Lactose-Free Indian Food

More and more people seem to be benefiting from cutting lactose out of their diets – but what exactly is it?

Lactose is the natural sugar found in milk. It’s a complex sugar that requires the enzyme lactase to digest it. People who are lactose intolerant can’t produce this enzyme, meaning the undigested lactose causes gut problems like nausea, cramps and indigestion.

Good news for the lactose intolerant! There are loads of lactose free recipes to choose from. Although ghee - clarified cow’s butter - is usually used as a cooking oil, this is easily replaced with other oils like rapeseed or vegetable. My personal choice is coconut oil because it has many similar properties ghee.

There aren’t many other dairy products used in Indian cooking. Paneer - a curd cheese - is the other one to worry about, but it’s easily substituted with tofu.

Desserts are a bit tougher because many Indian desserts are made using milk powder or condensed milk. I’ve not managed to find a decent alternative for either of these yet, but there are some lactose free recipes out there.

Discover more lactose free Indian food below.