Healthy Indian Food and why Restaurants need to respond
At this point in time there is continuing interest in the relationships between food and health and increasing efforts are being made towards improvements in the health of the nation. There is a high level of awareness of dietary issues amongst consumers and Indian restaurants need to pick up on this fact. Health issues will continue to have an impact on the choices that consumers make with regard to eating out and therefore it is important for restaurateurs to consider niche dietary requirements and cater for the health conscious customer. I feel that Indian restaurants that fail to take their customers seriously when it comes to dietary issues will potentially lose out in gaining a share of this lucrative market.
Indian food has a reputation for being unhealthy and in today's society this may be a barrier in preventing consumers from eating in Indian restaurants and this is another reason why restaurateurs should look to adapt their menus to meet such requirements. Today there is particular concern about ingredients in food such as fat, sugar and salt and when you relate this to Indian food, one automatically comes to the conclusion that the cuisine is extremely unhealthy. But is it? The answer to that is no it is not, its only unhealthy if you use the wrong ingredients and fail to use the correct amount of spice. When people ask me whether Indian food is unhealthy, the answer is usually give them is, well what isn't unhealthy? Any cuisine whether its Chinese, Lebanese, French or Italian is unhealthy if eaten in excess and the same applies to Indian food.
I feel that it is extremely important for Indian restaurateurs to adapt some of their dishes and follow current trends related to eating healthily, by which I mean a balanced diet. At my fathers place in Southall, The Brilliant Restaurant that's exactly what I have pushed my father into doing. We have not changed the spice content of the dishes or re-developed the recipes, all we have done is eliminated unhealthy ingredients such as butter and ghee and substituted them with fats such as olive oil and vegetable fats. This way the food still has immense flavour because of the spices as well as tastes authentic, traditional and very Punjabi. In fact some customers have even told us that the food tastes even better.
The Tandoori dishes we serve, which are those made in the traditional clay oven are extremely healthy, and this method of cooking (Tandoori) is an effective one as it allows the fat to drip off the food when it is on the skewers cooking in the tandoor. Our tandoori specialities include, Tandoori Lamb Chops, Tandoori chicken tiika, Tandoori Salmon and Paneer Tikka, all of which are flavoursome yet very low fat.
Indian restaurants should balance the impetus towards satisfying changing consumer food habits, just as we have done at The Brilliant. On our menu we still have the traditional favourites such as chicken tikka masala and tarka daal which are now made with healthier fats, and we also have new inventions such as the healthy option Tandoori salmon which is made using a marinade consisting of low fat yogurt, turmeric and olive oil. Restaurateurs must understand that the answer to satisfying consumer demand of healthy food is not to completely re-invent or change the menu, but just adapt some of the ingredients in certain dishes. For example instead of using ghee, use olive oil or vegetable oil, instead of using full fat milk to make your traditional lassi for example, use skimmed milk. Instead of using cream, use yogurt and importantly when using meats, ensure that they are the best quality cuts, for example when using lamb mince for kebabs, the meat should be lean with minimal fat. These are just minor ways of making dishes lower in fat without altering the taste.
When cooking Indian food, the secret is to use spices in the correct quantities and this is how you keep the richness of the dish and retain the flavour, which is the beauty of Indian food. Not only do traditional Indian spices give flavour, they also have various health benefits and are very beneficial which is yet another advantage.
