Anonymous
10/29/2015 18:26
Subject: Grew up on Indian food - thinking of going back to it
Anonymous wrote:I grew up on Indian food and now treat it like dessert and eat it very infrequently. The amount of oil used is startling and my system just can't take it. I shudder to think what my arteries would look like today had I stayed on that diet. Like many other many of my relatives have diabetes and most all older Indian women I know carry an enormous amount of belly fat. I'm think the high carb diet causes much of that.
Glad to have a diet of an educated American now. Lots of vegetables, none of my food drowning in oil and lean meats. For carbs we do a lot of sold salads that are often half carb (such as quonia, orzo, and bulgur ) and half veggies. I do cook daal, but once again skip the oil and only use enough to saute onions. I look nothing like the Indian women in my family who still eat a traditional diet, no belly fat and most importantly no Insulin shots!
I am lucky - my mom's cooking was really healthy. Olive oil, and not too much of it. We ate white rice rarely, and instead had chapatti made with whole wheat atta. If I live to be 100 it's because my parents were poor and we lived on chapatti, dal, vegetables, and yogurt.
Anonymous
10/29/2015 17:51
Subject: Re:Grew up on Indian food - thinking of going back to it
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I have never heard that ghee is a "good fat"!
And dosas are fried in tons of oil to get them crispy. Idli is good but still has that white rice issue.
Google " is ghee good for you? "
Idli is a fermented food. Doesn't process the same way as white rice
Do you believe everything you read on the Internet?
No I believe a lot of what my elders told me and research backed with scientific evidence. You obviously did not grow up in India
Anonymous
10/29/2015 13:44
Subject: Re:Grew up on Indian food - thinking of going back to it
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I have never heard that ghee is a "good fat"!
And dosas are fried in tons of oil to get them crispy. Idli is good but still has that white rice issue.
Google " is ghee good for you? "
Idli is a fermented food. Doesn't process the same way as white rice
Do you believe everything you read on the Internet?
Anonymous
10/29/2015 13:38
Subject: Grew up on Indian food - thinking of going back to it
Anonymous wrote:Im half Kannadiga (Dad's side) and when we go to Bangalore I don't find the food too oily or the vegetables cooked to death. We eat saguu, chapathi, rasam, moru sadham, sambar, cootu, etc and none of it is oily. Perhaps it's your family likes to use a lot of oil. Also, none of these dishes really need that much oil -- they are water-based or gravy-based. And I don't think education level has all to do with how heavy one is -- if you eat too much fried food, for instance, you will look a certain way, whether or not you have a PhD and live in Bangalore or Bangkok.
3rd Kannadiga on this board. also from Bangalore
Anonymous
10/29/2015 13:37
Subject: Re:Grew up on Indian food - thinking of going back to it
Anonymous wrote:I have never heard that ghee is a "good fat"!
And dosas are fried in tons of oil to get them crispy. Idli is good but still has that white rice issue.
Google " is ghee good for you? "
Idli is a fermented food. Doesn't process the same way as white rice
Anonymous
10/29/2015 10:44
Subject: Grew up on Indian food - thinking of going back to it
Im half Kannadiga (Dad's side) and when we go to Bangalore I don't find the food too oily or the vegetables cooked to death. We eat saguu, chapathi, rasam, moru sadham, sambar, cootu, etc and none of it is oily. Perhaps it's your family likes to use a lot of oil. Also, none of these dishes really need that much oil -- they are water-based or gravy-based. And I don't think education level has all to do with how heavy one is -- if you eat too much fried food, for instance, you will look a certain way, whether or not you have a PhD and live in Bangalore or Bangkok.
Anonymous
10/28/2015 21:30
Subject: Grew up on Indian food - thinking of going back to it
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Why so testy that most Indian food is oily. It's a simple fact. It might be that YOU have modified recipes, but generally speaking whrn I go back home to Bangalore (which is about 4xs.a.year due to work travel) I'm always working hard to avoid the excessive oil and vegetables cooked until they are dead. Don't get me wrong, it's good, but when I'm home it really stands out to me how the educated wealthy of India look like the uneducated poor in the US. And Indians are still eating Indian food, you can't blame it all on McDonald's. It's access to more rich foods and food in general.
Home cooked South Indian vegetarian food is not oily. And the vegetables are not cooked until they are dead. A lot of old world cultures have the tradition of slow cooking vegetables until they melt in your mouth.
North Indian vegetarian food is richer but that's what suits their cooler climate. Home cooked North Indian vegetable dishes are not done to death either.
Your facts are wrong as many on this thread have pointed out.
+1
I travel to South India to visit my family every year. I was born and raised there. Food at home is rich only for special occasions. Restaurant food or that prepared by cooks hired by families to prepare daily meals tends to be less healthy as their priority is taste. Many dual-parent working families have had to resort to the latter due to lack of time.
