooking that way. And at an Indian restaurant, you will not be getting cooks who are carefully calculating the calories! You'll be getting the oil + ghee thing, because that's what is thought to make it tasty. (And it does!) Just as a benchmark, our dinners are generally around 700 calories, and that's using only about 1 TBSP of oil or ghee and not eating any rice or roti (bread). So assume that at an Indian restaurant, you're easily going to go over 1200 calories. Particularly if you're in the West (which I assume you are), in which case they're tossing in enticing things like cream etc.

FWIW, I'll add to the suggestions above that if you do without the rice or just eat a tiny amount, it'll give you some wiggle room. Also, pappadum are pretty low-fat plus gluten-free. On the whole, though, I'd just say to figure you can't get away with a light dinner, and so you might as well enjoy it. A thali plate will give you a good idea of what you like (in small amounts). And oh well, it'll be good fuel for the next day at the gym anyway :-)

Anyone cooking Indian want to share some of their easier recipes? I love indian butand suck at cooking it, unfortunately I don't have an Indian restaurant close to where I live so its tough to get my fix!

Coming from a South Asian Background .... you can find healthy food in any ethnic cuisine. However, home cooked meals are much more healthier as you would know what you are putting in them.. Restaurant foods are hard as they focus mostly on taste - hence the addition of cream etc in curries.

this is just my opinion.

Some recipes I found - http://www.tarladalal.com/recipes-for-low-calorie-weight-loss-383?pageindex=2

I've worked in an Indian restaurant for 4 years and I've tried everything on their menu in that time.... The Tandoori options are the healthier options because they use less ghee, but all the other pan fried stuff is cooked in it....

Personally, speaking as someone who has lost over 150lb and eaten restaurant cooked Indian food every week for 4 years, my advice is go there, enjoy what you want to enjoy and drink plenty of water the next day, plus do some extra exercise for a few days to help minimise the potential weight concerns.... But the meals I eat every week have never impacted on my weight, because I eat less calories during the day, prior to the meal and cut back a few calories the following day, also increasing my exercise for the following 48 hours.

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