Low Cal South Indian Recipes for Weight Loss

AKJ · Nov 4, 2010

Dear Fabulous ladies,

Calling for Low Calorie South Indian Recipes from all of you that will help in weight loss. Pls pour in your suggestions.

As the title suggests I follow south indian diet at home on majority of the days, and would want to know low cal and also low fat recipes that I can follow for life.

Forum moderators, Pls let me know if a similar thread already exists.

Admin Note: Here are other interesting threads discussing about low cal recipes!

Low Cal Soups for Weight Loss
http://www.indusladies.com/forums/recipe-central/54305-low-calorie-food-receipes.html
http://www.indusladies.com/forums/krishnaammas-kitchen/6660-low-fat-low-cal-lunch.html
http://www.indusladies.com/forums/krishnaammas-kitchen/5184-low-fat-low-cal-break.html
Low Cal Recipes - Shiva Choubey

AKJ · Nov 4, 2010

Let me start,

As we all know Idli makes a very good low fat food since its steamed all the way. The only thing is to eat in moderate quantity(as my weight loss Guru Shiva rightly puts).

Other similar varieties I can think of are:
Appam (if we use coconut in moderation while grindig the dough)
Dosa (made with less oil)
Idiyappam (again steamed)
Sevai (very light on the stomach)

I am very fond of eating Idli with Idli podi & lots of oil. Does anyone have tips on how to avoid that or any alternate solutions?

Thanks

pman16 · Nov 4, 2010

Im not aware of specific low calorie south indian recipes as such but whatever i eat will be in less oil and that makes it low calorie.Read this
Low Calorie Cooking - Cook Low Calorie Food

I shall post here if something comes to my mind.

AKJ · Nov 4, 2010

Thanks Pman for the pointer. Pls do post any good South Indian recipes that you used for your weight loss which had less calories overall.

The purpose of the thread is to know how to cook the same dish little differently to make it low cal/low in fat and also to know the low cal recepies that people cook day to day.

RagaPrasanna · Nov 4, 2010

I believe Upmas are of low cals... Especially poha..

smartgrl · Nov 4, 2010

dear AKJ,

Some ppl i know will eat idly podi witout oil for idy and dosa.
They will mix it with any chutney or sambhar and eat.
some eat just dry and plain,but it kind of makes cough if stuck in thrao
some mix it with curd to avoid oil.
just give it a shot..

AKJ said: ↑

Let me start,

As we all know Idli makes a very good low fat food since its steamed all the way. The only thing is to eat in moderate quantity(as my weight loss Guru Shiva rightly puts).

Other similar varieties I can think of are:
Appam (if we use coconut in moderation while grindig the dough)
Dosa (made with less oil)
Idiyappam (again steamed)
Sevai (very light on the stomach)

I am very fond of eating Idli with Idli podi & lots of oil. Does anyone have tips on how to avoid that or any alternate solutions?

Thanks
Click to expand...

smartgrl · Nov 4, 2010

As i have mentioned earlier to avoid coconut daily to make cutneys I include vegetable chutney a lot for dosa,idly ,wheat dosa,adai,chappathi.
I have already mentioned about carrot,cabageand beetroot chutney.
Today i made bottle gaurd chutney and chayote(chow chow) chutney it turned out too good.

Cut chayote and peel sin and make small size pieces,in a pan with water and litle garlic and ginger and cut pieces boil it till cooked.
Allow it to cool and grind it with green chilles.
then in a pan with 1 spoon oil do tadka with mustard,urad,cumin,and red chillie and pour the grinded mixture and make it boil till thick consistency.

Same for bottle gaurd or lauki chutney..

aswini · Nov 5, 2010

According to me, the low calorie food should be wholesome food. So I avoid and replace white rice with whole grains as much as possible.

I make dosas with barley and brown rice these days. Trust me! I dont miss the usual dosa anymore! This version is healthy, fibre rich and definitely tastes like regular dosa. If I need to have idli podi, I mix it with water and add little oil. you can try and see how you like it.

Another wholesome SI dish is Adai, pesarattu. Both of these are protein rich and fibre rich. Make pongal with brown rice/lapsi. Make upma with lapsi,veggies and oats.

My favourite SI dish is bisibelabath with Bulghur wheat. I add a lotsss of veggies without coconut and make it a one dish meal. I do add the little ghee for flavour.I dont even remember when I ate bisibelabath with rice.

Thanks,
Aswini

AKJ · Nov 10, 2010

Thanks Ragaprasanna, Smartgrl & Aswini.

Here is a low cal recipe for making Paruppu Usili (will take pictures next time),

Ingredients:
Toor Dal & Chana dal equal amount, usually I put 1/2 cup each.
Red chillies 4-5 (put more or less depending on your taste)
2-3 teaspoons of oil
Curry leaves &
salt to taste
Hing (just a pinch)
Any one vegetable like Beans OR Vazhappoo (flower of the plantain/banana tree) OR Methi leaves OR Capsicum

Method:

(1) Soak Toor dal and chana dal together for 1 hr.
(2) Grind coarsley in mixie along with salt, Red chillies
(3) Now is the important step,
Pour the dal mixture in the idli plates same way you make idlis and steam the dal mixture in Idli cooker for 10-15 minutes.
(4) Parallelly boil / pressure cook the vegetable as well
(5) In a pan, pour 2-3 teaspoons of oil, splutter mustard seeds and mix both the steamed dal mixture(break it up before putting in the pan) and the cooked vegetable.
(6) Mix nicely, sprinkle water if required and let is stand in low flame for about 10 minutes
(7) Add some hing powder, little salt(since salt is already added while grinding dal), curry leaves
(8) Hot and healthy Paruppu Usili is ready to serve.

Traditionally, the dal mixture once grinded, is cooked in the tawa with lots of oil. My mom says more the oil, tastier the dish is. So this is a slight variation which needs less oil without compromising the taste.

Try it and let me know your feedback !

Rums · Jun 16, 2011

HI AKJ,

I stumbles across this thread. Great ideas form everyone. I also am a south indian and I like to make my dosas and idli filling. I haven't tried barley. Does it taste good?.

Also if anyone knows other filling recipes please do let me know. I like aparuppu usili but it takes a long time to prepare. Too much to clean up afterwards. Once in a while it's ok for me.