eat eat Indian restaurants out well Adapting your menu Healthy catering is not about removing lots Appetisers/Starters/Soups of existing dishes from the menu and replacing them with healthier alternatives. • Include some healthier appetisers and Although you may decide to introduce some starters on the menu. totally new dishes, the main emphasis is on • Limit the amount of deep fried appetisers making small changes to existing dishes. offered and use a monounsaturated/ This may be changing some of the polyunsaturated oil that are suitable for deep ingredients used, the proportions of each frying (e.g. rapeseed/canola, corn). component or how the food is prepared Use optimum frying temperatures (look at cooked. Healthy catering is also about the recipe/packet or fryer instructions, promoting the healthier options so but usually between 180-190oC), as a customers are more aware of the choices reduced temperature can lead to available. increased fat absorption. • Grill, barbeque, bake (cook in tandoor This information sheet is designed to be oven) or steam starters where possible. used alongside the Eat Out Eat Well Award • Deep fried poppadoms are high in fat. guide for caterers, which gives general Grill or bake where possible. If deep details about how to provide healthy frying, use a monounsaturated/ options for your customers. The guide for polyunsaturated oil and drain thoroughly caterers also gives information on how to before serving. Allow customers to order qualify for the Eat Out Eat Well Award and poppadoms if they would like them, how to promote healthier food to customers. rather than provide them for free/ complimentary with meals. This information sheet gives more specific • When making Raita/Raitha, use reduced ideas that are tailored to Indian style fat yoghurt and add extra cucumber/ restaurants and takeaways. (This guide is onion/tomato. intended for use in Indian, Pakistani, Bengali and Bangladeshi restaurants). Less healthy options – high in fat/sugar/salt • Coconut soups • Deep fried bhajis • Deep fried pakoras • Deep fried samosas • Deep fried poppadoms • Puri (prawn/chicken) • Fried King Prawn Butterfly • Fried Garlic Mushrooms/Prawns • Fried sheek/shami kebabs • Deep fried chicken wings • Fried lamb chops • Prawn cocktail with high fat dressing Healthier Options • Soups (without cream or coconut cream) – Dal Soup, Mulligatawny • Baked/grilled poppadoms (with a little vegetable oil brushed on) • Grilled/Steamed King Prawns • Sheek/Shami kebab with lean mince, baked in tandoor oven, or grilled/BBQ • Seafood or Fish (e.g. haddock) kebabs, Bread grilled or BBQ • The healthier breads are those which are • Lamb chops (with visible fat cut off and cooked in the oven (tandoor) or on a BBQ or grilled) griddle pan, without the addition of oil or • Tandoor chicken (marinated in low fat butter/ghee. yoghurt and cooked in tandoor oven) • Where possible, use wholemeal/wholewheat • Chicken tikka (marinated low fat yoghurt flour (in chapatti, roti, and cooked in tandoor oven or grilled/BBQ) paratha and puri) • Mixed salads (dressing served separately), or Deshi salad with citrus dressing Less healthy options – high in fat • Prawn cocktail with plenty of salad and • Puri/Poori (deep fried) reduced fat dressing (served separately • Poratha/Paratha where possible) • Bhatura • Naan/Nan – particularly keema (minced Rice, bread and potatoes meat) and paneer (cheese) Healthier Options A balanced meal should be based around • Chapatti (without ghee) starchy foods, which in an Indian style • Roti (without ghee) restaurant would mainly be rice, bread and • If Naan is made with milk +/or yoghurt, potatoes. use lower fat versions. Use monounsaturated/polyunsaturated oil Rice instead of ghee/butter. Also, try not to • Offer boiled/steamed rice as an brush the cooked naan with butter/ghee, use alternative to fried (pilau). olive oil if necessary. Also offer • To make boiled rice more appealing, offer versions with added fruits (Peshwari) or variations with added fruit or vegetables vegetables (Kulcha), as long as the filling e.g. mushrooms, peas, pineapple. is not fried with added oil. • When frying ingredients for a biryani, use • When pan-frying Paratha bread, use a a minimal amount of monounsaturated/ small amount of monounsaturated/ polyunsaturated oil instead of ghee/ polyunsaturated oil instead of ghee/ butter. Include plenty of vegetables in butter. the recipe. If served with a separate curry, use a tomato based sauce rather Potatoes than a coconut/cream based sauce. • When cooking potatoes, steam or boil in • Try offering brown rice, or half brown and a minimal amount of water, rather than fry. half white rice mixed together. • Potato can be used to bulk up main • Adjust the proportions of a meal in line course curry dishes. with the Eatwell plate by offering more • When combining potato with other rice/bread and less curry. ingredients, such as Saag Aloo or Bombay Potato, try