Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Easy high-protein breakfast: traditional Indian is the way to go

I haven't been posting here regularly, which means I haven't really been sticking to my diet or exercise routine.
BAD.
But I will get back to it, I'm confident.

In the meanwhile, here's a recipe for a good kickstart for the day -- it's vegetarian, traditional Indian recipe, popular in most states in South India -- it's called pesarittu. Sometimes, all it takes is a little analysis and you realise what you have in your backyard is really so rich and fulfilling.

We vegetarians have a problem finding high sources of protein in the food we eat. Green gram or mung dal is one of them. It's always drilled into our heads that they are a high source of protein when eaten raw, better still if it's sprouted...when boiled it loses most of its protein content.

Since I hate eating it raw (soaked overnight), I turn it into pesarittu -- a dosa or pancake.

Here's the recipe: (Makes batter for about four people -- two dosas each)
1. Soak about two bowls of green gram overnight.
2. Also soak about three to four teaspoons of  rice flour in water and keep aside overnight.
3. In the morning throw the green gram into the mixer/blender, add to it some fresh ginger, coriander, about one green chilly, a small spoon of jeera, hing (asafoetida), salt and sugar to taste. Whizz it till it forms a grainy batter (you probably won't need to add water because there's some left from what you've soaked the green gram in)
4. You can mix in the soaked rice flour with a ladel after you remove it from the mixer or whip that in too.
5. Heat a tawa and spread out like a dosa -- a little oil to cook it makes it tastier. Flip and cook on the other side too.

We eat this with a fried gram (puthani in Kannada) chutney (will post recipe another day -- it's again very common in south Indian households). This, again I believe is a high source of protein. So there, it's a power packed high protein start to your day. Eat it with sambar too and there's more protein to add to your list of nutrition gained from the breakfast.

Honestly, these traditional Indian breakfasts are great starts for the day -- they make so much sense. They are fresh and non-processed, and taste great too. And I love to start my day with HOT breakfast. :-)