Suggestions--food from India

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issyfit
issyfit Posts: 1,077 Member
in Food and Nutrition
We have a new Indian Grocery store near us and I wandered around in it today and had no idea what most of the food was. I did buy some roasted garbanzo beans and roasted lentils--both delicious but highly seasoned. Anyone have any suggestions for healthy foods from India without added sugar or white flour or potato in them?

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  • ayamagali
    ayamagali Posts: 167 Member
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    Curry is good and pretty forgiving when making (can't ever follow a recipe 100% to save my life!). You can serve it over brown rice, and I've even dished it over roasted broccoli and cauliflower and it's great! Anywho, see if they have tikka masala paste, I think that'd be a yummy starting point!
  • issyfit
    issyfit Posts: 1,077 Member
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    Curry is good and pretty forgiving when making (can't ever follow a recipe 100% to save my life!). You can serve it over brown rice, and I've even dished it over roasted broccoli and cauliflower and it's great! Anywho, see if they have tikka masala paste, I think that'd be a yummy starting point!

    Thanks. I'll check their Tikka Masala paste.. I love curry and just finished a bag of curried chicken meatballs from Costco, which I served over sauted veggies--delicious.
  • MrDude_1
    MrDude_1 Posts: 2,510 Member
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    I have no idea what half the stuff is, but indian food has awesome spices.
    just start trying the stuff they have... you can make some really great tasting meals with what you normally eat, just by spiking it with different stuff.
  • shalinimunjal
    shalinimunjal Posts: 192 Member
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    Like any grocery store, you will find ready made, processed food in an Indian store on the shelf and in the fridge/freezer sections. If you want healthy, cook from scratch! You will find a wide variety of beans, lentils and different types of chickpeas so you can try those. Also nearby you will find a variety of flour..there is wheat (atta), chickpea flour (besan), all purpose (maida), rice flour, lentil flour, samolina, and more! It can be quite overwhelming for someone not familiar with indian cooking but you can look up recipes and try them out because now you have a store to get everything from. That is what usually stops people.

    Spices- try the premade spice mixes like chicken curry masala, dal makhani masala (for red lentils), shahi paneer masala. The curry base is usually the same (onion, tomato, ginger garlic) and changing the masala can change the flavor of the dish.
    Staple spices are garam masala (wonderful flavor of warm spices..use in place of a rub), chaat masala (on cut fruit or veggies), amchur (tangy mango powder..really good on anything).
  • MissNations
    MissNations Posts: 513 Member
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    Curry is great on kale chips!
  • mikkijane
    mikkijane Posts: 1 Member
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    Paneer cheese is a good alternative to meat and adds a different texture. My fave is Paneer cut in to blocks and rubbed with tikka spices then fried with peppers and onions! Tasty with no calories from a creamy sauce!
  • cwinottawa
    cwinottawa Posts: 10 Member
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    I love to have papadums as a snack. They are a thin wafer made from lentils that you can either fry or dry cook in a microwave. It feels almost like eating chips, but with a lot less calories.
  • katy84o
    katy84o Posts: 744 Member
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    There's an indian grocery store near my house, I was talking to one of the ladies in there about cooking and she said she's been starting to cook a lot and she gave me a website that has helped her a lot. I love watching the guy even if i'm not learning to cook, his food looks so great I can practically taste it :) its vahrehvah.com He has videos that you can follow to see how he does it. I went two weeks cooking different indian dishes. Ugh I could eat them everyday but they do take some time to cook. Good Luck, I love that you can always (at least I can) find fresh curry leaves in the indian markets :)
  • whencynstops
    whencynstops Posts: 109 Member
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    There's an indian grocery store near my house, I was talking to one of the ladies in there about cooking and she said she's been starting to cook a lot and she gave me a website that has helped her a lot. I love watching the guy even if i'm not learning to cook, his food looks so great I can practically taste it :) its vahrehvah.com He has videos that you can follow to see how he does it. I went two weeks cooking different indian dishes. Ugh I could eat them everyday but they do take some time to cook. Good Luck, I love that you can always (at least I can) find fresh curry leaves in the indian markets :)

    outstanding! Love that website!
    There is an Indian Cafe/grocery store under my yoga studio. The smell of curry goes well with downward dog!
  • issyfit
    issyfit Posts: 1,077 Member
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    Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I'm going to copy them into a document and print them out so I can take it with me. Also thanks for the website, will check it out. I almost bought some papadums when I was there, will next time.:smile:

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