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What nutrients does my veggie vindaloo lack?

MyDoorsAreOpen

MyDoorsAreOpen

Bluelight Crew
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Aug 20, 2003
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I'm fairly poor (I live on US$600~800/month), and I find one of the most practical ways to eat well is to make a big pot of curry that I can scoop out of for a few weeks. I try to pack in as much nutrition as I can. Can anyone here who's a foodie or amateur nutrition expert tell me what I might be getting a lack (or unhealthy excess!) of on a diet consisting largely of the following ingredients? What would you recommend I eat along with this curry in order to get a more balanced diet?

-- small red potatoes, pressure cooked. water reintegrated into curry.
-- baby carrots, pressure cooked. water reintegrated into curry.
-- broccoli
-- cauliflower
-- green peppers
-- chick peas, soaked 1 day and pressure cooked 3h. 1kg/2lb uncooked.
-- young yellow sqash, including seeds
-- young zucchini
-- carmelized onions. 6 small ones.
-- tomato sauce
-- olive oil
-- white wine vinegar

The following spices were freshly ground from bulk dried spices, except as indicated:

-- fresh garlic. 3 bulbs for a big pot of curry, made into a paste and pan fried
-- fresh ginger. made into a paste and pan fried
-- cardamom
-- chili pepper
-- black peppercorns
-- cinnamon
-- black mustard seed
-- fenugreek seed
-- cumin seed
-- coriander seed
-- tumeric. purchased pre-ground.
-- a bit of salt
-- a bit of light brown sugar

Surprisingly enough, I find when I chew this spicy concoction very thoroughly, it doesn't upset my intestines at all. When I scarf it on the other hand ... I feel slightly less energetic than when I'm eating meat regularly, but I also feel a strange sort of artificial "clean and fresh" feeling after digesting a big bowlful of this curry, which feels (I know this is ridiculous, but) like the aromatic spices coursing through my blood.

I'm sure to other people I just smell like curry, though. :p
 
^^^ I take fish oil for that. omega-3s have done me a world of good. Good call on the kale too -- I just looked it up and that's a nutritional powerhouse!
 
Unless i'm overlooking something,it does'nt look like your getting enough protein. Put a litte beef or chicken in there! If your a vegatarian,throw a cup or two of soybeans in there.:)
 
Although soybeans have a higher protien content than other legumes, the chickpeas that are included in the dish should do the trick.
 
sickpuppy said:
Yeah I guess if you like being a stickman,they'll do the trick.;)
Click to expand...

I often use chickpeas as my main protein source, and I am far from a stickman.
They are quite high in calories and fat as well:
1/2 cup of dry yield chickpeas after cooking has 378 calories, 6 grams of fat and 20 grams of protein according to fitday.com
You don't need chicken or beef to increase the nutrition. All that will do is add cholesterol and cost.


MyDoorsAreOpen- you can always try switching up the veggies/beans in this dish just for a little variety. I'll bet it would be great using lentils, which are cheap and nutritious too.

Also, serve this over a variety of grains. If you are serving it over rice, use brown or basmatti (or brown basmatti) for the most nutrition. You can also try serving it over Quinoa.

This sounds very yummy BTW!
 
It was a joke . Notice the ;) ? I maintained(maybe grew a little) in prison off chickpeas and lentils due to the small ration of meat we got.
 
I would probably add some grains as suggested above for some added B vitamins, quinoa is a good one especially as its the only grain that is a complete protein (its actually a seed), so this will bump up the protein of the meal.

Also i would swap over the white potato for sweet potato, add in some red peppers aswell for more vitamin C, and add some fresh garlic to boost the immune system. Its better to add the garlic at the end of a meal to get the full benefits.

Try mixing up the legumes you use, there's heaps of variety; adzuki beans, mung beans, soybeans, black eye beans, red kidney beans, brown lentils, red lentils, green/yellow split peas.

Also i would try to have something 'fresh' with it. With curry's, because you cook them for so long, alot of the nutrients are lost in the cooking process. Try serving it up with a fresh green side salad which includes spinach as it contains iron which may be lacking in your diet.

Just a tip, adding lemon juice over the spinach will makes the iron more bioavailbe to the body. (iron from vegetables isnt as easily absorbed by the body as the iron from animal sources)
 
add some sweet potatoes, high in beta carotene which is a good anti cancer. Carrots have it too, but sweet potatoes are pure tasty goodness, i normally use them and dont use many potatoes. Maybe dont caramalize the onions if u are trying to be more healthy...(that said they are so so so yummy). Add some mushrooms in there too, for a good iron source.

Everyone else has been pretty helpful too. mmm i often make this kind of a thing, a big pot of dahl with loads of spices and veggies, it becomes my meal for a few days!) And always use brown rice. Always use anything wholemeal/wholeweat. Moving on. :)
 
mindbodysOul said:
Just a tip, adding lemon juice over the spinach will makes the iron more bioavailbe to the body. (iron from vegetables isnt as easily absorbed by the body as the iron from animal sources)
Click to expand...

Great tip! thanks for that! :D
 
Yum..my mouth watered when I read that recipe. I LOVE curry!!!
I'd say a heaping ladle of that would go so well on top of some red or basmati rice.
 
Good suggestions. I'm going to switch over to sweet potatoes -- maybe even some pre-baked ones with some brown sugar and nutmeg. mmm! I'll be sure to pick up some of the red and orange peppers next time I go shopping too.

I tried eating my curry with brown rice, but I think I pressure cooked it wrong, because the kernels didn't puff out like popcorn, and the rice didn't sit well with my intestines. I've been having it over whole wheat couscous, but I get the sense couscous is empty carbs, just like white potato.

I'm also cooking myself some spinach and kale each time I eat this, with a sprinkle of vinegar or lemon juice over the greens before I microwave them. Not a bad complement, I must say.

Rashandreflex, I live in Binghamton, New York, a rust-belt city that wouldn't look out of place in the former USSR. It has one of the lowest costs of living anywhere in the American northeast, but is mad depressing and boring. I go almost everywhere in town by bike, rarely eat fast food, and never shop for anything but groceries. Hell, I'm even too cheap to pay the $7 to take the PA Turnpike to see my g/f in Trenton, and it'll be a cold day in hell when I get used to paying $6 to drive into NYC. That's an extra 70 miles of gas, dammit!
 
Good to see u use your bike tho, better for your health AND the environment! Nice oneee. PLus it saves u a buck.

And on the pre-baked thing... well if u want the most nutritous meal just buy normal sweet potatoes and steam them, steam all your veggies, dont boil them, the more they are cooked the more nutrients they lose.

:)
 
^^^ I have a steaming basket in my pressure cooker, so I've been using that, with a very quick pressure cook, to 'steam' things. I find the water in the bottom of the pressure cooker is basically broth, so I'm worried I'm losing a lot of nutrients this way.

I prefer to microwave greens. I hear this is the best way to preserve their nutritional value, even better than steaming. What says you?

Yah living in the US on a shoestring is very very doable. But it takes a shrewd person who's good at ignoring ads and willing to give up a lot of the little 'make life easier' adaptations we've grown used to. But if all you care about is surviving, rather than impressing anyone, it's quite an easy country to live cheaply in, simply because there's so many people and so. much. stuff.
 
You are lacking protein, omega 3 and vitamin A and D.

Add some eggs to the mix, and take a tablespoon of pure cod liver oil a day.
 
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