India Learns to Lighten Up

A few years ago a BBC radio program in England re-created the meal that Robert Clive, a trader and part-time British soldier, might have eaten following his victorious battle against the king of Bengal in 1757. According to an Indian restaurateur, Clive almost surely feasted like an Indian king, consuming dishes such as biryani (chunks of goat meat mixed with saffron-streaked rice), chicken do-piyaza (marinated chicken cooked with a surfeit of onions) and malai chingri (prawns in coconut cream sauce).

It’s also likely, although the restaurateur didn’t say so, that Clive savored the shahi gilaawat ka kebab, an exquisite dumpling once made only for Indian nobles from no less than 160 ingredients.

Such rich, royal food is common in India today and widely available around the world. The trouble is that few lovers of Indian food are blessed with the constitution of a typical 18th century soldier. Those who eat heartily at the average restaurant serving Mughlai cuisine in Bombay, London, Tokyo or Los Angeles are likely to find that they cannot properly digest their meals without a long nap, especially during the hot summer months.

But not all Indian food is oily, rich and spicy. India has numerous regional cuisines, and there are huge differences in their approach to cooking. At the same time, because of the country’s relatively undeveloped restaurant culture, nutritious, low-fat cooking is generally not practiced outside Indian homes. Not surprisingly, many Westerners wish Indian cuisine were lighter.

There’s good news for those who share that lament. Low-fat cooking is catching on in Indian restaurants. Led by a handful of Indian epicures, restaurants catering largely to the upper-middle class are offering food that’s wholesome and light. Even a look at the Internet confirms this trend. Numerous Indian food Web sites are devoted to “fat-free” cooking--and even vegan food. One Web site offers recipes under the headings “The Looking Good Diet” and “The Forever Young Diet”--topics that nobody would have associated with Indian food just a few years ago.

The first Indian restaurant to cater to the modern demand for low-fat cooking is the Kandahar, named after the ancient Afghan city that has been much in the news lately. Located in the posh Oberoi Hotel in Bombay, India’s premier city for restaurants, the Kandahar lends a unique subtlety to the typically coarse cuisine of the so-called North-Western Frontier Province.

The restaurant serves gravies--or “curries,” as the British like to call them--that are lighter, thinner and gentler than the traditional sort, thanks to a judicious use of double cream and pastes of cashew and almond. In business circles, the Kandahar is reputed to be one of the few restaurants in the country where executives can have lunch and actually get back to work.

The man behind Kandahar’s success is Jiggs Kalra, a noted Indian gastronome, columnist and food consultant. Kalra likes to call himself a “creator” of dishes rather than a cook, which means that he never wears an apron or wields a ladle--not even at international food festivals, where to be seen in chef’s attire is an honor.

Kalra is widely believed to have reinvented traditional northern Indian cuisine. He has brought an authenticity to restaurant fare that was widely lacking, while also creating menus that satisfy modern sensibilities. For instance, he is one of the first Indians to introduce sequential dining--the Western practice of serving a meal in courses. Indian restaurateurs once considered sequential dining impossible to achieve for the simple reason that Indian cuisine, with its emphasis on a medley of curries, does not lend itself naturally to courses. Kalra got around the problem partly by fusing rustic Punjabi dishes with sophisticated Western ones.

Last year, not long after the Kandahar unleashed India’s low-fat cooking revolution, the Mandarin Oriental group opened a 100-acre luxury spa in the Himalayas. Ananda--the name means “bliss” in Hindi--is the first spa of its kind in India. It has a single restaurant that specializes in sattvic food, a traditional style of Indian cooking that is entirely vegetarian, relies on fresh ingredients only and is balanced in its use of oil and spices.

During a four-day stay at the spa last year, I got a glimpse of how Indian restaurants are slowly but surely changing the country’s eating habits. One afternoon a teenager walked into the restaurant and demanded French fries. A few minutes later, to my utter surprise, the chef walked over to the boy’s table and refused to entertain his order. French fries weren’t on the menu--but that wasn’t the chef’s reason for denying the guest’s request. Any kind of junk food is strictly taboo at the spa, the chef, Anup Gupta, told me.

In fact, he added, “I’m looking forward to the time when I’ll be able to ban gulab jamun,” one of India’s sweetest, heaviest and most popular desserts.

