Vegetarian curries

[stulewie]

Hi can anyone recommend a healthy but spicy vegetarian curry option to chicken vindaloo

 

[missclb]

Hi Stulewie, are you looking for specific recipes or are you trying to figure out what to replace the chicken with? If so, I generally replace with either chickpeas, butternut squash or aubergine. I really like the BBC good food website for recipes or ideas – it's nicely laid out, they list all nutritional values and prep time, so you can make choices based on calories, carbs sugar or fat etc. LINK HERE FOR VEGETARIAN CURRIES. Hope this helps.

 

[eggyg]

I love cauliflower and potatoes in a curry. I usually par boil both, most recipes tell you to put in from raw, but too crunchy for me. I make a base first, onions, caramelised to within an inch of burning, then I add my spices, I like it hot so fresh red chillis first, then chilli powder, cumin seeds, turmeric, cardomon seeds, fenugreek seeds and ground black pepper, cook for at least 5 minutes then add a tin of chopped tomatoes, cook for 10minutes and add veg, cook until tender. Bob’s your uncle! I use that base, it’s a Madras, for all my curries. I make a mean curry!

 

[trophywench]

I'm with you on the cauli and spud. Batty though this may sound, cubed white cabbage is also excellent in a curry - obviously in the cooking it all separates into individual squares - leave the stalk out.

 

[stulewie]

Thanks for the advice everyone i will definitely be looking at the link in more depth and the bbc good food website , thanks for that 🙂

 

[Matt Cycle]

I make my own and the best substitute I've found is Linda McCartney pulled chicken. It has to be straightforward if I'm doing it so I fry some onions and mushrooms in olive oil in a pan, add Pataks curry paste (not the sauce), add the Linda Mac pulled chicken, tin of chopped tomatoes, chop some carrots and green beans or whatever veg you want and steam them and add to the rest, likely to be claggy so top up with water and lentils and that's it. Bit of a cheat with the Pataks but it's easy and I don't want tons of spices laying around half used. All vegan as well.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

We’ve had some cracking vegan curries recently from a book called ‘Bosh’ which might suit. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product...an-21&linkId=928afedd8a996958e2941b3bf560d90b

The Red Thai curry and Massaman curry have been really tasty, there are others yet to be tried including a Rogan Josh.

We’ve generally found that most veg work brilliantly in a curry. Cauli or broccoli carry the sauce really well and things like sweet potato or potato can give you that chunky texture. We prefer doing that to adapting a regular recipe but using Quorn or whatever.

If you are a fish eater, then fish curries are fab too, of course.

 

[stulewie]

Thanks for the replies , kind of linked to this i had a bean chilli meal with a packet of boiled rice shared with my wife 2 slices of wholegrain bread with olive spread on. I am badly managed type 2 diabetic. I tested myself about half 7 before i ate , couldn't test 2 hours before meal (as visiting father in law every straight from work) and figure was 11. Tested myself this morning and was 15.5 was that too much food in one go or could it have been a faulty reading bit confused and down with that result

 

[grovesy]

The beans, rice, and bread, are all things that many avoid or limit .

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

I think your ‘before’ testing timing was good @stulewie - but folks here tend to opt for somewhere between 1 hour and 2 hours after the meal to try to find the peak result.

You might find this testing framework helpful: http://loraldiabetes.blogspot.com/2006/10/test-review-adjust.html

The important thing is not to get disheartened by the numbers. They are not a judgement of your effort, they are just information you can use.

So for the meal you describe, another time you might try it without the bread and with a bit less rice. Beans and pulses tend to be fairly slow release for folks (but as you will find everyone is different). If the meal is getting a bit small you can look for ways to bulk it up without adding carbs. Many people here have a lot of success with cauli rice for example. You can make your own or it’s available in many supermarkets. It’s an alternative to carry the sauce and many say you can’t really tell the difference once you are having a forkful along with chilli/curry and it’s sauce - but it won’t push your BG up like rice will.

Also think about the type of rice. Try brown or basmati.

Use your BG results as information (and a challenge!) to create a modified version of what you enjoy eating which is kinder to your BGs 🙂

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

The other thing, as you say, is to double check to make sure results are accurate and not being affected by something else (stress / illness / random life stuff!)

So check meals and foods more than once before you decide to abandon them. Some are worth fighting for (or saving for rare special occasions) while others just aren’t worth the BG upheaval. Others are fine if slightly adapted.

Never feel there is anything you are not ‘allowed’ to eat. It is always your choice. And there are almost always ways around things (adding a brisk walk afterwards for example)

Good luck, and keep us posted.

 

[stulewie]

Hi thanks for that @everydayupsanddowns i probably had too much in one go as it had been 1 since i had last eaten and i was probably stuffed too much in one go

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Hi thanks for that @everydayupsanddowns i probably had too much in one go as it had been 1 since i had last eaten and i was probably stuffed too much in one go

Portion control is important for sure! But it's also about meal composition too. And about getting 'good value' out of the stuff you want to eat (but your BGs don't like!) by mixing with other more BG-neutral stuff to slow everything down and fill you up.

At least that's what I find.