What to eat in an Indian restaurant?

(Ellen) #1

I’ll be going up North to visit my Mum at the end of Nov and we always go for an Indian one night, and as much as I love a good curry, for me an Indian meal is all about the Carby sides, any ideas what I can replace the below with or do I just get a curry and refuse to entertain the idea of side dishes???

Poppadoms with onion salad & dips for starters
Some kind of curry - this will be fine, I can keto it
Rice
Tarka Dhal (quite possibly my favourite food ever)
Chana Massala
Naan
Bombay potatoes - not always depends on whether we really fancy some or not

I know it’s a month away but I reckon I need to get this planned out and drilled into my brain well before I go up there.

Thanks

(Allie) #2

I normally have lamb sagwala with tandoori wings

(Jo O) #3

What about Palak paneer (spinach)?
Or curry cauliflower?
Or a soup?

Check to see if the restaurant has their menu online.

(Allan L) #4

I tend to stick to some side dishes when ordering Indian and trying to stay keto.

You can get some amazing cauliflower & spinach dishes, some come with indian cheese.

Also order the tandori chicken or dry meat options, important for me is no sauce.

Usually I can get inventive & over order enough that no one notices and I also don’t feel tempted by other peoples food.

No naan, no poppadoms, no potatoes, no chickpeas!

#5

ALL Indian curries contain huge amounts of sugar and carbs. The sauce itself is cooked down and thickened with pounds and pounds of onions and garlic and tomatoes. Sauce isn’t made for each dish, it is one sauce with different spices added per your order. I used to can huge batches of sauce and 5lb onions alone would go into just 2 quart jars. I would then decide on the extra spices/ghee etc per dish I was making.

(Ernest) #6

Some things can’t be replaced or keto-fied. They are better left in the past.
No matter how cauliflower is made to look like rice, it will never replace rice. Might just ignite cravings for the real thing.
Call the restaurant in advance and see if they will accommodate your requests.
Tarka Dhal is probably out for you.

(bulkbiker) #7

I always have chicken tikka main course … my local does a spinach and minced lamb dish called keema sag and then I split an aubergine (brinjal) bahji with hubby.
Rarely raises me by more than 0.5 mmol/l If we get take away I’ll cook up extra spinach in butter add full fat yoghurt and then chuck in the takeaway bits to heat it all through and mix together… mmmmm wish I wasn’t fasting today!

(KCKO, KCFO 🥥) #8

Does the place do any dry curry? That is usually just meat that is rubbed down with the spices and grilled/baked. It is very popular in South India and delicious stuff. Tandoori meats if they don’t do dry curry. Palak Paneer as suggest above. If you like okra, do Ladies Fingers, okra is a tomato sauce. Concentrate on the okra, easy on the sauce. Maybe one Poppdom if you are fat adapted, it is made of chickpea flour, but stay away from any sauce, except some places make a mint sauce that would fit low carb. Lime pickle works too. If they have chicken chaat for starters and you are at a South Indian restaurant, then that should be good too. They do it much differently than North Indian.

I would not go with the rice, dhal, naan and potatoes route. It will be harder to stay ketoish in a North Indian restaurant.

(jketoscribe) #9

I think you could do worse than curry sauces made with “tons of onions, garlic, and tomatoes” if restaurant cooked Indian food is a sometimes treat. My favorites are Palak Paneer (spinach with Paneer cheese), tandoori chicken, lamb and chicken curries (eat around the peas and carrots if any). I don’t measure ketosis, but I have not had weight gain after a great meal at our local Indian restaurant. Everything tastes so freaking good and it’s REAL food I don’t worry about volume–just eat to satiety. I have not detected any added sugars, and I’m pretty sensitive to added sugars these days, though I admit that doesn’t mean they are not there.

If you want to cook at home, I’ve been cooking recipes from the Indian Instant Pot Cookbook by Urvashi Pitre (requires an electric pressure cooker) and many of the recipes are pretty low carb, high fat. My favorites from the book so far are the Palak Paneer (includes a recipe to make the cheese since I can’t find it locally) and butter chicken (chicken in a wonderful curry sauce). The author says that she eats low carb generally, although the cookbook is not directed specifically to low carb.

