If you follow a sattvic diet, cook for the Hare Krishna community, or simply avoid onion and garlic for health or spiritual reasons, finding a proper meal in Cape Town that’s actually free of both — not just vegetarian — can be surprisingly hard. Most curries, restaurant dahls and even packaged Indian food default to an onion-and-garlic base. Here’s what that avoidance is about, and where to find the real thing.
Why some diets leave out onion and garlic
In Ayurveda, onion and garlic are considered rajasic and tamasic foods — believed to overstimulate the body and mind rather than support calm, clarity and digestion. A sattvic diet, followed by many yoga practitioners and by ISKCON (Hare Krishna) devotees preparing prasadam, leaves them out entirely for this reason. Jain dietary practice avoids them too, along with other root vegetables, for reasons rooted in non-violence towards the plant itself. The specifics differ between traditions, but the practical result is the same: a real onion-and-garlic-free meal has to be made that way from the start, not just picked around.
What makes it hard to find in practice
- Most restaurant curries use an onion-garlic base as standard — even “mild” or “vegetarian” options usually still contain both.
- Packaged curry pastes, stocks and spice mixes very often include onion or garlic powder, even when it isn’t obvious from the front of the pack.
- Asking a kitchen to “leave out the onion and garlic” on request usually means adapting a recipe that wasn’t designed without them — the flavour balance is often noticeably off.
- Genuinely dedicated onion- and garlic-free dishes, made that way from the recipe up, are uncommon to find ready-made in Cape Town.
True Nature’s onion and garlic-free options
Two of our six frozen dahls are made completely without onion or garlic: Dahl Makhani (whole black urad lentils and red kidney beans in a creamy tomato and coconut cream sauce) and Dahl Yoga (whole black urad lentils and red kidney beans, herbs and spices). Both are recipes built from scratch without either ingredient, not a regular dahl with something left out — so the flavour is meant to stand on its own. Everything is 100% plant-based, made without added oil or sugar, frozen fresh in Cape Town, and ready to eat in about 20 minutes.
We deliver across Cape Town, and both flavours are also available at a number of our retail stockists — see our store list for the one nearest you.
Frequently asked questions
Is all Indian food onion and garlic free?
No — quite the opposite. Most Indian cooking, including most dahl, uses onion and garlic as a flavour base. Dishes without either are the exception and need to be made that way deliberately.
Are Dahl Makhani and Dahl Yoga suitable for a Jain diet?
They contain no onion or garlic, which covers the most common requirement. Jain diets can vary in how strictly other root vegetables are avoided, so if you’re cooking for someone with specific requirements, it’s worth checking our full ingredient list against their particular practice.
Can I taste the difference without onion and garlic?
These two recipes were developed without onion or garlic from the start, using herbs and spices — plus ginger in the Dahl Makhani — to carry the flavour. They’re not modified versions of a regular dahl.
Ordering for an event? Try all six flavours first
Order one tub of each of our six flavours now — including Dahl Makhani and Dahl Yoga — so everyone can taste the full range and you can decide which to include when you place a larger order for your event or office lunch.