10 Indian Fast Foods made Healthy

Fast Foods minus the Fear of Fat | Top 10 Indian Fast Foods made Healthy
 

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could indulge in all your favourite ‘fast foods’ and yet manage your weight better? Sounds like a dream, but it is well within your reach! Everywhere around you there are fast foods. From pizzas and burgers to French fries, Vada Pav, rich curries, calorie-laden sweets, and what not, these are foods that are so tasty that they can easily cause the tethers of self-control to snap! Eventually, we tend to forget our dietary goals and culinary ideals and indulge in these treats, repenting the calories gained in hindsight.

Don’t worry, you are not alone. Many of us succumb to temptation. But, the good news is that we have found ways to enjoy all these delicacies at a much lower calorie count. And interestingly, the low-cal versions are as tasty as the regular fast foods. Sometimes, there is no difference in taste, and surprisingly in some cases the low-cal versions are even tastier than the high-cal fare!

Over time, you too can master the art of making foods healthier and as a regular practice in your kitchen. That would be an ideal way to pack off those extra calories and fat, while still treating yourself to all your favourites. However, do always keep in mind that even when fast foods become healthy, it is important to exercise moderation and avoid overdosing! Enjoy them on occasions and festivals.

Baked Puri ( Baked Papadi)

1. Healthy Chaat: Ah! The smell of chutneys… That’s the first thing that comes to our mind when we mention chaat. And along with it follows a list of other fried ingredients like puri, sev, boondi, masala chana dal, fried peanuts etc. which bounces up its calorie and fat count. Well, the trick is to drop some ingredients like boondi and substitute some with their healthy counterparts like Baked Sev and Baked Puri.

Baked Sev

Make them and keep ready for days you want to indulge into a healthier chaat like Low Calorie Sev Puri. For Bhel make use of less kurmura and add twice the amount of sprouts or fruits along with some baked sev. Check the recipe of Fruit and Vegetable Bhel. This would bring down the calorie from approx. 290 to 90 per serving.

Low Calorie Sev Puri

2. Healthy Burger: Burger tops the list of kids favourite fast foods and who can resist it? To make a healthy burger you just need to keep in mind few points like use a whole wheat burger bun (small size), no cheese please, use a tava cooked tikka (with less oil), avoid that aloo tikki, use loads of veggies, perk it up with fresh and dried herbs and very less butter for cooking the buns.

Healthy Burger, Veg Burger, Burger with Whole Wheat Burger Buns

Does that sound too much an effort? Let’s make it more simple for you. Turn to Healthy Burger which is made with whole wheat burger bun, vegetable tikka and low cal mayonnaise.

Another yummy option is Whole Wheat Burger made with multigrain burger bun, broken wheat tikka and thousand island dressing instead of cheese. These variations of burgers reduces the calorie count by half. And finally remember not to serve burger with fries and aerated drink.

Whole Wheat Vegetable Burger

3. Healthy Pizza: Yes, pizza can be made slightly healthy too! One would think of using whole wheat pizza base. That’s a good option to white pizza base made with refined maida. But it is yet high in calories because of the quantity of lour used to make the base.

We have another option – a bhakri as a base. Make your pizza sauce with all the herbs and flavours you love, top it on a bhakri and avoid the cheese or sprinkle very little cheese on top. Learn How to make Mini Oats Bhakri Pizza. If you have noticed, we have made small bhakris to control the portion size. That is also very important. Enjoy 2 bhakri pizzas at just 180 calories.

Mini Oats Bhakri Pizza

4. Healthy Samosa: You won’t find a street in Mumbai without a samosa vendor. Aloo samosa to cheese samosa – it is enjoyed by one and all. What’s not good – the outer covering made of refined maida, aloo which is high in carbs and to add to it is finally deep fried. That’s what makes it so satiating. But the fact is that it isn’t so nourishing.

Here we present a much more nutritious version of samosa – Baked Samosa. This has aloo replaced with mixed sprouts (to add fiber and other nutrients), maida replaced with wheat flour and it is baked to perfection instead of being fried. All you need to remember is to have these samosas immediately on baking. Try it out, you will surely opt for it again. We have maintained all the basic spices of samosa. And of course, don’t forget to the serve it with green chutney for added flavour.

Baked Samosa with Mixed Sprouts, Healthy Snack

5. Healthy Desserts: The trick to make desserts and sweets slightly healthy is first to avoid the use of sugar completely or use not more than 1 tsp per serving. It is refined and lends only calories to add on to your waist line. Replace it with small quantity of jaggery as shown in Oats and Mixed Nuts Ladoo.

Oats and Mixed Nuts Ladoo ( Healthy Laddu)

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Secondly use sweet fruits like apple, pear etc. to make sweets. Accompany it with other ingredients like low milk if you are targeting a low fat diet. And occasionally enjoy Pear Rabri.

Pear Rabri, How To Make Pear Rabdi

Use honey for sweetness. Try this This yummy Jowar Apple Sheera which has an amazingly satiating taste, with the natural sweetness of apple, honey and raisins.

Jowar Apple Sheera, Healthy Indian Sweet

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