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Lentils With Spinach

Active Work Time: 30 minutes * Total Preparation Time: 1 hour, plus 1 hour soaking * Vegetarian

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Yellow lentils are sold at Indian markets.

1 cup split yellow lentils (arhar dal or toovar dal)

Water

1 tablespoon oil

2 teaspoons minced garlic

1/4 cup chopped onion

1/3 cup chopped tomato

2 cups shredded spinach, loosely packed

1 1/2 teaspoons seeded and chopped Thai green chile or serrano chile

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 tablespoons thinly sliced ginger root

Rinse the lentils thoroughly and soak them in 1 1/3 cups of water, covered, for about 1 hour. (They will probably absorb all the water.) Transfer the lentils and any remaining water to a heavy-bottomed pot. Add 11/2 cups of water and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat and simmer until the lentils are soft but not mashed, 20 to 25 minutes. Turn off the heat and cover the pot.

While the lentils cook, heat the oil in another heavy-bottomed pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the onion and cook until it turns light brown, about 10 minutes. Add the tomato and cook until soft, 5 minutes. Drain the lentils and add them along with the spinach and chile. Add the salt. Stir and cook for 2 minutes on medium-high heat. Serve hot, garnished with the ginger.

4 servings. Each serving: 108 calories; 332 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 4 grams fat; 0 saturated fat; 14 grams carbohydrates; 6 grams protein; 5.41 grams fiber.

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Bengali Fish Curry

Active Work Time: 25 minutes * Total Preparation Time: 35 minutes

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Black onion and fenugreek seeds are available at Indian markets.

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1 tablespoon oil

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds

1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds

1/2 teaspoon fenugreek seeds (methi)

1/2 teaspoon black onion seeds (kalonji), optional

2 small red boiling potatoes, quartered

1 Japanese eggplant, quartered

1 teaspoon turmeric

2 Thai green chiles or serrano chiles, halved lengthwise and seeded

3 cups water

1 pound flatfish filets, such as halibut, cut into chunks

1 tablespoon chopped cilantro, for garnish

Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed skillet over medium heat. Add the cumin, fennel, mustard, fenugreek and optional black onion seeds and allow them to crackle. Add the potatoes and fry for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the eggplant and fry for 2 more minutes. Add the turmeric and chiles.

Add the water, lower the heat and simmer until the potatoes are almost tender, 10 minutes. Add the fish and allow to simmer until the fish turns opaque and is cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes. Serve hot, garnished with the cilantro.

4 servings. Each serving: 187 calories; 144 mg sodium; 35 mg cholesterol; 6 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 8 grams carbohydrates; 24 grams protein; 1.50 grams fiber.

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Tofu and Green Peas in Brown Curry

Active Work Time: 20 minutes * Total Preparation Time: 3 hours * Vegetarian

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Light soy sauce is sold at Asian markets.

1 tablespoon oil

2 large onions, preferably red, very thinly sliced

2 tablespoons light soy sauce, optional

2 (2- to 3-inch) cinnamon sticks

1 teaspoon cloves

6 black peppercorns

2 jalapenos, seeded and diced

1 tablespoon minced ginger root

2 1/2 cups peas, thawed if frozen

1 teaspoon curry powder

1 cup water

1 (12-ounce) carton extra-firm tofu, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

2 teaspoons sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Heat the oil in a large casserole or heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Add the onions, cover the pot and allow to simmer over very low heat until the onions turn soft and rich brown in color, about 2 to 21/2 hours, stirring thoroughly every 10 minutes or so. Add the soy sauce and simmer for about 15 more minutes. Turn off the heat. For optimum flavor, allow the sauce to cool and refrigerate several hours or overnight. (If the sauce is cooked early in the morning, it will develop a rich flavor by evening.)

When ready to serve the dish, heat the sauce in a large casserole or pot over medium heat.

Meanwhile, place the cinnamon, cloves and peppercorns in a skillet over low heat and roast until fragrant, 2 minutes. Add to the sauce. Add the jalapenos and ginger and cook 2 minutes. Stir in the peas and curry powder and cook 2 to 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the water, cover the pot and simmer until the peas are soft, about 15 minutes. Add the tofu, sugar and salt and simmer for about 10 minutes. Serve hot.

4 servings. Each serving: 217 calories; 769 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 8 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 27 grams carbohydrates; 13 grams protein; 7.50 grams fiber.