not to add in oil or butter/ghee. • If chips are on the menu, use thick, straight cut chips as these absorb less fat than thin chips/fries. Only put salt on chips if requested by customer. Main course dishes • When using yoghurt in sauces, marinades or Lassi, use a low fat version. Fruit, vegetables and salads • Reduce the amount of cream used and try to • A balanced diet should contain lots of fruit and replace with low fat yoghurt/fromage frais. vegetables, so have plenty of options on the • Try replacing condensed milk in desserts (e.g. menu. Kheer) with semi-skimmed milk. • There are a range of different fruits and • Paneer cheese is high in fat. If paneer is vegetables that are used in Indian style made in-house, try using semi-skimmed milk cooking: and reduce the amount of salt added. - tomato - onion - spinach - okra - aubergine - green beans Meat, fish and alternatives - cauliflower - lentils (pulse) - pumpkin - chickpeas (pulse) Red Meat - peas - fenugreek - banana • Use lean meat where possible and cut visible - lychees - pineapple fat off meat, such as lamb/beef. - papaya - raisins/sultanas • Use lean minced lamb (keema) where - mango possible. • Add extra fruit and vegetables into soups, • Oven bake (in tandoor), grill/BBQ or stir-fry starters, main dishes, side dishes, rice dishes in a minimal amount of monounsaturated/ and breads (where possible). polyunsaturated oil. • Have non-fried vegetable main and side • When roasting/oven baking meat, use a dishes on the menu. Encourage customers roasting rack to drain excess fat away. to buy a side dish of vegetables, or have a • Skim off fat/oil floating on the top of curries ‘special’ vegetable dish of the week. and meat soups. • Where possible, steam vegetables or stirfry in a minimal amount of oil. Poultry and Eggs • Where possible, add extra pulses into a dish • Where possible, remove the skin from poultry, e.g. lentils and chickpeas. such as chicken. • Offer a salad starter, side dish or main • Oven bake (in tandoor), grill/BBQ or stir-fry dish e.g. mixed salad, deshi salad (citrus in a minimal amount of monounsaturated/ dressing), chicken tikka salad. Serve without polyunsaturated oil. dressing, or offer a reduced fat dressing in a • When roasting/oven baking poultry, use a separate container (e.g. based on vinegar or roasting rack to drain excess fat away. lime juice). • If omelettes are included in the menu, try to • Offer fruit as a dessert and have fruit juice include some vegetables. If milk is added, use available as a drink (see ‘Desserts’ and semi skimmed milk instead of whole milk or ‘Drinks’ sections). cream. Fry in a non-stick pan with a minimal amount of monounsaturated/polyunsaturated Milk and other dairy products oil. • The dairy products used mainly in Indian Fish cooking are yoghurt, paneer, cream, butter, • Try to include a variety of white fish, oily ghee, condensed/evaporated milk and fish and shellfish in your menu. Examples in Malai. However, due to the high fat content Indian cooking include: of cream, butter, ghee, condensed milk and White fish – Pomfret, Haddock Malai, these would be classed in the Eatwell Oily fish – Salmon, Trout plate as ‘foods and drinks high in fat and/or Shellfish – Prawns sugar’(See the ‘Reducing Fat, Sugar and Salt’ • Offer unbattered and non-fried fish and section). seafood – Steam, poach, grill, oven bake (tandoor) or stir-fry in minimal amount of with semi-skimmed milk, ‘light’ evaporated monounsaturated/polyunsaturated oil. milk’, yoghurt or fromage frais. • Try to reduce the amount of salt added to Meat alternatives foods. Do not add salt to sauces, vegetables, • Offer a range of vegetarian main dishes, such rice, potatoes or chips. as vegetable curry/biryani and dishes with • Use other ways to enhance the flavour of the lentils and chickpeas (pulses are a non-meat food, such as garlic, ginger, herbs (coriander, source of protein). mint, bay) and spices (garam masala, cumin, • Nuts are a non-meat source of protein. cardamon, paprika, cinnamon, chilli, saffron), Include nuts, such as cashew nuts and instead of salt. almonds, in some vegetarian dishes. • Limit the amount of sugar used in dishes. Try • Try using firm tofu in dishes. It has a similar to use fruits to sweeten, instead of sugar. Also texture to paneer, but is much lower in fat. see sections, ‘Sauces and stocks’, ‘Desserts’ and ‘Drinks’. Reducing Fat, Salt and Sugar Sauces, stocks and pickles Tips on how to reduce fat, salt and sugar can be found in most sections of this guide. • Some sauces contain high levels of fat, salt Further tips and general reminders for and/or sugar. Ready-made/boughtin sauces, adapting recipes and cooking methods are stocks and pickles can have particularly high as follows: levels. • Offer dishes that are oven baked (tandoor), • Try to make sauces and stocks in-house and grilled/ BBQ, steamed, boiled or stir-fried in reduce the amount of oil/fat, salt and sugar minimal oil.