Navigating Indian Takeaway Menus: A Guide to Healthier Choices

Indian cuisine, popular for its rich flavors and variety, can be both a healthy and unhealthy dining choice, depending on the specific dishes ordered from takeaways, according to nutritionists. While traditional dishes often incorporate vegetables and pulses, many popular takeaway items can be high in fat, salt, and calories due to deep-frying, creamy sauces, and generous use of oil, cream, and ghee.

Specialist registered dietitian Nichola Ludlam-Raine notes that while spices like turmeric, ginger, garlic, cumin, and chili add flavor without excessive salt or fat, the preparation methods and additional ingredients in many takeaway favorites can significantly increase their nutritional drawbacks. Portion sizes at takeaways can also be substantially larger than home-cooked meals.

Healthiest Options

Among the recommended healthier choices, tandoori chicken stands out for being marinated and cooked in a tandoor oven, avoiding rich sauces. A typical portion provides around 300 calories and a significant amount of protein, but nutritionists advise pairing it with a vegetable side or dhal to increase fiber intake. Chicken tikka, another grilled option, is also a lighter choice than its saucier counterpart, chicken tikka masala. It offers substantial protein for its calorie count but lacks fiber, necessitating the addition of vegetables or lentils.

Plant-based options like chana masala, made with chickpeas in a tomato and spice-based sauce, are highlighted for their high fiber content, offering around 10g per portion, which is about a third of the recommended daily intake. Chickpeas also provide protein and essential micronutrients like iron and folate. Dhal, a lentil-based dish, is another excellent source of plant protein and fiber, though variations like tarka dhal can have added fat from spices fried in oil or ghee.

Mixed vegetable jalfrezi is considered a good option due to its tomato-based sauce and variety of vegetables, which contribute fiber, vitamins, and minerals. However, takeaway versions can still be high in oil, increasing the overall fat content.

Unhealthiest Choices

Conversely, several popular dishes are flagged as less healthy. Chicken tikka masala, especially when paired with Peshwari naan, is high in calories, fat, and sugar. The creamy sauce often contains butter, cream, and sometimes added sugar, while Peshwari naan typically includes a sweet, nutty filling. Nutritionists suggest plain naan, chapati, or roti as lighter alternatives, or sharing a naan with plain rice.

Chicken korma with pilau rice is another dish to approach with caution. Its creamy, nut-and-coconut-based sauce results in a high fat content, with saturated fat levels potentially meeting an entire day's reference intake in a large portion. Pilau rice, often cooked with oil or ghee and salt, further contributes to the meal's unhealthiness. Lighter swaps include tomato-based curries and plain boiled rice.

Fried starters such as samosas and onion bhajis, while small, can contribute significant calories and fat due to deep-frying. Nutritionists recommend tandoori meats, grilled kebabs, or sharing starters as healthier alternatives.

Lamb biryani, while providing protein and nutrients, can be calorie-dense due to the combination of rice, oil or ghee, and fatty meat. Poppadoms, especially with mango chutney, also add considerable calories, fat, salt, and sugar. Opting for chicken biryani and sharing poppadoms can make this meal lighter.

Butter chicken, a popular choice, is rich in protein but also high in saturated fat due to its creamy, buttery tomato sauce. A typical portion can contain a substantial amount of saturated fat, making it advisable to pair with plain rice and vegetables rather than richer sides like naan or bhajis.