Eating Out - Indian Food

[fairylights]

So I have now had diabetes for 7 weeks.
After reading lots of posts I have been trying to reduce the amount of carbs that I eat - most days now it's probably between 60 -100g per day.

For the first few weeks I didn't feel great and didn't want to go out anyway, and since then have been to a couple of BBQ's.

Now I would like to get my life back - just without the carbs in it!
I have taken my daughter to Nandos - that was fairly easy as the menu is published and there are good choices you can make.

Tomorrow I am going out to my favourite Indian restaurant - but I don't knwo what to eat. Is there any good choices? I would really like to have a poppadom although i can probably do without rice, but what would be a good - or if not good least bad choice of main course to make?

 

[xyzzy]

When I order a takeaway I do

A dry curry, usually one with a thick sauce. Madras is also fine. You just have to avoid sweet curry sauces so I think the classic Chicken Tikka Masalla is out.

I then add an extra Chicken Tikka starter.
Mushroom Bhaji
Spinach & Garlic Bhaji
3 x small Onion Bhaji's
As much Pilau rice as I can tolerate which for me is around 3 level tablespoons.

Adding the extra starter is what makes all the difference as you end up with a decent amount without having a load of rice.

Never tried a poppadom but probably would if it was a sit down evening out kind of treat.

Nan bread is a killer ...

 

[Paul1976]

+1 and I usually fill up on Sheek Kebab starters as well to make up for the rice(3 tablespoons of mushroom pilau rice is about all I do too),I still have 1 poppadum but I no longer eat the mint sauce dip as it could have lots of hidden sugar and carbs so I play it safe these days.You can't beat a good ol' Ruby murray eh? :wink:

 

[CathyN]

Hello

I'm new too , and the idea of a curry was somehow really worrying. But I've had a couple since being diagnosed now, and it was a breeze.

No mango chutney or yogurty sugary dip on the non- existant poppadom But it got better!! I chose a plain Lamb Tikka e.g no sauce and jazzed it up with lentil dhal, spinach and aubergine bhajee with a generous tablespoon of rice. Red wine was a big plus.

No After Eights or I knew I'd be Above Eight for a few hours :lol:

Basically, I avoided sugary creamy sauces like the kormas etc and just went for plain but good side dishes. And I did have a really small fragment of Naan - miniscule.

Fasting Blood Sugars next morning have been within fairly reasonable limits e.g under 7mmol/l - obviously not absolutely great but a curry is a now and again treat. You've got to have a little bit of a treat occasionally, I think.

Have a lovely meal !

CathyN

 

[Paul1976]

No After Eights or I knew I'd be Above Eight for a few hours :lol:

:lol: :lol: :lol: Nice one! They should rename them that eh?

 

[Grazer]

Indian meals are about the best of the "foreign" restaurants for eating out. The pilau rice is basmati and about the best rice for us; sticky thai rice is a non starter and chinese rice not much better. Also lots of batter and sweet sauces with chinese and thai. I have a Madras or jalfrezi with a small amount of pilau rice and a mushroom bhaji (onion bhajis have too much batter). I do without the poppadoms, but have a small chapati which is smaller than the nan by loads and is flat bread (unleaven?) - seems much better for BGs.
The real key of course is a few glasses of red wine to help control the carbs! AND it's nice!

 

[Sid Bonkers]

A dry curry, usually one with a thick sauce. Madras is also fine. You just have to avoid sweet curry sauces so I think the classic Chicken Tikka Masalla is out.

The sweetness in a masala comes from yoghurt and cream and butter, Its high fat not sweet, should be right up your street

My wife cooks one most weeks and theres nothing in it that would make your bg levels rise, some restaurants may use a thickener, but they shouldnt need to if they use good quality butter, yoghurt & double cream :thumbup:

Try one and test, you should be pleasantly surprised

 

[WhitbyJet]

I usually have a vegetable side dish, eg aubergine curry or mushroom bahjee and mains for me is chicken or mutton saag (with spinach) or chicken or mutton methi (with fenugreek)
Google type 2 diabetes and fenugreek, it is said to lower our bg, twice I had a chicken methi, twice my bg ended up at below 4!!
I never order breads, rice or poppadoms, but might well be ok with a small portion of rice, its just that I dont want to eat it.

Enjoy your curry, its good for you

 

[xyzzy]

A dry curry, usually one with a thick sauce. Madras is also fine. You just have to avoid sweet curry sauces so I think the classic Chicken Tikka Masalla is out.

The sweetness in a masala comes from yoghurt and cream and butter, all the sorts of stuff I thought you liked to bulk up on

My wife cooks one most weeks and theres nothing in it that would make your bg levels rise, some restaurants may use a thickener, but they shouldnt need to if they use good quality butter, yoghurt & double cream :thumbup:

Try one and test, you should be pleasantly surprised

Thanks Sid will give that a try.

 

[noblehead]

I usually have a vegetable side dish, eg aubergine curry or mushroom bahjee and mains for me is chicken or mutton saag (with spinach) or chicken or mutton methi (with fenugreek)

Chicken Tikka Saag is my favourite Indian dish :thumbup:

 

[fairylights]

Oh good.

