About South Indian Breakfast

No South Indian meal is complete without rice in some form or other. It’s either boiled rice or idlis (steamed cakes made from rice batter), 

dosas, or uttapams (pancakes made from a batter of rice and lentil flour). Daals (lentils) are also a part of most meals.Typically, Southern Indian food will feature curry leaves, mustard, asafetida, pepper and peppercorns, tamarind, chilies, and fenugreek seeds. Huli pudi (also known as sambar powder) is also used to spice and flavor dishes.

Let’s round up the most popular South Indian Breakfast.

DOSA:

Rice and wheat are the top two grains consumed by Indians, with rice topping the list. Indians have taken this humble grain and transformed it into a plethora of sweet and savory dishes unlike any other culture in the world. The humble dosa is an ode to the never-ending love between the people of this country and rice.

Dosa is the ever-popular South Indian breakfast of crispy crepes made with fermented rice and lentil batter. It is usually poured into a thin crispy crepe and served with a side of mashed spiced potatoes, lentil stew called sambar, and coconut chutney.

IDLI:

Idli or idly is a type of savory rice cake, originating from the Indian subcontinent, popular as a breakfast food in Southern India and in Sri Lanka. The cakes are made by steaming a batter consisting of fermented black lentils and rice.

Traditionally, each region has its own version, and it is usually served with sambar (spiced lentil stew) and coconut chutney. Some of the new contemporary variations are button idli, tatte idli, sanna idli, rava idli, and masala idli.

VADA:

Vada is a category of savory fried snacks from India. Different types of vadas can be described as fritters, cutlets, donuts, or dumplings. Alternative names for this food include wada, vade, vadai, wadeh, and bara.

Vadas are legume based. The legumes (dal) are soaked in water and then ground to a batter. The batter is then seasoned with other ingredients, such as cumin seeds, onion, curry leaves (sometimes previously sautéed), salt, chilies, or black pepper grains.

Often ginger and baking soda are added to the seasoning in shops to increase the fluffy texture and improve fermentation for large batches. The mixture is then shaped and deep-fried, resulting in vadas with crispy skin and a fluffy center. They are usually referred to as the savory donuts of the south.

                

PESARATTU:

Pesarattu, pesara attu, pesara dosa (mung bean dosa), or cheeldo is crepe-like bread, originating in Andhra Pradesh, India, that is similar to dosa. It is made with green gram (moong dal) batter, but, unlike dosa, it does not contain urad dal. Pesarattu is eaten as breakfast and as a snack in Andhra Pradesh.

It is typically served with ginger or tamarind chutney. Green chilies, ginger, and onions are used in other variants.

A pesarattu served with upma is known as a pesarattupma. It is popular in South Indian cities. Pesarattupma is a favorite in the coastal Andhra region, especially in the Godavari districts, Krishna district, Guntur district, Nellore district, and Vishakapatnam district.

It is typically served with ginger or tamarind chutney. Green chilies, ginger, and onions are used.