10 steamed and nutritious breakfast dishes of India

Indian breakfast is diverse. When it comes to Indian breakfast people often think of oil-loaded parathas, or deep-fried pooris or kachoris, but did you know that there is a big bunch of steamed dishes too, which are no less than staples of different regions and enjoyed as breakfast? The best thing about these dishes are they are light, healthy, and at the same time quite filling. And many of these dishes use zero oil in its cooking, which makes them weight-loss-friendly too. Scroll down to discover.

This is the most popular steamed dish of South India, where rice and dal are soaked and blended into a batter, which is then fermented and later steamed into soft and fluffy discs, best served with coconut chutney and sambar. And if you are running short on time, you can try instant rava idli. All you need to do is, mix curd and sooji and let it rest for 10 minutes. Add baking soda and salt to taste and your batter is ready to be steamed.

It is one of the most popular steamed dishes and is native to Gujarat. It is made with besan, sooji, and curd batter, seasoned with salt and turmeric. It is further tempered with a concoction made with oil, green chillies, mustard seeds, curry leaves, sugar, and water. One can also make a sooji version of it, where you add curd to sooji and follow the same process and steam the batter and then top it with a tempering. Have you tried this version ever?

This dish is native to Uttar Pradesh and is made with colocasia leaves, besan, and spices. The mixture is layered between leaves, rolled, and then steamed to perfection. It is best enjoyed with dal chawal. To make it, simply wash colocasia leaves and make a smooth paste of besan, salt, garlic, ginger, chilli, chaat masala, and pepper powder. Layer it on leaves and make a stack of 5-7 leaves, roll them up into cylindrical shape, and then steam for 15-20 minutes. And if you are into shallow fried crispy treats, then heat some oil, add a tempering of mustard seeds, curry leaves and chilli along with sesame seeds and shallow fry these discs and enjoy with chai.

It is a steamed delight of Gujarat and is made with besan, buttermilk, turmeric, and salt, which is cooked, then rolled, and steamed to perfection. And it is further topped with a tempering of oil, mustard seeds, curry leaves, and freshly grated coconut. One can also make stuffed khandvi, where one can add mixture made with grated coconut and spices.

This is a Bihari dish, where rice flour or wheat flour dough is stuffed with coarse chana dal mixture seasoned with hing, ajwain, ginger, and garlic, which are then steamed and served with dhania chutney. To make this dish, chana dal is soaked overnight and then coarsely crushed on a sill batta along with spices. Adding hing to it enhances the taste of the mixture, which makes the final dish even tastier. This dish is made with whole wheat flour and rice flour as well. To make the rice flour, you have to use warm water to bring the dough together.

These are steamed rice noodles native to Tamil Nadu and Kerala and are served with coconut milk or coconut vegetable stew as a light meal. For the unversed, idiyappam is made with rice flour, water, and a pinch of salt, where the dough is pressed through a special mould to create fine, noodle-like strands that are steamed to perfection.

It is a Maharashtrian dish, made with rice flour and stuffed with coconut, nuts, and jaggery, shaped using a mould and then steamed to perfection. It is a popular dish enjoyed of Ganesh Chaturthi and with time it is now innovated in many ways. From chocolate filling to mawa, many varieties have been introduced that are steamed to perfection.

This one is native to Kerala and refers to steamed cylinders of rice flour layered with coconut and is prepared in a specific mould. It is traditionally served with kadala curry.

This is a Gujarati delight and refers to steamed dumplings made with wheat flour, fenugreek leaves, bottle gourd, and spices. The name comes from the Gujarati word “muthi” (fist) because the dough is traditionally shaped by pressing it in the fist before cooking.

This is a Bengali dish and refers to steamed rice flour cakes stuffed with coconut and jaggery filling and are mostly enjoyed during winter mornings.

It is a traditional steamed breakfast dish from Karnataka and is made with rice flour or rava, seasoned with salt, cumin, and green chilli. It is best served with coconut chutney, ghee, or spicy chutney pudi.