This is much better than I thought!

They do do both a spinach and a fenugreek dish but think I will try my favourite which is a punjabi dish with mushrooms, onions and peppers. We don't normally have starters so will try my poppadom with spicy onions and a little rice and have a couple of glasses of red wine and see what effect this has.
I can always try something else next time

 

[Grazer]

Good plan fairylights, go for it! Not too many poppadoms mind.

 

[fairylights]

Well I had a poppodum, some spiced onions, half a dish of rice and my curry and a couple of glasses of wine and my BGL was 5.8 after 2 hours.

Delighted!

 

[Paul1976]

Well I had a poppodum, some spiced onions, half a dish of rice and my curry and a couple of glasses of wine and my BGL was 5.8 after 2 hours.

Delighted!

:clap: :thumbup: Nice one!! Indian nosh is good with me too! ....Now,if only they could invent a chinese Szechuan Beef,egg fried rice,sesame prawn on toast that didn't spike me then I would be so chuffed! :lol:

 

[desidiabulum]

This is great to hear, but what about the Ultimate Diabetic Challenge???:
You have been invited to a meal in an expensive Thai Restaurant.
Assuming that you are not going to pretend to be ill or just run away, and that you would like to be able to eat a decent meal without having to drink a vat of red wine to keep your bgs under control, what do you do? (I've only tried the running away option so far)

 

[Paul1976]

This is great to hear, but what about the Ultimate Diabetic Challenge???:
You have been invited to a meal in an expensive Thai Restaurant.
Assuming that you are not going to pretend to be ill or just run away, and that you would like to be able to eat a decent meal without having to drink a vat of red wine to keep your bgs under control, what do you do? (I've only tried the running away option so far)

Fill my boots and repent afterwards if it was a really nice Thai restaurant and the food was being paid for as a one off treat! :lol:

 

[WhitbyJet]

[quote="Paul1976" ....Now,if only they could invent a chinese Szechuan Beef,egg fried rice,sesame prawn on toast that didn't spike me then I would be so chuffed! :lol:[/quote]

Paul - there is only one way, cook your own, try these:

http://www.livestrong.com/recipes/chine ... ower-rice/

http://www.examiner.com/article/low-car ... chwan-beef

and this to make your toasts http://divaliciousrecipesinthecity.com/ ... #more-3093

 

[WhitbyJet]

This is great to hear, but what about the Ultimate Diabetic Challenge???:
You have been invited to a meal in an expensive Thai Restaurant.
Assuming that you are not going to pretend to be ill or just run away, and that you would like to be able to eat a decent meal without having to drink a vat of red wine to keep your bgs under control, what do you do? (I've only tried the running away option so far)

Dont run away try these instead, or you could cook a Thai meal at home and invite your friends over instead of going to the restaurant, get your guests to load the dishwasher afterwards.....

http://www.shesimmers.com/2011/08/thai- ... rbers.html

http://www.livestrong.com/article/29419 ... thai-food/

http://www.atkins.com/Program/Overview/ ... Style.aspx

http://www.ehow.com/facts_5285130_low-c ... -food.html

 

[desidiabulum]

This is great to hear, but what about the Ultimate Diabetic Challenge???:
You have been invited to a meal in an expensive Thai Restaurant.
Assuming that you are not going to pretend to be ill or just run away, and that you would like to be able to eat a decent meal without having to drink a vat of red wine to keep your bgs under control, what do you do? (I've only tried the running away option so far)

Dont run away try these instead, or you could cook a Thai meal at home and invite your friends over instead of going to the restaurant, get your guests to load the dishwasher afterwards.....

http://www.shesimmers.com/2011/08/thai- ... rbers.html

http://www.livestrong.com/article/29419 ... thai-food/

http://www.atkins.com/Program/Overview/ ... Style.aspx

http://www.ehow.com/facts_5285130_low-c ... -food.html

I was ready to go with Paul's suggestion and die young but happy. But these links are a real life-saver -- thanks so much. As you've probably guessed, this is not a hypothetical situation but an imminent one.
The problem in so many restaurants, I suppose, is that they take potentially diabetic-friendly meals and then stick something in it that ruins it (or at least they MIGHT have, and you can't be quite sure -- ask a waiter 'is this OK for diabetics?' and they will NEVER say 'not really -- I'd leave now if I were you').
I know that the real solution is to do more home cooking where you can control the ingredients, and whitbyjet I will be spending part of my summer tracking down your every post in the forum (it would be easier, of course, if you put them together and published them -- have you thought of that?). Or alternatively, why don't you open a diabetic-friendly restaurant? I'm sure the forum stalwarts could come up with a good name for it. It would make a bomb, and I could demand that people take me there rather than all the invites to awkward restaurants where I end up nibbling bits of food and hoping they're not evil.

 

[Grazer]

Well I had a poppodum, some spiced onions, half a dish of rice and my curry and a couple of glasses of wine and my BGL was 5.8 after 2 hours.

Delighted!

Told ya! Who needs special diets and medication when you have Merlot and Rioja! Only joking kids, don't try this at home.......