Biryani goes on a diet
Indian cuisine tends to kill nutrients by overcooking ingredients, and the food is often saturated with unhealthy fats. But with a little imagination it can be just as healthy as the Mediterranean diet which is a popular choice for the health-conscious, and tastier too because of the infusion of spices. Expert chefs tell how to go about it
I peer at the 'healthy' chicken biryani chef Renji Raju, executive chef at Ziya, The Oberoi, places on my table, trying to nitpick before I even taste it. Biryani and healthy? The two terms don't even sound right in the same sentence, I tell the chef, to which he responds: "Well, for starters, this biryani has used only one and a half teaspoons of oil."
The biryani does look as lush and red as they come. I smell saffron, garlic and something irresistibly tangy and full of mustard. I take a spoonful and the flavours blend into each other seamlessly, without leaving an aftertaste of fat — which you don't really mind. Nothing else seems to be missing. How's that even possible?
"How is it healthy if you have used white rice?" I ask finally.
Raju simply turns the biryani over with a fork to reveal brown, unpolished rice beneath the upper layer. "You may as well play with your senses if you decide to smarten up and make a healthy chicken biryani, right? I sprinkled a spoonful of white rice just to give you the feeling of having a 'normal' biryani."
Why go Mediterranean?
But aren't some diets inherently healthier than others, like Mediterranean? "The Mediterranean diet is healthy because it propagates the consumption of cereals, vegetables and fruits. But that doesn't mean we, here in India, need to eat the exact fruits and vegetables they eat. It's better if the food you consume is grown as close to home as possible," replies Raju.
What our cuisine can borrow from the Mediterranean and European cuisines, however, says Suresh Thampy, executive chef at the Courtyard by Marriott, is the cooking process. "We kill the nutrients with overcooking. If we retain the colours, textures and the crunch you'll be surprised at how healthy and delicious Indian food can be."
Thampy rattles off the things one can do to raise the health quotient of homemade dishes — stop trying to make gravies thick and 'rich' with nuts. The thicker you want your gravy, the more oil you will add and end up overcooking the vegetables. Kebabs needn't be deep-fried — spray some oil and roast them. If you boil broccoli and greens, transferring them to cold water will retain their colour and nutrition. And skip garnishing your biryanis with fried onions.
Yoghurt in everything
"Try introducing low-fat yogurt marinade in any dish. It takes it to another level by bringing out the flavour of the spices," says Thampy. Pack in ginger, garlic, mustard paste in the marinade, use it on broccoli, for instance, and grill it in the OTG, he adds (see recipe). Cumin seeds, basil and thyme do wonders for stir-fried vegetables. Thampy also suggests adding boiled vegetables to dishes rather than frying them. He rustles up a tawa pulao and sauté blanched vegetables in very little olive oil. He doesn't use onions at all.
Chef Surjan Singh Jolly, executive chef at the Renaissance, says even something as rich as Palak Paneer can be made with just 2 teaspoons of oil (he sticks to grape seed oil at all times), sans cream (see recipe). "You have to unlearn unhealthy cooking practices and educate yourself if you want to stay healthy while consuming Indian food. We sometimes eat dishes with ghee that were actually meant for farmers and warriors," he explains, adding that no region's diet is altogether healthy — Italian food is rich in cheese and fats, the Mediterranean diet uses unhealthy amounts of pork. "It depends on how you modify your own cuisine to make it healthy. Use a yogurt-based dressing, with mint, garlic, green chillies and black pepper, for your salads instead of mayonnaise. Substitute the fats with as many spices as you like, and you're ready to go," he says.
Indian cuisine tends to kill nutrients by overcooking ingredients, and the food is often saturated with unhealthy fats. But with a little imagination it can be just as healthy as the Mediterranean diet which is a popular choice for the health-conscious, and tastier too because of the infusion of spices. Expert chefs tell how to go about it
I peer at the 'healthy' chicken biryani chef Renji Raju, executive chef at Ziya, The Oberoi, places on my table, trying to nitpick before I even taste it. Biryani and healthy? The two terms don't even sound right in the same sentence, I tell the chef, to which he responds: "Well, for starters, this biryani has used only one and a half teaspoons of oil."
The biryani does look as lush and red as they come. I smell saffron, garlic and something irresistibly tangy and full of mustard. I take a spoonful and the flavours blend into each other seamlessly, without leaving an aftertaste of fat — which you don't really mind. Nothing else seems to be missing. How's that even possible?
"How is it healthy if you have used white rice?" I ask finally.
Raju simply turns the biryani over with a fork to reveal brown, unpolished rice beneath the upper layer. "You may as well play with your senses if you decide to smarten up and make a healthy chicken biryani, right? I sprinkled a spoonful of white rice just to give you the feeling of having a 'normal' biryani."
Why go Mediterranean?
But aren't some diets inherently healthier than others, like Mediterranean? "The Mediterranean diet is healthy because it propagates the consumption of cereals, vegetables and fruits. But that doesn't mean we, here in India, need to eat the exact fruits and vegetables they eat. It's better if the food you consume is grown as close to home as possible," replies Raju.
What our cuisine can borrow from the Mediterranean and European cuisines, however, says Suresh Thampy, executive chef at the Courtyard by Marriott, is the cooking process. "We kill the nutrients with overcooking. If we retain the colours, textures and the crunch you'll be surprised at how healthy and delicious Indian food can be."
Thampy rattles off the things one can do to raise the health quotient of homemade dishes — stop trying to make gravies thick and 'rich' with nuts. The thicker you want your gravy, the more oil you will add and end up overcooking the vegetables. Kebabs needn't be deep-fried — spray some oil and roast them. If you boil broccoli and greens, transferring them to cold water will retain their colour and nutrition. And skip garnishing your biryanis with fried onions.
Yoghurt in everything
"Try introducing low-fat yogurt marinade in any dish. It takes it to another level by bringing out the flavour of the spices," says Thampy. Pack in ginger, garlic, mustard paste in the marinade, use it on broccoli, for instance, and grill it in the OTG, he adds (see recipe). Cumin seeds, basil and thyme do wonders for stir-fried vegetables. Thampy also suggests adding boiled vegetables to dishes rather than frying them. He rustles up a tawa pulao and sauté blanched vegetables in very little olive oil. He doesn't use onions at all.
Chef Surjan Singh Jolly, executive chef at the Renaissance, says even something as rich as Palak Paneer can be made with just 2 teaspoons of oil (he sticks to grape seed oil at all times), sans cream (see recipe). "You have to unlearn unhealthy cooking practices and educate yourself if you want to stay healthy while consuming Indian food. We sometimes eat dishes with ghee that were actually meant for farmers and warriors," he explains, adding that no region's diet is altogether healthy — Italian food is rich in cheese and fats, the Mediterranean diet uses unhealthy amounts of pork. "It depends on how you modify your own cuisine to make it healthy. Use a yogurt-based dressing, with mint, garlic, green chillies and black pepper, for your salads instead of mayonnaise. Substitute the fats with as many spices as you like, and you're ready to go," he says.
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