September 7, 2008
Does anyone have any low-cal Indian cooking tips to share?
natterbug asked:
Apart from microwave cooking, which isn't very conducive to Indian cooking, what other ways are there to reduce the calorie content in Indian food.
Apart from microwave cooking, which isn't very conducive to Indian cooking, what other ways are there to reduce the calorie content in Indian food.
Filed under Appetizers and Beverages by Steve
Comments on Does anyone have any low-cal Indian cooking tips to share?
I guess the general healthy tips apply in Indian cooking as well.
- Use less Oil
- Use less Sugar
You will find some nice healthy Indian recipies at this site:
here's 58 "Low Calorie Indian dishes" (it wouldn't let me copy and paste, otherwise i would have listed them)
or check out the tarla dalal's recipes at
well the staple of Indian cusine is ghee, which is clarified butter. It is used pretty liberally, especially in Southern Indian cooking.
As others said, using less ghee, or using a "good fat" oil like olive or canola will help.
Indian food lends itself well to vegetarian cooking, so the reduction or elimination of meat will help also.
Avoid the fried appetizers that often accompany Indian food; pappadums (fried lentil chips), samosas & pakora. You can bake these things though, and spraying on a little oil will help to crisp them up.
Lastly go light on dairy, namely the paneer cheese in many dishes, and if a recipe calls for coconut milk, you can use the lite coconut milk.
Indian food's flavor really comes from the delicate balance of spices so you can still make a really sucessful meal with spices (asafoetida, cumin, corriander, tumeric and paprika would be the staples).