Indian Recipes

Indian food doesn’t have to be high in fat and high in calories and the good news is that if you make your own healthy eating Indian recipes and choose your ingredients well then you can eat this food as part of your weight loss plan.  Below we have a selection of easy to make Indian weight loss recipes to satisfy your tastebuds and aid your weight loss

Fragrant Chicken Curry

Ingredients

  • 570g boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • Butter flavoured cooking spray (use regular cooking spray if you can’t find butter flavoured)
  • 1 onion
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 200ml chicken stock
  • 2 tbsp. garam masala
  • 1 tsp. ground coriander
  • 1 x handful fresh coriander
  • ½ tsp. dried mint
  • Salt and pepper

Directions

  1. Thinly slice the onion and mince the garlic cloves. Dice the chicken breasts. Heat the butter spray in a frying pan and add the onion. Cook for 10 minutes or until soft, sweet and golden.
  2. Add the garlic and fry for a couple of minutes until fragrant, then add the garam masala, ground coriander and dried mint. Fry for a minute or two until fragrant, then add the chicken and stir until browned on the outside and coated in all the onions and spices.
  3. Add the chicken stock and stir to combine then simmer for 10-15 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and tender and the sauce thickened. Season to taste with salt and pepper and stir in the fresh croriander.

Tip – add spinach for a bit of freshness and extra iron. Recipe serves 2. Calories per serving: 236, fat per serving: 6.8g.

Spinach Pilau Rice

Ingredients

  • 150g basmati rice
  • 150g baby spinach leaves
  • 1 onion
  • 1 garlic clove
  • ½ green chilli
  • 1 carrot
  • 1 tsp. ground turmeric
  • 1 tsp. ground ginger
  • 20g flaked almonds
  • Cooking spray
  • Salt and pepper

Directions

  1. Thinly slice the onion. Mince the garlic clove. Peel the carrot and grate finely. Remove the seeds from the chilli and finely dice the flesh.
  2. Heat cooking spray in a large frying pan. Fry the onion gently for ten minutes or until soft and sweet, then add the garlic and chilli and fry until fragrant. Turn the heat up a little, add the carrot and fry for 1-2 minutes or until starting to soften, then add the turmeric and ground ginger and fry until fragrant, 30-60 seconds. Add the spinach and cook until wilted, then take the pan off the heat.
  3. Meanwhile, place the rice into boiling water. Cover and simmer over a medium-high heat for 8-10 minutes. Drain and leave to dry for a minute or two in the colander.
  4. Add the rice to the ingredients in the pan and stir to coat in all the spices. Season to taste. Tip into an oven dish, cover and cook at 150C for ten minutes. Sprinkle with flaked almonds to serve.

Recipe serves 4. Calories per serving: 196, fat per serving: 4.8g.

Chicken Tikka Masala

Ingredients

  • 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • 115g natural yoghurt, low fat or fat free
  • 110ml skim milk
  • 1 x 400g tin crushed tomatoes
  • 1 onion
  • 1 tbsp. minced ginger
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 2 tsp. butter
  • 1 tbsp. each garam masala, cumin and turmeric
  • ½ tbsp. chilli powder
  • Salt and pepper

Directions

  1. Dice the chicken breasts. Finely dice the onion and mince the garlic cloves. Heat the butter over a medium heat in a large saucepan. Add the onion and cook until golden and soft.
  2. Stir in the ginger and fry for a few minutes, then add the minced garlic and fry for one minute.
  3. Add the garam masala, cumin, turmeric, chilli powder, salt and pepper and fry for 1-2 minutes until fragrant.
  4. Stir in the crushed tomatoes, yoghurt and milk. Simmer very gently for ten minutes until thickened, stirring occasionally, then add the chicken pieces and simmer for 10-15 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and tender.

If desired, add coriander to taste. For extra flavour, marinate the chicken in spices and yoghurt then brown on the outside in a hot frying pan before adding to the sauce. Recipe serves 4. Calories per serving: 191, fat per serving: 4.5g.

Low Fat Butter Chicken

Ingredients:

  • 450g chicken breast, cubed
  • 1 onion
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 3 tsp. low fat or light butter
  • 1 tsp. minced ginger
  • 1 tsp. corn flour
  • ½ tsp. each chilli powder, garam masala, cinnamon, turmeric and black pepper
  • Pinch of salt
  • 2 tbsp. tomato puree
  • 150g mushrooms
  • 200ml warm water
  • 125g low fat plain yoghurt with chopped cucumber
  • 1 x bunch of fresh corriander

Method of Preparation:

  1. Finely chop the onion and mince the garlic clove. Thinly slice the mushrooms.
  2. Melt the butter in a frying pan and cook the onion for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another ten minutes over a low heat until soft and tender.
  3. Add the chicken, along with the ginger, chilli powder, garam masala, cinnamon, turmeric and pepper. Cook together until the chicken is sealed on all sides and the spices begin to release their fragrances. Add the chopped corriander at the end of cooking
  4. Stir in the tomato puree and cook for a few minutes, then add the water and mushrooms and simmer until the chicken is cooked, around 15 minutes.
  5. Dissolve the corn flour in a few tbsp. of water then stir into the curry to thicken. Season with salt to taste.
  6. To serve, pour the yoghurt and chopped cucumber on top of the curry.

Use 0% fat plain yoghurt if you like in place of low fat yoghurt – the only difference will be that the flavour of the curry will be less rich and creamy. Recipe serves 4, calories per serving: 290.