 "Health on a platter")
There was a time when fine dining was all about rich, creamy dishes, with the focus firmly on taste, rather than nutrition. Today, with well-being as the buzzword and patrons demanding nutritious options, chefs are going the extra mile to create a healthy dining experience. One can find more and more superfoods being incorporated in the dishes, while menus have become more inclusive by keeping in mind the dietary requirements of those suffering from diabetes and hypertension.
On the diabetic food trail
It was a personal struggle with diabetes that inspired event consultant Seema Pinto to conceptualise a special fine dining experience for diabetics and prediabetics. “I travel a lot across the globe and don’t always get healthy eating places. Some offer only salads as a nutritious meal option, but the dressings turn out to be really unhealthy,” she says. So, in 2015, she approached restaurants in four Indian cities to curate a unique culinary experience for that one segment that gets left out in the fine dining space. And, the first edition of the Diabetic Food Trail came about.
From 120 eateries last year, the three-week-long trail has now grown to 200 restaurants, spanning five cities: Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Pune and Mumbai. “Healthy food is not just about karela and doodhi. Chefs from restaurants such as Caperberry, Malaka Spice, Park Hyatt Chennai, Hyatt Regency Gurgaon, Sassy Spoon, Bohemia, Anjappar and Vivanta by Taj Pune have proved that healthy food can be tasty by creating nearly 2,000 delicious gourmet dishes,” she says. Each dish is accompanied with a breakdown of its nutritional value and calorie count so that the patrons know exactly what they are eating.
“A five-page guideline was sent to the restaurants on how to curate the menu. It contained some basic things as well, such as adding wine to a dish changes its DNA and is not good for diabetics. Instead of cream, use low-fat yoghurt. All recipes were whetted by a team of nutritionists,” says Pinto. The trail also includes masterclasses with chefs and nutritionists as well as camps on physical activity. A small diabetic cookbook, featuring recipes with their nutritional value, has also been released.
The Diabetic Food Trail runs till November 30. For more details, visit diabeticfoodtrail.com
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Keep in mind
“It’s important to know the impact a particular food will have on your blood sugar,” says Geetha GH, a Bengaluru-based dietician and a diabetes educator. She suggests some pointers to keep in mind while eating out.
> Instead of a bowl of polished rice (nearly 200 calories) ask for unpolished rice.
> Opt for sweet potato instead of potato. It helps control absorption of sugar.
> Traditionally and culturally, a meal from any region of India offers a balanced diet, with rice, vegetables, curd, salad, dal and millets. Eat locally and traditionally. Ask for dishes made with ragi, oats and jowar.
> Ask for pulses with skin on, and for food cooked in good fats such as cold pressed sesame oil.
> A small quantity of ghee is good for health. But, one shouldn’t get more than 5 per cent of calories from saturated oils.
> Distribute food intake through the day in small portions. Opt for fruits such as guava, papaya and musk melon. Even if you are eating fruits with high fructose such as mango, always have in combination such as with nuts in a smoothie or with apple cider vinegar to delay absorption of sugar.
> A person can only absorb 15 gm of protein, so don’t go for a big fillet or steak, which is more than 30 gm.
Super foods at home
Jamie Oliver
If you want mouthwatering gourmet dishes at home, then watch celebrity chef Jamie Oliver create healthy options on his latest show using super ingredients and diet secrets of some of the healthiest communities from across the world. “You don’t need to always buy expensive ingredients such as quinoa or goji berries. A healthy dish depends on how you put it together and balance it up,” says Oliver, during a telephone conversation. He suggests adding a lot of seasonal, local vegetables, fruits and herbs to a meal, but in exciting ways, which is exactly what he will do in the show. Oliver will be whipping up healthy variants of curries from Asia, including India, soups from Costa Rica and hearty meals from Peru. “During my travels
Lemon sole with Oliver sauce
I realised that the healthiest communities are those that have a direct relationship with growing food. The act of gardening arms one with knowledge of food and keeps one healthy,” he says.
Jamie’s Super Food can be viewed on TLC, Wednesday to Friday, 9 pm
Responsible dining
Chef Manish Sharma
Chefs in restaurants across the country have risen to the occasion and moved towards the trend of healthy dining. “The notion of healthy dining has moved from weight reduction to weight management. The focus is now on well being,” says celebrity chef Ranveer Brar. “The consumer is looking at the chef for expertise on healthy food. The buzzword is now responsible dining,” adds Brar. Here’s how chefs are curating a healthy gourmet meal:
> There is the Eat Healthy menu at threesixtyone°, The Oberoi, Gurgaon, as part of which chef Manish Sharma has curated special diabetic and vegan restriction menus.
There are also customised menus, which include gluten-free, lactose and dairy-free offerings. “Earlier, the only healthy options were salads. While creating this menu, our ground rule was no salads. Why not create dishes that are low on calorie count and high on nutritional value,” says Sharma. So, the appetisers at threesixtyone° have a calorie count of 150 and the main course of 300. “We have downloaded an app in which you feed in the ingredients and get the nutritional breakdown,” he says.
> Similarly, Ashish Ugal, executive sous chef at The Taj Mahal Hotel, New Delhi, has incorporated superfoods such as millets and quinoa in breakfast dishes. “We use five different kind of millets such as jowar, ragi and bajra that are gluten free and high in protein. All our desserts have a sugar-free variant for diabetics,” says Ugal. He also uses freekeh, a kind of green wheat, which is a good source of vitamins and antioxidants.
> “My favourite superfood would be chia seeds. They are versatile and perfect for a weight loss programme,” says Rakhee Vaswani, chef, Palate Culinary Boutique Studio, Mumbai. She also likes to use black tomatoes in salads, pasta sauces and Mexican dishes. “They are high in vitamin A and are known to destroy cancer cells. Watermelon radish is another great ingredient, full of vitamin C and helps the liver function better,” she says.
> At Guppy, Delhi, Executive Chef Vikram Khatri uses ingredients such as kale, black rice, black chicken, seaweed, matcha green tea, flax seeds, koji enzyme of soy and natto. “All these ingredients are known for their medicinal properties and are suitable for diabetics and hypertensives,” says Khatri.