Indian Food & First Time Out - Need Sugestions

[Kirian]

Hi everyone!

Since going gluten free a little over 2 months ago I have not ventured out to eat. I am getting together with a friend for lunch tomorrow and she wants to do Indian. Do you guys have any tips on what I can safely order? I am so terrified to get sick.

Would I be better off trying to find a place that I can just get a green salad from?

I do know that I am pretty sensitive to gluten. I used some cream cheese last Sunday that my dh had used prior to making our house gluten free. He only used it once and I figured if I took from an area he didn't I would be fine. Wrong. I got really sick that night and am still kinda recovering. So, this is why I am really nervous to eat out!

[katshow]

Hi! I know that every Indian place is different, but all the ones in my area (Oregon) that I've been to, don't have any gluten in anything other than the bread which is obvious. My favorite is the Chicken Makahani!! It's so good and I've never been glutened!

[Kirian]

Thank you for your reply! That is what I figured, but man, I am still such a baby and sooo nervous about eating out.

I talked to my friend and we opted to meet at Panera. I am going to bring a Larabar to much on and get myself a cuppa tea. I just have so much going on this week, I can't afford to get sick.

[Nancym]

You might want to think about getting dining cards. I use the triumph ones and it makes eating out so much easier!

[Kirian]

Thanks. I was thinking about this too, but I was worried that there would be too much of a language barrier at this place for them to understand.

I have seen 1 card online, can you point me in the direction of the cards you use?

Thanks again!

[Nancym]

Yeah, they're on this web site! https://www.celiac.com/catalog/product_info...products_id=484

They have it in English and then in the language of the cuisine, so in your case, Indian!

Here's a good article for you: Open Original Shared Link

[Kirian]

Wow - those look great and what a great price for them too! Thanks so much. I will be getting them very soon and then maybe finally going to that Indian restaurant.

Thanks for the article too, it was full of great suggestions.

[hineini]

I love Indian food. Now that I'm gluten-free I almost only eat out at Indian and Sushi restaurants.

I've never had a language problem communicating with servers at an Indian restaurant about gluten. Then again I stick to the Indian restaurants where I feel trusting of the place and the servers.

I always ask: Is flour or wheat used to thicken this? (I say "flour or wheat" in case someone doesn't know that by "flour" i mean wheat or vice versa)

The curries and rice are almost always safe, esp at higher quality restaurants in my experience.

The papadum (crispy lentil-flour based crackers served at the beginning of the meal) are safe if made traditionally-- they shouldn't have any wheat flour in them. Of course it's worth checking, however.

Pakoras are traditionally gluten-free (tempura-like veggies, but with a garbanzo flour batter rather than wheat) but it's important to check that they don't include wheat in the batter and there is always the risk of CC if they're fried in the same oil as samosas and pooris.

Stay away from samosas and breads, and ask clear questions of the servers, and you should be OK.

[lpellegr]

I had asked an Indian coworker about this, and she said since the spice "hing" is in a lot of foods and hing is made from wheat, according to the Triumph cards, she thought a lot of Indian foods would be unsafe for me. I don't know if this holds true for restaurants or if she was thinking of her own home cooking, but it's something to be aware of.

[Kirian]

hineini: Thanks for the input.

lpellegr: Thank you too. That is good to know!

[hineini]

hing=asafetida, and yeah it's not gluten-free... but i'm not sure that all that many Indian restaurants (esp the inexpensive ones) use it. I thought asafetida was pretty expensive? But I'm not sure. That's good to keep in mind.

[Mtndog]

I love Indian!!!! I get chicken Tikka masala or Korma- YUM!!!!!!!!!! The place i usually go to is Punjabi and the only item on the menu that has gluten is the naan. Other than that I pig out.