Are you on a diet and bored of eating just fruits, cornflakes and veggies? You don’t have to torture yourself with boredom. Being on diet doesn’t mean you have to let go off your favorite breakfast options. You can still have mouth-watering Indian breakfast and not feel guilty about it. Just make sure you continue your workout and lose weight healthily. Here are some quick and easy Indian breakfast options you can replace the boring cornflakes with.
Daliya with nuts
Daliya is a popular North Indian dish which you can have for breakfast as well as for dinner. Made out of broken wheat, Daliya is filled with complex carbohydrates and has high fiber content. Complex carbs slow down the digestion and hence release glucose in a sustained and slow rate. You can add almonds, walnuts and other nuts to make it taste better! It’s one of the most healthiest and filling options for breakfast.
Recipe by : Tarla Dalal
Ingredients
Broken wheat (dalia)
Cumin seeds (jeera)
Carrot
Potatoes
Onions
Ginger (adrak)
Salt to taste
A pinch turmeric powder (haldi)
Chilli powder
Coriander (dhania) for garnishing
Method
- Heat a little in a pan.
- Add jeera and onions. Add daliya and roast it.
- Add chopped vegetables and stir for 2 min.
- Add salt , haldi, red chilly powder and water.
- Cover it and cook till the vegetables are tender.
- Garnish with coriander and beaten nuts.
Pesarattu
Made from whole green gram batter, Pesarattu has multiple health benefits. It’s a traditional breakfast recipe from Coastal Andhra and is quite popular among health enthusiasts. It’s low in fat, high in fiber and proteins. Make sure the accompanying chutney doesn’t have peanuts.
Recipe by: Sailus Food
Ingredients
1 cup Pesalu (whole moong dal/green lentil)
1 tbsp raw rice
1″ ginger piece
2 green chillis
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1 cup finely chopped onions
1 tbsp finely chopped green chillis
2 tbsp finely chopped ginger(optional)
salt
oil
Upma for the filling
1 cup upma rava (fine semolina, sooji, cream of wheat)
Most prefer to eat upma made of fine semolina than the coarse variety. So when buying semolina ask for the finer variety. If you make upma with the coarser kind, remember to add a little more water for it to cook well.
2 cups water
1 teaspoon urad dal (minappappu)
1/2 tsp spoon mustard seeds (aavalu, ria)
3 green chillies slit length wise
1″ ginger finely chopped
10 curry leaves
salt to taste
2 medium sized chopped tomatoes
1/3 tsp turmeric (pasupu, haldi)
2 tbsps oil
Method
- Soak the moong dal and rice in water for 24 hours.
- Drain the water and add green chilies, 1″ ginger piece, cumin seeds and salt.
- Grind the mixture to a smooth paste adding water as required. It’s similar to dosa batter or pancake batter..not too thin though. Keep aside.
- Meanwhile take a separate bowl and add the chopped onions, ginger and green chillis (you can avoid green chillis if you want less spice) and mix well.
- Prepare upma and keep aside.
- Heat a griddle or hot plate to medium heat and grease it with little oil.
- Pour a laddle full of pesarattu batter on it and spread it with the base of the laddle into a thin round layer like a pan cake and drizzle 1 tsp oil around the edges of Pesarattu.
- Top the pesarattu with some of the chopped onions and ginger. Cook until the pesarattu turns brown.
- Flip the pesarattu over the other side and let it brown on medium heat for half a minute.
- Flip it over again and add a big spoonful of upma in the center of the pesarattu.
- Remove from griddle and your Pesarattu-Upma is ready.
- Sprinkle some water on the pan and use the same proceedure for making your next Pesarattu.This makes approx 7-8 pesarattus.
- Traditionally its served with upma and ginger chutney.You can also serve with coconut chutney or coriander chutney.
Oats Idli
Idli is one of the most tastiest and Oats are of course one of the most healthiest food options available. Oats have beta-glucan, a rich dietary fiber. It helps in lowering high levels of cholesterol and is of course a great option for the ones on diet.
Recipe by: Dhwani Mehta
Ingredients
Quick Oats – 2 cup
Rava / Sooji / Semolina – 1 cup
Curd – 1 cup
Salt to taste
Chopped mix vegetables(Carrots, Peas, beans, Corn, Capsicum) – 2 cups
Ginger-chili paste – 1 tbsp
Water – 3 cups or as needed
ENO or Baking soda – 1 tsp
Method
- Dry roast oats and rava Separately for 2 to 3 minutes over a medium heat. Crush the oats into a coarse Powder.
- Take both, roasted oats powder and rava, into a big mixing bowl. Add vegetables, curd, salt and ginger-chili paste. Mix them well.
- Add Water very slowly. Mix in between. Make a batter like a normal idli batter consistency. Keep it aside for 30 minutes.
- Bring the water in the steamer to a boil.
- Add ENO or baking soda and mix them well. Don’t let the batter sit for too long after adding ENO or soda. (If you can’t steam idli all in one go, divide the batter and ass the ENO just before steaming).
- Immediately pour the batter into greased idli moulds and steam for 12 to 15 minutes. Poke an Idli with toothpick or with knife to check whether idli is cooked or not. If toothpick comes out clean that means Idli is done. If not, steam it again for 5 minutes.
- Oats Idli is ready. Serve them hot with coconut chutney. This time I have added Garlic chutney in my Coconut chutney and the taste was awesome.
Cabbage Paratha
Rich in vitamin C, Cabbages are just what you need to fulfill your need for a nutritious breakfast. It’s a myth that you can’t have parathas when on diet. Just make sure you replace your ghee with olive oil or even cooking oil. When using oil avoid using our favorite teaspoon and get yourself an oil spray and non-stick pan. That’s it, combine with sour yogurt and your paratha is yummy and healthy to eat.
Recipe by: Tarla Dalal
Ingredients
For The Dough
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour (gehun ka atta)
1 tsp melted ghee
1/2 tsp salt
For The Stuffing
1/2 cup grated cabbage
2 tbsp crumbled paneer (cottage cheese)
2 tbsp chopped coriander (dhania)
1 green chilli , finely chopped
salt to taste
Olive oil
Method
For the dough
- Sieve the flour with the salt.
- Add the ghee, mix well and make a soft dough using enough water.
- Knead well for 3 to 4 minutes and divide the dough into 10 equal portions. Keep aside.
For the stuffing
- Sprinkle salt over the cabbage and keep aside for 10 minutes.
- Squeeze out the water from the cabbage, add the paneer, coriander, green chillies and salt and mix well. Keep aside.
How to proceed
- Roll out each portion of the dough into a circle of about 100 mm. (4″) diameter.
- Spread a little stuffing on one circle and cover with another circle. Press the sides well so they stick.
- Cook on a tava (griddle) using a little ghee until pink spots appear on both sides.
- Repeat with remaining mixture and dough to make 4 more parathas.
- Serve hot.