4 Best Asian Cuisines for a Gluten Free Diet

If you have to go on a gluten free diet due to medical reasons like celiac disease or gluten sensitivity, or voluntarily opt to eliminate gluten from your diet, you will be delightfully amazed with what different types of Asian cuisines can motivate you to alter the staple foods in your diet regime. Making you more knowledgeable about the new, unusual, nutritious and delicious ingredients that you can use in cooking your everyday gluten free meals is my goal.

Gluten is a protein usually found in wheat, barley, rye and oats. Asian cuisines primarily emphasize rice grains, corns (maize), soy, millet, buckwheat and naturally gluten free ingredients like meat, eggs, seafood, fresh fruits and vegetables. The trick to successfully cooking gluten free Asian recipes is to know where the hidden gluten is and to replace it with gluten free ingredients as necessary.

Chinese

Chinese cuisine is usually comprised of 5 provincial styles, namely Cantonese, Fujian, Sichuan, Shanghai and Beijing. Traditional Chinese dishes like fried rice and rice noodles, either stir-fried or in soup, are naturally gluten free if cooked with salt. Gluten free soy sauce and other sauces are now widely available at your local supermarkets, health food stores or online. Many of the classic restaurants and takeout dishes that do not include any wheat products are also naturally gluten free. A lot of deep-fried Chinese dishes can be made with corn starch, potato starch or rice flour batter. Other all-time favorites like dumplings and buns, can be made with a combination of gluten free flour like rice flour, glutinous rice flour, corn (maize) starch, tapioca flour and potato flour. Various Chinese noodles are also naturally gluten free, such as rice noodles of different width and thickness, brown rice noodles, mung bean noodles, sweet potato noodles, glass or cellophane noodles and tofu noodles.

Indian

Indian cuisine is well known for a huge variety of seasonal dishes from different regions with diverse flavors and its generous use of herbs and spices. Basmati rice, potatoes, legumes, lentils, coconut, millet and corn are the main food staples. Bread, like naan and roti, can be easily made with gluten free flour like chickpea flour. Spices such as cardamom, coriander, ginger, dried chilli peppers, black mustard seeds, chillies, cinnamon, cloves, funnel seeds, nutmeg, saffron and turmeric are commonly used to make curries and for seasoning. Popular dishes are tandoori, korma, vindaloo, chutneys and dal.

Japanese

Japanese cuisine is comprised of regional and traditional foods. With a strong emphasis on seasonality of food and modest preparation of naturally fresh and good quality ingredients, they do not usually use many spices in cooking. Rice is the main staple and other gluten free noodles like 100% buckwheat noodles and black rice and brown rice noodles are commonly used as well. Gluten is usually lurking in the sauces, substitute with gluten free sauces whenever possible. Sashimi is raw fish and definitely a safe option and does not contain any gluten. The raw ingredients for sushi, like seafood, fish roe, vegetables and rice are gluten free; the only exception is imitation crab meat, that is not gluten free. Grilled seafood is often gluten free and served with vegetables. Tempura dishes can also be made with rice flour and tapioca flour.

Thai

Much of the traditional Thai cuisine is naturally gluten free as the emphasis is on herbs and spices, like chillies, lemongrass, kaffir lime and ginger, coconut milk, meat and fresh fruits and vegetables. An interesting mixture of salty, sweet and spicy flavors. Rice and rice noodles are also the main staple food in most Thai dishes. Thai spring roll wrappers are typically made with rice and tapioca flour. In addition, seasoning with fish sauce and salt is more common than soy sauce. Coconut milk is frequently used to add flavor and thicken sauces. Some popular Thai dishes are pad Thai, coconut pancake, Thai salad with grilled seafood or meat or mango, Thai Green, Red and Yellow curries, coconut sticky rice, and Thai fish cakes.

I believe that gluten free and allergy friendly recipes can be really tasty and regardless of what food allergy, food intolerance or food sensitivity you have, you can still enjoy nutritious and scrumptious food. For more information visit www.healthygfasian.com.