Indian food and variety are synonymous. Nashta, as it is popularly called, is as varied as the diverse regions in India. From the simple steamed idlis, dosa varieties, pongal, and puttu in the South India to the paranthas, poori, and poha in the West and North, there are countless options to spice up your morning.
Here are 15 such tasty recipes handpicked from various parts of India. Daily try one recipe from this list to give your family a healthy start.
This is one of the healthiest south Indian vegetarian breakfast recipes, which is commonly served in all the 4 states of South India. Prepared from a fermented rice and urad dal batter, it is a steamed option served alongside chutneys and sambar.
Ingredients:
Directions:
1. Wash rice and dal separately until completely clean.
2. Soak both separately in clean water for about 4 hours. You can soak them overnight for better results.
3. Drain off the excess water from the rice and keep the water aside.
4. Grind the rice first in a wet grinder or food processor, adding water as and when required to make the batter smooth.
5. Transfer to a clean vessel.
6. Drain off excess water from the urad dal and keep the water aside.
7. Grind the dal first in a wet grinder or food processor, adding water as and when required, at regular intervals, to make the batter smooth.
8. Mix the ground rice with urad dal and grind for few more minutes, after adding salt.
9. The grinding process will take anywhere between 40 to 50 minutes.
10. Transform to a container and keep aside for 10 hours or more for better fermentation.
How To Proceed:
1. Mix the batter well using a ladle. Add more salt, if required.
2. Grease your idli plates lightly with sesame seed oil.
3. Meanwhile, add about 1.5 cups of water to your pressure cooker or idly pan and heat it.
4. Add about ¾ ladle of the batter to each of the cup of the idli plate.
5. Place in the preheated idli pan and steam for about 10 minutes or till a toothpick inserted into the idlis comes out clean.
6. Serve fresh with chutneys of your choice, sambar, or idly chutney powder.
Tips:
1. Instead of idli rice, you can use 2 cups each of raw rice and parboiled rice.
It is a popular and tasty breakfast choice in almost all South Indian households. There are various variants of this crunchy delight with certain ones using soaked dal. The one I am mentioning here is an instant one, which is easy to put together as it needs little planning. Add carrots, onions, green chilies, or any other spices of your choice for a twist.
Ingredients:
For Seasoning:
Directions:
1. Dry roast rava on a preheated kadai until just warm to touch.
2. Soak rava in buttermilk and keep aside for 20 minutes.
3. Grind the soaked rava with buttermilk and green chilies to a smooth batter.
4. Mix in whole wheat flour, rice flour and salt. Give a quick mix.
5. Heat the kadai with oil.
6. Add cumin seeds and allow to splutter.
7. Add curry leaves and give a quick stir.
8. Add onions and fry until golden brown.
9. Turn off the heat, add asafetida, and give a quick mix. Then add to the dosa batter.
10. Adjust salt to taste.
11. Preheat a mildly-greased non-stick tawa on medium heat.
12. Lower the heat to minimum and add a ladle full of batter to the tawa.
13. Slowly spread out into a thin large circle. [Be careful as it is not an easy task].
14. Drizzle a few drops of oil and cook until the bottom turns golden brown.
15. Flip over and cook for 2 more minutes.
16. Serve hot with spicy tomato chutney.
Tips:
This one is not like the hotel rava dosa. Do not sauté onions and mix it with the batter. You can follow the directions as mentioned below to get restaurant style rava dosa:
1. Add a ladle full of batter on the outermost corner of the tawa.
2. Fill in slowly making a thin dosa.
3. Fill the gaps, if any at the end to get a lacy dosa.
4. Sprinkle onion on top of the batter.
5. Cook with about 1 tsp oil on each side to make the dosa crispy.
Prepared using broken wheat, this is a filling and tasty breakfast option. You can use the veggies of your choice. Just make sure that all the veggies, except onions, are chopped the previous night. Add about ½ cup of roasted moong dal to add protein to the breakfast.
Ingredients: