Healthy Indian Dinner Recipe Ideas

Dinner, the last meal of the day should not only be tasty, satisfying and easy to make but also healthy for mind and body. Since long time we are running and stressing after “what” to eat for good health. Now it is the time to check out “when” to eat. Eating nutrious meals is very important for good health. In addition to this correct timing of meals, that is, when to eat is also very important for good health.

• Keep dinner light but satisfying and tasty. After day long of work and stress body and mind needs rest. Eating light food for dinner prevents stress on digestive system.
• Have dinner early that is by 7-8 pm. Early dinner help easy digestion and results in sound sleep. Body gets enough time for relaxation and rejuvination.

Thus the timing of meals can affect your body’s weight regulation, metabolic regulation, heart health and sleep cycle too.

Eating in early hour also ensures better heart health and keeps away cardiovascular risks.

However, if you do feel hungry in the evening or late at night, it is not advisable to starve either. Instead of helping, it would trigger a host of other problems stemming from an unhealthy relationship with food. In such times you can go for low calorie, protein rich, low carb foods. Instant change in dietary habits is not advisable. Go for any lifestyle modification gradually and under supervision of concerned specialist.

Here are some ideas for Healthy Dinner recipes tasty, nutritious, satisfying and light from Indian Cuisine. And ! Remember to have them early by 7-8 pm for additional benefits.

According to Indian food habits Indian cuisine has few important categories for meals. These are:

• Dal (Pulses)
• Curry
• Dry Sabji (Dry vegetable preparations)
• Indian Breads (roti, chapati, parantha, naan,poori)
• Rice

Dal/ Pulses

Dal is an important ingredient of Indian kitchen and Powerhouse of nutrients. Different types of dals/ pulses have different nutritional value. All types of dals/ pulses are good source of protiens. Apart from the general health benefits of dals, each type of dal has its own set of nutritional values. So it is advisable to have a mix of all these dals in your diet.

However many people query whether dals/ pulses should be included for dinner or not. So the reply here is that there is no harm in including dals/ pulses in dinner as long they are easy to digest. You can opt for easily digestible dals for dinner like Arhar (Toor/ Yellow Lentil), Moong Dal (Yellow split green gram), Masoor (Split Red Lentil), Chana Dal (Split Bangal Gram). Heavier counterparts of dals like Rajma (Red Bean), Chole (Chick peas) and other whole dals can be included in lunch.

Mind it, both excess and deficiency of anything is bad. So balance your meals with different set of dals/ pulses to get variety of nutrients essential for general health.

Curry

Most important and inseparable part of Indian Cuisine is Curry.

Curry basically is wet gravy or sauce prepared with spices like Turmeric (Haldi), Coriander (Dhaniya), Chilli/ Paparika, Ginger, Garlic and many more.

However the precise selection of spices for each dish is a matter of national or regional cultural tradition, religious practice, and, to some extent, family preference. Additionally Spices are used both whole and ground, cooked or raw. Moreover  they may be added at different times during the cooking process to produce different results. Therefore curries have a lot of varities.

Types of Curry

Curries may be either ‘dry’ or ‘wet’.

Dry curries are cooked with very little liquid which is allowed to evaporate, leaving the other ingredients coated with the spice mixture.

Wet curries contain significant amounts of sauce or gravy based on broth, coconut cream or coconut milk, dairy cream or yogurt, or legume puree, sauteed crushed onion, or tomato puree.

Curry can be made with vegetables, legumes, lentils and meat/ chicken. Such dishes are called by specific names that refer to their ingredients, spicing, and cooking methods. For instance, Aloo Jhol/ Aloo Tamatar rasewalla, Sambhar, Kadhai Paneer, Matar Paneer, Palak Paneer, Rajma Dal, Dal Makhani and many more.

Health Benefit:

Regular intake of curry in meals not only adds on to flavour and taste of food. Additionaly it is also good from health point of view. Moreover Curry keeps in maintaining hydration of body and helps in improving digestion if prepared in proper healthy way.