Anonymous
10/28/2015 21:19
Subject: Grew up on Indian food - thinking of going back to it
Anonymous wrote:Why so testy that most Indian food is oily. It's a simple fact. It might be that YOU have modified recipes, but generally speaking whrn I go back home to Bangalore (which is about 4xs.a.year due to work travel) I'm always working hard to avoid the excessive oil and vegetables cooked until they are dead. Don't get me wrong, it's good, but when I'm home it really stands out to me how the educated wealthy of India look like the uneducated poor in the US. And Indians are still eating Indian food, you can't blame it all on McDonald's. It's access to more rich foods and food in general.
Home cooked South Indian vegetarian food is not oily. And the vegetables are not cooked until they are dead. A lot of old world cultures have the tradition of slow cooking vegetables until they melt in your mouth.
North Indian vegetarian food is richer but that's what suits their cooler climate. Home cooked North Indian vegetable dishes are not done to death either.
Your facts are wrong as many on this thread have pointed out.
Anonymous
10/28/2015 18:08
Subject: Grew up on Indian food - thinking of going back to it
Why so testy that most Indian food is oily. It's a simple fact. It might be that YOU have modified recipes, but generally speaking whrn I go back home to Bangalore (which is about 4xs.a.year due to work travel) I'm always working hard to avoid the excessive oil and vegetables cooked until they are dead. Don't get me wrong, it's good, but when I'm home it really stands out to me how the educated wealthy of India look like the uneducated poor in the US. And Indians are still eating Indian food, you can't blame it all on McDonald's. It's access to more rich foods and food in general.
Anonymous
10/28/2015 17:37
Subject: Grew up on Indian food - thinking of going back to it
If you prepare Indian food at home, it can be very healthy. Most restaurant food, regardless of cuisine is loaded with extra oil and butter. I use olive oil sparingly and frequently prepare healthy versions of daal, chicken curries, and many vegetables dishes at home. I serve them with brown rice or quinoa.
Anonymous
10/28/2015 16:13
Subject: Grew up on Indian food - thinking of going back to it
Inherently *unhealthy*, I meant to say.
Anonymous
10/28/2015 16:11
Subject: Grew up on Indian food - thinking of going back to it
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I grew up on Indian food and now treat it like dessert and eat it very infrequently. The amount of oil used is startling and my system just can't take it. I shudder to think what my arteries would look like today had I stayed on that diet. Like many other many of my relatives have diabetes and most all older Indian women I know carry an enormous amount of belly fat. I'm think the high carb diet causes much of that.
Glad to have a diet of an educated American now. Lots of vegetables, none of my food drowning in oil and lean meats. For carbs we do a lot of sold salads that are often half carb (such as quonia, orzo, and bulgur ) and half veggies. I do cook daal, but once again skip the oil and only use enough to saute onions. I look nothing like the Indian women in my family who still eat a traditional diet, no belly fat and most importantly no Insulin shots!
You know that cooking food at home means you can control the amount of oil you use, right? We cook and eat Indian vegetarian food four nights a week and nothing is drowning in oil. It's quite healthy if you make it properly.
+1 There is nothing inherently healthy about Indian food, especially vegetarian Indian food. Most Indian home cooks don't "drown" their food in oil but rather use it in appropriate amounts. And Indian food uses a lot of different vegetables in its dishes -- this is common knowledge. Did you grow up eating only restaurant food?
Anonymous
10/28/2015 12:27
Subject: Grew up on Indian food - thinking of going back to it
Indian home cooking at least in my home isn't oily at all. I'm South Indian, but cook a lot of North Indian food too.
For the most part, we've ditched the white rice in our meals and replaced it with quinoa or brown rice. White rice is something we indulge in over family get-togethers. We indulge in crispy fried accompaniments with our rice meals once in a while (papadums).
The one complaint I have with many Indian cooks is that they cook their vegetables to death, but I make sure mine are lightly cooked, so that problem is solved.
For the most part, we've ditched the white rice in our meals and replaced it with quinoa or brown rice. White rice is something we indulge in over family get-togethers. We indulge in crispy fried accompaniments with our rice meals once in a while (papadums).
The one complaint I have with many Indian cooks is that they cook their vegetables to death, but I make sure mine are lightly cooked, so that problem is solved.
Anonymous
10/28/2015 12:04
Subject: Re:Grew up on Indian food - thinking of going back to it
There are many different idli recipes with different proportions of rice and dal and flour. My family started making one with ragi flour, that isn't quite as fluffy as the traditional white rice version, but is much more low-carb.
Anonymous
10/28/2015 11:54
Subject: Re:Grew up on Indian food - thinking of going back to it
I have never heard that ghee is a "good fat"!
And dosas are fried in tons of oil to get them crispy. Idli is good but still has that white rice issue.
And dosas are fried in tons of oil to get them crispy. Idli is good but still has that white rice issue.