Hate chilli - food advice please

newislander

Ok, I have this weakness whereby I can't stand green chilli. It makes me miserable when i am served spicy food. I am going to india, mainly southish (middle really), what sort of dishes and foods should I look out for. I can't survive on cake and icecream again.

I don't like paneer either anymore. I used to but not since i got sick one time are too hot dahl fry and palak paneer in one meal.


I don't know where to post this thread for the best results. This question is more about well-being than about health.

trooooon

Sounds like you have the right place for your query . . . and I must admit it will be difficult to avoid green chillies . . . Most Indians would feel horrified at the thought of food without 'hari mirchi' as we call it, many people actually munch them with the meals as salad!!

But that said . . . you could have the place whip you up something chilly free . . . learn the phrase 'mirchi nahin chahiye!' . . . khichdi, a dal and rice mixture for sick people is a good bet . . . kadhi, a sour curd curry is also usually chilly free . . .

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wonderwomanusa

South Indian food is quite different from what you've had in the North. Masala dosas are bland, as are idlies ... until you use that lethal red sauce on them!

McChicken (at MacD's) is fairly bland, as well.

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Aishah

I don't eat green chillies either - and I seem to have a huge variety of food in my diet.

It is perfectly possible to get dishes that don't have chillies in them - check menus, ask the people who serve you when you order to check out whether chillies or not.

I actually also have a red chilli allergy, but manage to eat more than enough items that don't contain this spice.

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trooooon

True I guess . . . you do get a large variety of food in the big places, its in the villages that the problem might arise! Where there is only one dhaba! But even there i figure they'll make something bland on request

newislander

Definiltey troon, its the villages and I go through a lot of them typically. Even big towns, i find it hard. Mysore was very difficult to find things that suited me. Apart from the fresh fruit sold on the street which was delicious.

In one village i was served battered green chillis. Well you can imagine I was pleased with that. I picked out the chillis and gave them to my new friend to munch on while i contented myself with the oily batter.

I am not sure why wonderwoman mentions north india. Food in north india isn't as hot. I never had a problem at all on my first trip to india when I went to kashmir and Ladakh. But last trip was south india phoooooooooooo! and Rajasthan where the food was quite ok really. What a pity I couldn't get kashmiri food everywhere. Or kerala food everywhere.

Aisha, if you eat at home, you have an advantage that is not open to me. I have an indian friend who also doesn't like chilli. Neither does her husband but they have a cook and all their food is prepared without chilli. Wish i could steal their cook.

So thanks for tips so far. Any other dishes that i can ask for. I always find indian menus terribly confusing because I don't know what most of the dishes means in hindi.

Dosa and idly as you say comes with spicy stuff. I really am not keen on real indian food. Everything else I love about india but the food makes me suffer. Sorry but its true. Home cooking on the other hand is much better.

I know I like bhatura but its pretty fattening and a northern food anyway. There was this wonderful bread thing I came upon in MP which was broken up and put into soup. The first time i had was in someone's house. I loved that but only saw it once on a menu. Actually i didn't see it on a menu but the bread piled up and recognising it, I said I'd have that. I was a little disappointed that the cook broke all the bread up and put it in my soup for me. Do you know what this is called. And the soup was tomato like. Very yummy. It was a breakfast food i think.

Keep coming up with ideas please. And can you actually say what it is in english as well as in hindi if its not too much trouble. thanks.

newislander

Aishah maybe you could tell me what dishes you order that don't contain chilli. That's really what I am asking. The menus are not in English and even when they are the waiters never understand my questions.

Aishah

newislander - you can ask for things like pakora, pulao and biriyani, and paneer items to be made without chilli. Mixed vegetables, aloo gobhi (potato and cauliflower) they can all be made without chilli.

Also check out Chinese items - specify no chilli. Some restaurants will have specifically Continental items e.g. chicken, mutton, and others and you specify no chilli whatsoever.

One of my favourite things is bajra roti (millet roti) and onions! But I don't live on this - dahl can be made without chilli.

When I went to South India, I remember having quite a lot of ootapam, idli, without chilli, stuff - also Chinese, and 'continental' type of foods.


