Does Indian Cooking Have Healthy Recipes?

Now that I am more weigh conscious than ever, I try to make recipes which will give me a good balance of carbohydrates, proteins and with less or no oil. But with Indian cooking (especially from the part of India I come from) its very difficult to achieve this without too many calories as rice is our main dish and many of the curries we use have coconut or other fat contents. Just to fulfill my diet conditions I did not want to completely change the type of food that I was eating as that would have meant me cooking one type for my family (as they love Indian food at home) and one for myself for which I do not have time for.

This is how my search for healthy recipes started and once I started talking to my previous generation, I was amazed to find many such recipes even in the Indian cooking. This is one of my favorite recipe as it's quick to make and also is very filling, due to the veggies in it. My son likes it because of the Corn Raita that I serve it with . I am going to share this recipe with you as this has changed the way I look at rice recipes. This proves that they can be healthy too.

Ingredients: 1 Bowl of cooked brown basmati rice
1 bowl of mixed veggies ( I usually have a combination of green peas, beans, carrots, cauliflower)
1 onion
1 tomato
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp of garam masala
2 cardamom pods
1/2 inch of cinnamon stick
salt to taste
1 tsp oil (optional)

In a flat pot, add 1 tsp of oil or just heat the pot and add cumin seeds, cardamom pods, cinnamon stick, garlic cloved and fry till aromatic. Now add onions and fry till brown. Add tomato and salt and fry till you see tomato fully crushed. If you do not use oil then add couple of tsp of water and cover with lid and let it simmer for couple of minutes. This would crush the tomato. Now take this mixture away from heat and grind it in a paste (try not to use water or use very little for grinding) Steam all the veggies in bowl with little water for couple of minutes in a microwave. Now drain the veggies and mix them with the grind paste. In a pot, on a high heat, add the veggies and stir fry for a minute or so. Season with some black pepper and coriander (optional) if you like. Now add the rice and mix gently till the rice is fully coated with the gravy and the veggies. Serve hot with corn raita.

The use of brown rice has made sure this is a much healthier option than the usual white rice. All it takes is a little research and you can also find various types of healthy recipes in Indian cooking. Not just that but sometimes a little variation like using brown rice instead of white rice or no oil etc will make sure that you are cutting down on many of the unwanted calories and still can eat your favorite food. Just make sure you stick to those little portions too as thats also an important factor. Here is to healthy eating...