Indian food

Just avoid the creamy, paneer based dishes and anything deep-fried. Indian food, even vegetarian, is very heavy on carbs. Channa/chole masala with plain atta tandoori roti is an okay choice, or a mushroom masala.

Hi,

When it comes to Indian food - try going for tomato based dishes rather than the cream dishes. Avoid paneer, butter chicken type dishes which tend to have cream and nut-based thickening sauces (cashew paste is used to thicken creamy type dishes- they are incredibly fattening!!).

Things to avoid:

- Cashew-paste / cream type dishes: Malai kofta, Paneer, butter chicken, any "creamy" based dish with nuts/dried fruits)
- Coconut milk based dishes: Anything with heavy coconut milk (Kormas, etc)
- Fried dishes/appetisers: pakoras, vadais (lentil/indian doughnuts), samosas.
- Thick flat breads: Naans (up to 300-500 per naan depending on size and whether it has ghee on it), kulchas (they are thick breads stuffed with nuts, raisins), stuffed parathas (stuffed with potatoes usually - and you don't normally just stick to one stuffed paratha!)
- Biryanis: Unless you are having it on its own without the addition of heavy curries, AVOID.
- ALL sweets. Gulab Jamuns - one small ball in syrup is 150 calories. AVOID all halwas. They are usually dense pulses/flours cooked in ghee (clarified butter) and full-cream milk. 1/2 cup halwa is 400 calories.


Things to go for:
- Yoghurt based sauces (ask them if they are yoghurt based, as many restaurants use cream), raita
- Tomato based sauces (chicken tikka, jalfrezis, dopiazas (thickened with onions), chutneys)
- Dhals (As long as they aren't thickened with cream, like creamy dhals)
- Soups: Rasams (they are really healthy and are a great start to a meal)
- Breads: Chapatis, plain rotis, dosais (indian crepes) (ask for them to be cooked with no oil, they usually do this for you)
- Plain rice (if you MUST have a non-plain rice dish, go for a pulao). If you're having a biryani, have it on its own with a raita, and try not to add the heavy curries as sauces over it or the counter spins really quickly.
- If you MUST have sweets, go for a small burfi (they range from 70-100 calories a small to medium slice) or a mango lassi (sweetened mango yoghurt drink: 100-120 calories per cup)

Otherwise, if you don't usually have Indian food (I make Indian food almost daily, so I'm pretty familiar with what's healthy and what's not) there's no problem having the occasional indulgence and just having a good meal of creamy dishes and naans.

As long as you aren't having a big fat 3000 calorie Indian blow out every week or something, its good to sometimes just enjoy a good meal with friends and not worry about the calories but just enjoy the food.

Otherwise, just follow the above guide.