Editting to add, oops I just re-read your original post and you don't like paneer - oh well, avoid that one then! Buy fruit as well for yourself - I believe you can practically live on bananas or avocadoes - they have just about every vitamin and minerals you can think of! Also eat eggs for protein, and buy tins of tuna - these ideas should see you through I think.

rsk11584

it depends whether the owner will make without chillies or not, because chilli is inseperable item, i remember in my childhood whenever i was served a dish with chillies, I used to spend a great deal of time sorting out the chillie pieces and keeping them aside, but now just go on munching them ;-) and really want more and more spicy food.

Mostly hotels do cater to the needs of customers by not adding the salt and red chillie powder it is usually added as per customers wish, but for dishes wherever green chillie is used he will surely add.

Because the preparation which he prepares if it is for many people then he ought add green chilli, else no need to add, for dishes like omlette you can specify but for pakoras just for your one plate he is not going to remove the added chillies ?

In uttapam, dosa, you can ask them to add/ not add chillies,IDLI doesnt have chillies, but if you just eat those things it wont have taste so the most basic thing for idli, dosa, uttapa is sambar, chilli powder, chutney all these contain chilli . green chillies or chilli powder ;-)

Aishah

I've been to many restaurants where pakoras are made on the spot as per request by customer, rsk, and not pre-cooked beforehand. They are quite fast to make really. I have had vegetable pakora, and egg pakora, also mixed - veg., egg, paneer - all without chillies.

santos_g15

Idli with white chutney and sambhar-the balndesh main dish you can get.
Iddiappam-second blandest dish close competitor to idly but not widely available at any time.

Available at any time:
Dosa-oil.take with care.comes again with white chutney and sambhar.
chappati,barotta-side dishes may be spicy

Afternoon meals.
My all time favorite: curd rice with pickle and appalam.
you can take lemon rice,pudina rice,tomato rice and coconut rice.bisibhelabath is a variety of sambar rice which is also good.Rasam is spicy.dal is bland.there is also chinese items.veg fried rice and pulavs are available throughout every major city.they arent indian cuisine though .

Its simple to be in good health in south if you stick to curd and idly.simply awesome comination.

Nick-H

One culd add Puthu (Poothu???) to that list. Steamed coconut and rice; exceedingly bland.

Always aproach the sambar with care though, it may contain no chilly, it may contain a lot!

However, a dislike of chilly does not mean that food must be bland. One can hate chilly, but adore vast quantities of garlic, other herbs and spices, and even pepper. I, for instance, am in the garlic camp, but not in the chilly camp!

There is also a world of difference between using a chilly as a spice and using in a quantity that makes the food fiery. As one Adhra friend (and they usually love their chilly) once said to me, "I can't see the point in eating food that hurts!".

If newislander really dislikes even the flavour of chilly (which I don't), then total exclusion is the only way to go, of course.

cityMONK

I can under stand your problem, but there is nothing to be anxious about same way little children also do not take chillies or spicy food but when ever they go out with parents they have some thing or other on menu of their choice.



Diverse Continental food is available all over india why to stick to these two things only.



I do not know about south but in north, normally tarka is applied to boiled Dals and vegetables freshly ,instantly on ordering.Like DAL FRY will become fry from Dal boiled on fresh addition of tarka, consisting of fat, seasonings, onion other hearbs and green/red chilles.
You can demand it to be chilli free or low on masala or onion free.In delhi there are no problmes for low masala as such.





What is "bhature" without Masala cholley, khatta and a Fresh BIG GREEN CHILLY



That is Misal Pav, a Maharastrian breakfast Dish , soup is made from Black Gram powder e.t.c


Tell me one thing What all things you eat at your home.

suricate

Idli is bland by itself. But Sambar is usually spicy, while
white chutney can have green chillies mixed with it quite
inseparably. It's all your luck!

That is news to me! I'd say bisi bele bath and sambar rice
are two very different things! Also, while bisi bele bath can
be very tasty, it is usually very spicy too. Other rice dishes
(except curd rice) may or may not be spicy, depending on
your luck. And all these items are prepared beforehand, so
usually can't be special ordered (assuming you are eating out).

capt_mahajan

The only guaranteed non chilli food I can think of in small place South India is curd rice in Andhra or plain dosas or just idli without the sambar or chutney. This is for ready made stuff.

What I would do is- if I were staying for a few days in a place- ask the resteraunt/eatery to make a few items of my choice for me with no chillies at all (at least in Andhra they do not understand 'less chilli'. It is all or nothing)

Sambar and chutney can be made very easily with no chilli at all.

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