1. For a healthier starter, swap a meat samosa containing 325 calories for one poppadum with cucumber raita with 90 calories. For a main course, swap chicken tikka masala with 700 calories for tandoori chicken with 214 calories. Instead of pickles and chutney with 70 calories per tablespoon, have dhal with 50 calories per tablespoon. In place of a 538-calorie naan bread, have four tbsp of plain boiled rice (220 calories).

2. Check out the cookery writer Anjum Anand’s Indian Food made Easy books, which are full of quick, healthy recipes. Watch her prepare sweetcorn cob curry here.

3. When eating out at Indian restaurants, ask for your dishes to be cooked with less oil, and yoghurt instead of cream.

4. Chicken, prawn and vegetable curries tend to be lower in fat than lamb or beef ones.

5. When choosing straight from the Indian menu stick with tandoori chicken or fish dishes which are baked in the tandoori oven minus sauces and dahl dishes which are made from lentils

6. When preparing Indian food at home buy in your own oil-free pickles, microwave your own puppudums, make some raita by mixing low fat plain yoghurt with grated cucumber and prepare your own boiled rice. The latter has 248 calories per portion compared to 542 in a serving of pilau rice.