Chinese food- Need advice please

[LisaAC]

A friend and I usually go out once a month to the local chinese resturant. It's something we both look forward too and have been doing for quite sometime.

I need some help though on what's best to order. I know to leave off the rice. That I can always bring to my son. The other thing I know to do is order the
PU PU Platter for two. It had meat to fry up, and I give the shrimp toast to my friend. I'm not much for shrimp and she loves it. So no problem there at all.

I love the hot-n-sour soup, which has the usual chicken broth, tofu, meat, scallions, and I think that's about all that's floating in there. Is this something ok to eat? A choice of soup does come with the lunch menu, so I know I could also choose egg drop soup, but my favorite is the hot-n-sour. Especially if I'm getting a cold. The spices in it help.

What dishes are best to order.
What do I need to tell them to leave out?

Thanks.

[not2late]

Chinese restaurant food is a low carb dieter's nightmare.

Soups are usually thickened with some kind of starch, usually cornstarch. The cornstarch adds body to the soups, because most Asian soups are broths flavored with ginger, and soy sauce. To cater to Western tastebuds, they add cornstarch to give the soup more body/substance.

Meats are typically 'velvetized', that is marinated in a mixture of egg white and cornstarch. This coating insulates the meat during the high cooking temperatures and prevent it from becoming tough and chewy. Even meats that are plain fried have a coating of cornstarch because that aids in browning the meat and thickening the sauces.

Sauces contain sugar. Most sauces use a sauce base. That sauce base contains sugar. When a restaurant, cooks a dish, they doctor the sauce base to individualize the sauce. Typically they add more spices and more sugar.

The safest food to eat would be a platter of plain steammed vegetables and meat, no sauce, no rice.

If you have a good relationship with the restaurant and can 'special order' dishes, ask for no sauce, no starch, no flour, and no added sugar/honey/rock sugar/glucose.

[boonie stomper]

http://www.fitday.com/WebFit/nutriti...sour_soup.htmlFitday entry for the soup - I'd hesitate, Lisa, because of the added cornstarch. Snow crab legs, steamed or boiled shrimp, and mussels would be ok, though, and surely they have salad or steamed broccoli.

[LisaAC]

Thanks you two.

Thankfully, I think they know me enough not to fuss if I ask for special. And I've seen others do it before too, so that shouldn't be a problem.

If my friend does happen to mention going out, I'll see if I can suggest another place. She's usually up to ideas.

Thanks for all the info.

[Momtofour]

I usually order an egg foo young dish with the vegetables I can have. I have them make it with no rice or sauce. I add soy sauce at the table. It is always great.

[sadie147]

I've made a point of completely avoiding chinese food since on this woe, as Megs has said it can be a nightmare. I've always stuck with places that I know have legal foods that I will enjoy. I can't see myself paying to go to a restaurant to eat steamed vegetables and plain fried meat

[LisaAC]

Thanks everyone. The info has been really helpful.