Help! What can I order from an Indian restaurant if I can't handle ANY spice?

[Anonymous]

If OP can't even handle pepper, she won't be able to handle anything from an Indian restaurant - even "mild".

Agree that naan and plain rice are your only options - but since it sounds like this is your sibling hosting, why would they not know about your sensitivities?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op you are missing out on a world of tasty food. The most popular dishes that non Indians eat are butter chicken and chicken tika masala. One of those is the

Most people that are like this do not want to be. They aren't just childish picky eaters. I used to not be able to eat anything like this, it literally hurt my mouth and made it so I couldn't taste food. Why would anyone want that? Take one bite and your whole mouth hurts for two days and you can't taste anything? It's not mental. I worked very hard over the past 10 years to overcome my extreme sensitivity and I wouldn't judge anyone for not eating spicy food. Only if they never wanted to try anything new.

All the dishes people mentioned would be too much spice for her.

OP, rice, naan, and desserts should be fine. You could get a mango lassi too.

Also, don't put up with any crap from people who want to judge you and think you are being small minded or weak or whatever. Just say "spicy food doesn't agree with me", keep a smile on your face and change the convo. It shouldn't bother them unless they are dealing with their own issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I got invited to a dinner Friday night. They are getting takeout from an Indian restaurant. My body can NOT handle spice/heat. At all. Like, if you sprinkle pepper on scrambled eggs, I gulp down two big glasses of water. So far all I know I can eat is naan. If I accidentally eat something with heat, it burns my mouth for two to three days. I read an article on Serious Eats about how to expand your ability to eat spicy foods, and it doesn't work for me.

Is there some sort of plain-ish chicken dish I can order? Some modification I can ask for to get it the least spicy it can possibly be? Please help - I really want to see my preschool-aged niece and luckily she didn't inherit my sensitivities to food. So I can't ask them to order from a different restaurant since that would be rude, and I don't want to just decline the invite.

If you can't handle black pepper, then just order plain white rice or naan, and cucumber raita. I wouldn't bother asking the restaurant to making something mild if you can't even handle black pepper. There's nothing wrong with eating plain rice with raita -- I'm Indian and I do this all the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I got invited to a dinner Friday night. They are getting takeout from an Indian restaurant. My body can NOT handle spice/heat. At all. Like, if you sprinkle pepper on scrambled eggs, I gulp down two big glasses of water. So far all I know I can eat is naan. If I accidentally eat something with heat, it burns my mouth for two to three days. I read an article on Serious Eats about how to expand your ability to eat spicy foods, and it doesn't work for me.

Is there some sort of plain-ish chicken dish I can order? Some modification I can ask for to get it the least spicy it can possibly be? Please help - I really want to see my preschool-aged niece and luckily she didn't inherit my sensitivities to food. So I can't ask them to order from a different restaurant since that would be rude, and I don't want to just decline the invite.

If you can't handle black pepper, then just order plain white rice or naan, and cucumber raita. I wouldn't bother asking the restaurant to making something mild if you can't even handle black pepper. There's nothing wrong with eating plain rice with raita -- I'm Indian and I do this all the time.

+1. Yogurt rice was always eaten in my house after eating spicy foods. It's a very typical meal. Just order it and enjoy meeting up with your family!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I got invited to a dinner Friday night. They are getting takeout from an Indian restaurant. My body can NOT handle spice/heat. At all. Like, if you sprinkle pepper on scrambled eggs, I gulp down two big glasses of water. So far all I know I can eat is naan. If I accidentally eat something with heat, it burns my mouth for two to three days. I read an article on Serious Eats about how to expand your ability to eat spicy foods, and it doesn't work for me.

Is there some sort of plain-ish chicken dish I can order? Some modification I can ask for to get it the least spicy it can possibly be? Please help - I really want to see my preschool-aged niece and luckily she didn't inherit my sensitivities to food. So I can't ask them to order from a different restaurant since that would be rude, and I don't want to just decline the invite.

Butter chicken.
My MS-aged DD hates spices. Oh, well. So that's the item she always gets from an Indian restaurant, butter chicken.

[Anonymous]

Get a mango lassi, some salad (tomatoes and cucumber, no pepper), naan, and rice. Some tandoor chicken is not spiced but that is hit or miss. Get dessert.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If OP can't even handle pepper, she won't be able to handle anything from an Indian restaurant - even "mild".

Agree that naan and plain rice are your only options - but since it sounds like this is your sibling hosting, why would they not know about your sensitivities?

+1

OP if even plain black pepper is an issue in small amounts, none of these suggestions if actual dishes will work for you. Naan and plain rice will but at that point you might as well eat beforehand. I have a sister who is this sensitive and would only be ordering Indian while she is visiting if I were passive-aggressive super incredibly mad at her. (which has never happened - just hypothesizing)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You just say “not spicy”

Indian “not spicy” is still sometimes inedible by those of us who can’t do spice.

Why are people being dcks to OP? I can’t eat spice at all because of some ulcerous stomach condition (after the endoscopy: “that’s just the way your stomach is”) and it’s just depressing hearing what vindictive and judgmental jerks some of you are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Butter chicken and tandoori are mild but based on OP’s description they will experience both as spicy.

+1 I would stick with daal, rice, and butter naan.

Yes, with raita and a mango lassi, you'd be all set.

yes, this is what I'd do: daal, rice, butter naan, raita, mango lassi.

[Anonymous]

I think you could do a tandoor chicken. Ask for no spicr and then cut off the edges and eat the inside whicj should not have touched spices but still been marinaded in yogurt.

[Anonymous]

I always wonder what people with this type of eating limitation/disorder do eat regularly?

[Anonymous]

Naan
Rice
Raita

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rice and naan.

This.

OP I am just like you and some people just don't really appreciate what it means when you say you can't handle spice. There is always a little spice in Indian food with the exception of rice (but not always so make sure and check) and naan.
The other thing I can think of is a samosa and just eat the breading and kind of pretend to eat the filling. At least that way you get a something.

[Anonymous]

Plain Rice with yogurt/raita is what many Indians eat as a complete meal, usually with some pickles/salads/condiments. Naan also tastes good with raita. If the restaurant is willing to make you a dish of potatoes sautéed with just cumin and salt that might be okay.
If you can’t handle any spice at all this will be your safest bet. Even dal in a restaurant will have assertive flavors otherwise it will just taste like plain boiled lentils.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I always wonder what people with this type of eating limitation/disorder do eat regularly?

I am like OP and the answer is bland food. Even garlic can be too much for me and sometimes sour cream and onion potatoe chips for example.

I take medication that makes my mouth even more sensitive so I have to be really careful.

I hate it and wish it wasn't the case.