Why you should eat Curry

Let us start with what is ‘Curry’ in Indian cuisine. ‘Curry’ is a liquid formation (gravy) combining the base sauce (mostly onion, tomato, spinach etc) with plethora of spices. For example ‘Tikka Masala’ curry is a combination of onion sauce and tomato sauce along with the spices and the dairy cream as it is a curry with dairy. For ‘Coconut’ curry, we use coconut milk with the onion sauce. At ‘Nirmal’, we have 13 types of curries (8 without dairy) which you can mix with 8 items such as Soya chunks, Tofu or Paneer (Indian cheese) or Chicken or Goat meat or Shrimp. Please see our menu at www.nirmalindiancuisine.com.

So when you order ‘curry’ in 16 Oz or 8 Oz with Tofu or Chicken, you get almost 10 Oz or 5 Oz of gravy which contains the base sauce with the beneficial spices. To know more about our spices, please go to ‘Appendixes’ at the end of ‘Why Indian Food’ blog at our website.

You can also order just ‘curry’ without any addition at Nirmal, perhaps a first for an Indian restaurant in the US (16 Oz for $6 or 8 Oz for $3) and then mix it with whatever you prefer at home. ‘Curry’ when cold may be used as a spread for the burgers or as a dressing for the salad. Specially for the kids or the first timers, that would be the best way to start Indian cuisine as the ‘hotness’ of spices is a bit muted when it is cold.

But why Indian food or Curry?

If you go through other posts at this blog or the blog corner at our website, you would realize that Indian food is much closer to a healthier diet ~ less red meat or meat consumption, plenty of veggie options, and alternate to soda drinking. And at ‘Nirmal’ with $5 food box, we are trying to make it affordable so that you start trying it along with pizzas or tacos or burgers.

Let me discuss a myth first ~ you need to eat ‘Meat’ for Protein? Please see the charts below.

Index	Paneer (100gms)	Parmesan Cheese(100gms)	Tofu (100gms)	Soya Chunks (100gms)	Lentils (100gms)
Protein (gms)	18.3	35.75	8	54	26
Fat (gms)	20.8	25.83	3.5	0.4	1
Saturated Fat(gms)	15	16.41	0.5	0	0
Carbohydrates(gms)	1.2	3.22	1.5	28.9	60
Calcium (mgs)	208	1184	130	533	56
Iron (mgs)		0.82	1.1	21.2	7.54
Energy (Cal)	265	392	70	336	353

                N.B ~ Paneer is Indian cheese, 100% vegetarian ~ Lentils has dietary fiber of 31gms                                             

Compare this with the chart for various types of meats below. In Soya chunks or lentils, you get almost twice or equal protein with almost 5 times less fat. 

Here is a disclaimer. I am not vegetarian as I love Goat meat. But I have one day ‘Thursday’ as meat free day since the last 20 years or so. Let me admit it did not start for a cause like some health benefits or  ‘global warming’ etc. My Mom have had special worship on Thursdays and we were not supposed to eat meat. If you know some Indians, you would find them skipping meat on Tuesdays or Saturdays but usually once a week if not outright vegetarians.

Table 1. Nutrient Composition of Goat and Other Types of Meat [1], [2]
Nutrient	Goat	Chicken	Beef	Pork	Lamb
Calories	122	162	179	180	175
Fat (g)	2.6	6.3	7.9	8.2	8.1
Saturated Fat (g)	0.79	1.7	3.0	2.9	2.9
Protein (g)	23	25	25	25	24
Cholesterol (mg)	63.8	76.0	73.1	73.1	78.2
[1] Per 3 oz. of cooked meat [2] USDA Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 14 (2001)

                         N.B ~ 3.5 Oz = 100 gms (used in vegetarian chart)

India has 500 million vegetarians perhaps more than all vegetarians in the rest of the world. Analysts attribute it to various factors ~ our religion and culture to the abundance of say lentils or vegetables to the poverty as the meat is a costlier item.

But I would give most of the credit to ‘Curry.’ How? Say you start liking ‘Tikka Masala’ curry. The flavor of the spices are so dominant that you mix ‘Tikka masala’ with Soya chunks or Chicken you won’t realize much difference. You use this as spread or dressing, you would savor the taste of ‘Tikka Masala’ nothing else. I remember while growing up in India, we used to have ‘goat’ meat on Sundays and barring some festivals or some guests visiting us, it was once a week thing. And we never felt need for more though now I eat meat 3 or 4 times a week.

What I am trying to convey that it is easy to make a switch over to vegetarian food with Indian cuisine. Even if you decide to turn vegetarian for one day like I do, that would have huge impact. Think of some facts ~ average per person daily meat consumption in the US is 322 gms (1 pound = 454 gms), the highest in the world if you compare with 220 gms in Europe, 160 gms in China and mere 12 gms in India. Say 100 million people in the US out of 330 million decide to skip meat for one day every week, total annual savings in the meat production would be 0.7 pounds per day x 100 million people x 52 weeks per year ~ a whopping 3.6 billion pound only in the US. Please read appendix ‘Meat Vs Environment.’

Last year I also watched the telecast of unveiling of synthetic meat burger with the price tag of $350k each now and I was amused. I don’t know if it is motivated by the ‘impact of meat on environment’ or the future business potential to find a meat alternative or both. But I have never seen or heard a well publicized or televised event say President Obama or Tom Hanks or  Kobe Bryant exhorting people to turn vegetarian for once a week.

We now live in a global village in this internet age. So now we can pick up good things all across the globe. Also we the people have to take charge of our surroundings, our well being as well as that of for our future generations. And it is simple.