(Ellen) #10

Thanks all! I usually go for either dry chicken tikka or chicken saag on the curry front, think I’m just going to have to steel myself to not have any sides, don’t think I could just have a spoonful of dhal. Or maybe suggest I cook for us rather than go out, I’ve managed to keto a lot of curries at home as I do everything from scratch so could take various pastes up with me.

(Jo O) #11

If you decide to cook…Check out on YouTube
Headbanger’s kitchen.
He is Keto and in India.
Last few weeks have been a kinds of curries.
Here’s a Dosa recipe.


There’s also a naan recipe.

Ask the restaurant for extra ghee on the side.
Or bring your own.

#12

How often do you travel to visit your mom? It’s one night at a restaurant. An important part of life is enjoying special occasions. Going off keto one day isn’t going to change your metabolic state. Enjoy the meal and get back on track the next day.

Keep calm and keto OFF…

(Ellen) #13

HI, I only see her maybe 3 times a year, just a bit worried that if I have a cheat meal, that’ll turn into a cheat day, into a cheat week etc. We’ll see.

(Allan L) #14

How long have you been keto for? I find that even an accidental cheat meal where I didn’t spot an ingredient etc can cause such intestinal upset and the last thought in my mind is doing that again.

(Ellen) #15

HI Allan, about 3 months now, I’ve tried to be fairly strict but have gone over 50g carbs in a day a couple of times (my birthday and then a mates) but never massively over and still in ketosis the day after, touch wood never really had any issues when I’ve maybe gone a bit over, ut like I say it’s never been a huge amount.

(Ken) #16

Hmmm. Your meal will not be until the end of November? You’re actually concerned about it now? One carb-based meal occasionally eaten within the wider context of a lipolytic eating pattern is not only insignificant, but if anything beneficial within the metabolic context.

Eat whatever you want, enjoy yourself. Don’t be a pain in the butt to other people in regard to your nutritional choices.

#17

I agree. There is a difference between the accidental sauce and the deliberate cheat. I would stick to the plan and if it turns out a curry is more carby than you thought I would not worry and you could always fast the next day.

In my opinion there are too many reasons to cheat. I have something like 26 people in my immediate family (parents, spouse, children, siblings, spouses and their children). If I cheated every time one of them had a birthday I would be cheating every other week. There are too many special occasions that are not really as special as your health. This was my problem with moderate carb when I did that for years, it worked as long as I stuck to it but I would find a reason not to because of a special occasion. On keto for six months I simply continue to eat it even on special occasions

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #18

If you have addictive tendencies, you are wise to take this concern into account. What people are posting about it’s only being one day in a larger context is true, as far as it goes, but like CICO, it doesn’t necessarily go all that far, if you have other issues going on.

As I have mentioned in other threads, I am a recovering alcoholic and do have to worry about the alcohol content of the foods I eat, not because they could possibly get me drunk themselves, but because the taste can set up cravings that can get me in real trouble. I find that there is a big psychological difference between ingesting alcohol unknowingly, and deliberately choosing to go with a dish soaked in rum, or whatever. The parallel between what can happen to an alcoholic and what can happen to a sugar/carb/food addict should be obvious, so as I say, you are wise to think through the issue in advance.

That said, do your best and leave the outcome up to God. I find that when my motives are pure, I am protected from the consequences of the worst of my stupid thinking. Not that it’s necessarily easy . . . .

(KCKO, KCFO 🥥) #19

Me too. I did a Zone diet 40c/30f/30p for decades and bounced up and down. I would end up craving more carbs after a special occasion. I don’t have as large a family, but there were still plenty of excuses to have a bit more of this or that.

Last Aug. I did Atkins induction, and have stayed keto/lchf and have been maintaining my weight loss since beginning of May. Now if I do end up with a too carby meal, I fast the next day or two or three, depending on how I feel. Then I just
KCKO

(Jeannie Oliver) #20

She has written a couple of cookbooks that are strictly keto. This one I received yesterday has a good chapter on keto basics at the beginning. I also received my new Instant Pot and an Anova Sous Vide. I’m all out of excuses to not cook…