Daisy

Hello Friends!

Even though I’ve been in Hyderabad about 2.5 months now, I still don’t know the good gluten-free places to eat! I’ve found a couple, which I will post in the days to come. However, for now, I was lucky enough to be invited to a home-cooked meal, where I learned a lot about what goes into the local food!

Home-cooked Indian spread - all gluten-free! Lots of curries and rice dishes. — Home-cooked Indian spread – all gluten-free! Lots of curries and rice dishes.

Our host laid out a sumptuous, traditionally-prepared meal. A lot of the food is rice-based (e.g. rice with jeera, rice with corn, pulao) and tomato-and-chili-paste-based (e.g. prawn curry, chicken curry, stuffed potato curry).

Palak paneer - almost always reliably gluten-free! And almost always reliably delicious! — Palak paneer – almost always reliably gluten-free! And almost always reliably delicious!

To me, the palak paneer has been an old steady favourite. I have not encountered a time when it was made with gluten. The only danger, of course, is cross-contamination, but usually the risk is minimal.

Stuffed potato with curd and cheese, in a tomato gravy.

This stuffed potato curry was amazing! It’s essentially halved potatoes that have been hollowed out and stuffed with curd and paneer (and some spinach and seasoning).

All in all, a meal worth remembering!

Peace,

Daisy

Hello Folks!

For the past month, I have been based out of Hyderabad, in the south of India. On the whole, India is a GREAT place for gluten-free food! Celiacs disease is actually fairly common in India – especially in the North – and people are quite aware of wheat allergies.

And the best part: they just generally don’t cook with wheat! The only big caveat I will add is that the world-famous Hyderabadi biryani may be cross-contaminated. The method of cooking can involved the use of dough (made of wheat) to seal the pot during the steaming process. Not everyone abides – only the most traditional preparations still use it. But it’s important to check!

However, many other food is almost completely safe. The thing to check for with the ubiquitous dosa or uttapam (see below) is that it is not made on the same stove top as the chapatti or other wheat-based breads.

Otherwise, most of the curries, dhals, paneer (cheese) dishes, and meats are generally cooked in gluten-free ways. And they are incredibly spicy and yummy!

The Park Hyatt Hyderabad, where I stay, actually has gluten-free notation on the menu. All staff are quite aware of gluten allergies. They’ll even bust out the GF goodies for breakfast if you ask – gluten-free bread, gluten-free pancakes, etc! So it’s a great choice for where to stay!

Another love: masala chai. So good. Not sweet. Delicious. Almost always safe.

Peace,

Daisy