Being desi, we all love to go out and treat ourselves to the occasional indian restaurant outing.  But a few days later, you’ll notice all that ghee and heavy cream will show up on top of your abs. So how can you still enjoy this food and make it out of the restaurant without feeling guilty?

Portion Control

Always beware of how much you are eating.  You must realize that most of these curried dishes have ample heavy cream, ghee, and oil.  If you average the caloric content of a tablespoon of the above, it comes out to a whopping 150 calories.  And you must assume that at least half of a tablespoon of curry will contain these hidden fats.  Therefore, you should become familiar with a size of a tablespoon and eat no more than 8 tablespoons of curry from your curry dish(about 600 calories of fat). The chicken or vegetables in the curry can be eaten without worries.

Naan

Order your naan without butter.  This will help cut some calories.  Try ordering garlic naan without butter to give it some flavor.  Onion naan is also an excellent choice.  In fact, it’s better to eat more naan then subji.  Fats are more likely to turn into fat when in excess, while a smaller percentage of excess carbohydrates will be converted to fat.  An entire naan at a restaurant is typically between 300-400 calories.  You can also substitute with a whole wheat chapatti instead.  The whole wheat will fill you up more and give you some protein with it.

No Appetizers

Appetizers at indian restaurants tend to be fried(samosas, pakora, etc.).  If you must order one, stick to the chaat with the sweet chutney on the side.

No Paneer

Try to order your dish without paneer as a one inch cube is 100 calories of pure fat.

Indian Sweets

We all know sweets are bad, but indian sweets are a killer! One galub jamun can have up to 400 calories, and we all know that you end up eating more than one.  If you must eat desert, stick to the kulfi and mango ice cream.  Better yet, stick to a cup of chai.

Chole(chick peas)

This is probably the healthiest subjis at most indian restaurants.  You can eat all you want without worries.  But please skip the fried puri and batura.  Any dhaal dish is usually healthy at home, but definitely not at restaurants, so stick to chickpeas.

Basmati Rice

Be careful.  Depending on the place, they may mix ghee into in the rice.  So I think its better to stick with butterless naan or a whole wheat chapatti with your subjis.

Avoid Buffets

This is pretty self-explanatory. You will tend to overeat since you will want to try everything and get your money’s worth.  Stick to ordering off the menu, as you are likely to eat less and you might even be able to take home some leftovers for those watching their budgets.

South Indian Food

This is a healthier replacement for outside indian food.  So if you can, substitute idlis and dosa in place of Punjabi food.

Sample Order For Two

Water with lemon (2)

Chaat with sweet chutney on side(use sparingly)

1 Whole Wheat Chapati no butter

1 Garlic Kulcha no butter

1 Chole Subji light on oil(tell them, they will listen!) with Onion Garnish

1 Malai Kulfi for desert

2 Cups of Chai