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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In your shoes, I'd just tell the host that you are incredibly sensitive to any spices in food and that you'd hate for them to order something that you aren't able to eat. So you'd love to join, but will just eat bread/rice (or, depending on how close you are to the host, you could offer to bring your own chicken/beans to eat with naan/rice).

As the host, I'd rather hear this than have my guest request a particular dish and then not eat any (or very little) of it. But that really depends on the host and your relationship to them.

The host is my brother. It will literally be him and my little niece, who would absolutely notice if I didn't eat or brought my own food. SURELY there is something non-spicy at a typical indian restaurant that I can ask for?

Indian-American here. The only reliably non-spicy things are naan, plain rice, and raita. Everything else can vary, depending on the restaurant. I would never make yellow daal spicy, but I've been to many restaurants that do. Asking for non-spicy isn't worth the risk given your extreme sensitivity, especially since they may have some things pre-cooked...so at best they can do low-spice.

All of that said, I think it's weird that your brother is being so rigid (niece gets to pick this time) given your dietary issues. Surely she could identify a second choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where the heck are they ordering from that the restaurant food will be soooo spicy? Indian restaurant food has gotten so bland over the years that unless you say spicy, the default is food that is made for 5 year old (non indian) kids.

Did you read the OP? She has to gulp 2 glasses of water when she sprinkles pepper on scrambled eggs. This is not someone I would recommend ordering from an Indian restaurant except for plain rice and naan and a mango lassi (even raita can often have pepper and spices in it).

[Anonymous]

Another vote for naan and rice and salad. If it really is just your brother at his home, bring your own or order from someplace separate. When we order Indian we pick up burritos for the kids. They usually taste ours - eventually maybe they'll decide it's not so bad - but for take out not everyone needs to eat the same thing.

[Anonymous]

Agree with all the folks saying rice, naan, and mango lassi.

I will also add, as a former server and restaurant hostess, there are LOTS of folks out there who cannot handle or prefer no spices in their food. Sometimes its allergies, sometimes it's intestinal conditions (colon cancer, ulcerative collitis, divirticulitus, etc.), and sometimes it's just the way their taste buds are wired. Sure, there are some people who are just picky, but there are lots of people who are dealing with conditions the rest of us should be grateful we don't have. No reason to be a jerk about it.

[Anonymous]

You can order a salad and lots of naan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just eat before and have naan at the table. No one cares.[/quote]

I do this all the time. BTW I hate Indian food, I only like the bread. It is what it is. No Shame, everyone's taste buds are different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can order a salad and lots of naan.

I would eat a smaller meal before so that you are not totally starving.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where the heck are they ordering from that the restaurant food will be soooo spicy? Indian restaurant food has gotten so bland over the years that unless you say spicy, the default is food that is made for 5 year old (non indian) kids.

Way to not read a single other post in the thread including the original post.

[Anonymous]

OP, my suggestion is that you ask your brother for the name of the restaurant. Then you call the restaurant, explain that your family is planning to order dinner from there and ask the people in the restaurant what they suggest or if they have a way to order dishes without any pepper in it.

I've found when having to deal with food issues, that often, the best solution is to call the restaurant beforehand, preferably between meal rushes when they have more time to talk and ask them. It's worked best for me in similar situations. I expect that you'll get a better answer than crowd-sourcing from many people who do not have food issues and are not the ones preparing the food.

[Anonymous]

Pakora usually aren't spicy. Ask them if their batter has chilis.

If it's a South Indian restaurant, they may have non-spicy idli, curd rice (or make your own rice and yogurt combination).

[Anonymous]

Lots of Indian restaurants offer kids menus with chicken tenders, french fries, etc.

[Anonymous]

Just wanted to say how sorry I am for those of you who can’t enjoy spices. I can’t imagine such a culinary wasteland.

[Anonymous]

WOW! All this discussion for ONE meal??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I don't know about OP but if you can't eat onions then you might have a form of IBS that requires low-FODMAP foods. The hallmark of needing to eat low-FODMAP is an intolerance for onions and garlic. Then there is a whole list of other foods that some people can tolerate and others cannot. However, not being able to eat onions and garlic is something they all have in common. It has to do with their bodies not being able to process the fructose in certain high-FODMAP foods and when they eat those foods they experience severe gastro distress.



Note that there are better charts out there - this is just the one that I could get in a jpg format so I could paste it in LOL.

In answer to OP's question, our low-FODMAP daughter eats Naan, Rice, and either Butter Chicken or Lamb Saag. Note that the Lamb Saag looks absolutely disgusting but OMG it is delicious. I like Butter Chicken but it is a little sweet for me. OP will need to make sure the niece says explicitly: NO ONIONS and NO GARLIC when she places the order.

Sorry for the long post. I hope this information helps, OP!

I agree. After decades of eating very bland foods and still getting intestinal distress, I think my mother may have a FODMAP sensitivity. She cannot eat garlic, onions, bell peppers, and can only handle small quantities of bread and raw fruits and vegetables. OP, please follow this poster's advice. And look on Amazon for good books on FODMAPs.

[Anonymous]

OP here. First, thank you all for your suggestions. Here's how it went. Firstly, I wasn't worried about being hungry so didn't care about eating before or after. My brother didn't ask me anything about what to order, he just ordered. My niece VERY much wanted me to get a mango lassi. I had one sip of hers - it tasted like drinking yogurt. It was fine. There was chicken pakora which had a lot of flavor but wasn't super spicy and that's the bulk of what I ate. There was something that was like an indian version of a potato knish which I tried but didn't like (I don't like potato knishes either). There was naan - plain, garlic and onion. The garlic was really good - if you lived in NY in the 70's and 80's you might remember onion board from bagel shops - it tasted kind of like onion board.

The other two things ordered that I didn't eat was something that looked mushy that my brother said was cheese with spinach, and something else that was chicken with very orange sauce. Thank you again for all your help!