Ethnic low carbing?

[Papa Deuce]

Care to share any low carb possibilities of ethnic recipes, or what you order when you go out? I love Mexican, Chinese, and Thai, as well as Jamaican.

[not2late]

Re: Ethnic low carbing?

Chinese, Japanese and even Thai cooking all have added sugars either in the marinades or sauces. So, unless you get the chef to use absolutely no sugar and no sauces on your food, you're better off borrowing cookbooks from your library and cooking these foods at home.

Carribbean and Mexican cooking uses starches. Again, there are some dishes that you can probably eat, like jerk chicken (depending on the marinade) or even like seviche, but it all depends on what was used to season the dishes.

What I've found to be my best guide is to read ethnic cookbooks (yeah....my librarian knows me so well now, he immediately looks into the reserve books pile when he sees me walking into the library!) Reading those books has helped me to figure out what is "legal" and also has helped me to try to make some of the recipes at home.

[SpanishRapunzel]

Re: Ethnic low carbing?

I'm on my 14-day induction and had to go to a Mexican restaurant on a trip. I was SOOO HUNGRY, so I needed to eat something, and it just so happened they had a fajita salad. All that was in it was lettuce, beef, onions, ranch, and some salsa. It was the best option, even if I did want a chimichanga. Teehee

[SpanishRapunzel]

Re: Ethnic low carbing?

OH! Any if you're cooking at home, try RecipeZaar.com- it's been a great tool for me.

[doeskin]

Re: Ethnic low carbing?

I agree about RecipeZaar.com, they have a ton of useful filters when searching recipes. So for example, you can search for Jamaican cuisine, and within that, low carbohydrates. Some of the low-carb dishes on there are not all that low-carb, though, so be careful!

When I eat Mexican food, I tend to order fajitas, taco salads, or a plate of carnitas with lettuce, tomatoes, and guacamole. Chinese food can be dangerous territory, but steamed broccoli with beef or chicken can be safe, I just ask that they don't put sauces. Once I'm out of induction, I like to make Asian dishes using shirataki noodles, although some people can't stand the texture.

[huge_euge]

Re: Ethnic low carbing?

I love cooking ethnic food, be it Mexican, Chinese, Japanese, or Indian. A lot of times you can find recipes that aren't all that difficult to translate over. Eating out is a lot harder, though. When I go to Mexican places I usually just get fajitas and eat around the beans and rice. You gotta do what you gotta do.