Little India Healthy Cuisine's Unique Sattvic Vegetarian Dine-In Experience
Trying to understand Little India's sattvic food
For the sake of those who don't understand what satvic means--you may want to listen to this video before scrolling down. If not, read on if you understand what it means. The idea of sattvic would be to avoid animal flesh and pungent spices. It would be typical for people to go to an Indian restaurant and order some garlic naan or onion paratha. Such dishes are known in places like Bollywood Tandoor, Cherry's the Spice, Bharat Spice, and Hyderabad Dine-In since they're non-vegetarian. Vegetarian dishes in non-vegetarian Indian restaurants still use pungent spices. Such isn't the case with Little India Healthy Cuisine since the food doesn't use pungent spices. So, you can forget to have garlic naan and onion paratha because such foods aren't sold in Little India Healthy Cuisine.
I could remember that I ate at the OPM branch before it closed some time later. I was able to go to the soft opening to try what I wanted--Indian vegetarian food. Sure, I would eat Indian chicken curry and goat masala. However, I tend to think Hyderabad-style cooking isn't much of my type since I don't find myself enjoying Bicolano food either. I may be a meat eater but I tend to think Indian vegetarian cuisine is my top favorite. Hyderabad-style cooking seems to click more with Filipino diners because of foods such as the use of shrimp or fish, tandoor chicken. okra curry (which looks a lot like pinakbet), and lentil soup (which some use coconut milk).
The food at Little India Healthy Cuisine follows the principle except that it's Indian. That means it might take some time to adjust to the "stronger flavor". However, the absence of garlic and onion (or any pungent spice for that matter) makes it not as strong or overwhelming as the Hyderabad-style cooking or Bollywood Tandoor's cooking. So far, Bollywood Tandoor is one of my favorite Indian restaurants because the food isn't as overwhelming as the Hyderabad-style cooking of the other restaurants. Though Cherry's the Spice and other Hyderabad-style cooking do prepare good meat dishes. Cherry's the Spice does prepare several good meat dishes. I do tend to watch my diet to eat more vegetables and fruits while still eating some meat.
I remembered a couple of dishes there tend to be less overwhelming for me. I could remember eating both biryani and fried rice. Just a note--biryani is cooked by steaming and might be comparable to the steamed fried rice in dimsum cooking. The fried rice there might seem to be a fusion of Chinese fried rice mixed with Indian spices. They also use Taiwan-based vegetarian meat substitutes for some of their dishes. The use of Taiwan-based meat substitutes is better than the use of Meat Magic. I even find Taiwan-based meat substitutes to taste better than Nutrela from India. The innovative mix pretty much created a unique experience. IMHO, Taiwanese meat substitutes tend to taste better than animal flesh when it comes to Indian cooking.
The challenge of marketing healthy Indian vegetarian cooking to Filipinos
It’s nothing new that fruits and vegetables are good for you. Yet studies show that we, Filipinos, mostly do not eat enough fruits and vegetables. In 2016, a study of consumption patterns for fruits and vegetables showed that the average consumption of Filipinos (particularly adolescents) is 343 grams per day. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that a person consume at least 400 grams of fruits and vegetables per day to reap its nutritional and health benefits.
I could remember when I tried to talk about Little India Healthy Cuisine. The challenge is not always with people who are too stuck with either Chinese or Filipino cooking. Sometimes, it can be with the unhealthy Filipino diet. It became my common observation that Filipinos tend to have an unhealthy diet one way or another. Besides, it's also shown by ABS-CBN News last 2012 that Filipinos usually don't eat enough vegetables Just the thought of it alone is really something. I think it might also have some poor parenting especially when children are very hard to feed with vegetables. I used to have that problem though because how the vegetables in our home tend to be overcooked--something that would kill the nutritional value. Fortunately, Little India Healthy Cuisine's cooking of vegetables is very aldente.
This would create raise awareness of the need to eat more vegetables. The rise of the health-conscious generation is one factor. The other factor is that making the need to eat more vegetables and fruits should be built. The National Nutrition Council (NNC) could be a good key to helping further the vegetarian food industry. I think one way Little India Healthy Cuisine does manage to click even with non-vegetarians is by raising awareness for a health-conscious generation.
Besides, one of the key features of Little India Healthy Cuisine is using much less grease. Parathas can be known for being oily. What's good about Little India Healthy Cuisine's paratha is using much less oil and the uses whole wheat flour. Their chole battura's chickpea curry has much less oil. Their masala dosa's sambar soup also has much less oil. Trying to minimize the usage of oil and ghee (clarified butter) is also key. Vegetable oil and ghee can accumulate as body fat over time if consumed in excess. It might not taste as good (at first) but it caters to the health industry.
Not to worry as Little India Healthy Cuisine tries to make the food taste as good as possible. So far, I managed to really enjoy plenty of good cooking. At first, it won't be easy but knowing it's healthy and prepared well can be good. Healthy doesn't have to deprive one of happiness. To be healthy is to be happy. I would say that this might be key to helping the vegetarian food industry (such as Little India Healthy Cuisine) gain traction even among those who don't seek to give up meat.
