5 South Indian Breakfast Recipes That You Can Make With Our Cold Pressed Oils

There is something special about the culinary culture of India – every few kilometres, the cuisine varies just a little bit, the ingredients change ever so slightly and the flavour evolves and changes. Enter a home and the love language of most mothers is – “did you eat something” or some variation of that! 

No matter which part of the country you come from, breakfast is always an important meal and although in our fast paced lives of today, we might not have the time, there is still a part of us that likes to sit down and savour a delicious meal, to start our day right! 

In this brand new series, we are going to bring you 5 unique recipes, from different parts of our country (and even the world) and all these can be made with our oils, showing you that cooking with cold pressed oils is easy!

5 delicious and healthy south Indian breakfast recipes

Whether you have grown up in a south Indian household like me or just like the flavours that come from the five southern states, there are some food items that everyone knows of. So, unless you are a native from the southern states, your knowledge about the local cuisine might be stuck at idli, dosa and vada. 

But the world of south Indian food, especially breakfast items is so vast, that you could try something new every single day of the month and not repeat it! Here are our top 5 picks, which you can try and make sure that you use Gramiyaa cold pressed oils to prepare these.  

1. Adai dosa – No it’s not a dosa; well technically not. Yes, its shaped like a dosa and is made on a tawa, but there is so much more to an adai dosa. First of all, the batter is prepared by soaking a whole plethora of dals – so this is not just rice and urad. Adai will have very little rice, but plenty of toor dal, moong daal (yellow and green) and urad dal. And when you are soaking these dals, you will also add some dry red chillies and pepper corns. While grinding the batter to a coarse texture, you will add some jeera, hing and onions and curry leaves if you like too. Once fermented for a few hours, you can make the crispiest adai dosas with a gentle drizzle of sesame oil! 
2. Semiya biriyani – If you like something a little spicy and zingy in the morning, then a semiya biryani should be right up your alley! This is one of those south Indian breakfast recipes that will leave you feeling satiated and is really good for the lunchbox too. Cook the semiya as per the packet instructions and prepare the temper. In a kadai, add a tablespoon of cold pressed groundnut oil and temper some mustard seeds and urad dal. Sauté some chopped onions, tomatoes, carrots and beans and season with salt and spices, like turmeric, coriander powder, red chilli powder and some biriyani masala. Add the cooked semiya and let the flavours meld, before finishing it off with some freshly chopped coriander and mint leaves! 
3. Keera vadai – This is one of my absolute favourites; chana dal is soaked overnight and then ground to a coarse paste. To that paste, you will add finely chopped onions and green chillies, grated ginger, salt, a pinch of turmeric and hing. And then comes the star ingredient – the keerai, which is basically a south Indian term for green leafy veggies. This means that you can take your pick – spinach, fenugreek and amaranth leaves work best and all you need to do is chop the washed leaves and mix into the batter. Now, you will want to make large flat disc and deep fry on medium high flame till crisp and golden brown. 
4. Paniyaram – This is a classic and one of the quick Indian breakfast recipes that comes from the southern parts of India; you can grind a batter with soaked raw rice and dry red chillies, but you can also use regular dosa batter. I use this as an easy way to feed my daughter all her veggies – I grate carrots, cabbage, onions, ginger and capsicum and sauté it in a little bit of cold pressed sesame oil, with the traditional tempering of mustard seeds and urad dal. I also add some chopped coriander and curry leaves and then mix this with my regular dosa batter. In a paniyaram pan, pour a tiny bit of coconut oil and then cook the paniyarams on a slow heat.
5. Idli upma – Although I am not a fan of upma, idli upma is something I relish! This used to be my mom's way of using leftover idlis and now it has become mine too. Crumble idlis and keep them aside; prepare a tempering with a tablespoon of coconut oil, mustard seeds, urad dal and curry leaves; and then add a generous amount of chutney powder or what you might know as ‘gun powder’. Now simply toss the crumbled idli and mix really well and serve hot! 

You see, cold pressed oil cooking is not as difficult as you thought – you can treat these oils pretty much the way you would any regular oil, but you get more health benefits, more taste and of course, the joy of delicious decadence! 

So, which recipe are you trying out today?