South Indian Breakfast

Breakfast here is another delight. I usually get idly, vada and a dosa. They all come with three sauces to dip em in and it is a delicious way to start your day. It is a very heavy breakfast- heavier than I’m used to back home but it’s kinda nice having breakfast be your biggest meal, you tend to eat less for the rest of your day.

This is a vada, a deep fried doughnut type thing, except it’s not sweet, it’s made of flour. It, like most breakfast dishes come with three sauces for dipping, since they don’t have much taste by themselves: coconut chutney (mashed coconut with dal, chilies, black pepper and cilantro), tomato chutney (same as the coconut chutney just replacing tomato for coconut), and sambar, which is a yellowy stew-type thing made of dal (chickpeas) and vegetables.

These are idlys, they are round cake-type things made of rice and lentils. They are rather tateless by themselves but they soak up the flavor great of your sauces, especially the sambar.

Dosas are crepe type things made from rice and lentils. You can have them plain and dip them in the sauces but I like to get the masala dosa, a dosa filled spices, onion and potato. I ripped this masala dosa open (see left) so you can see the potatoes and onion inside. This is probably my favorite.


I have an idea of bringing together western and Indian breakfast traditions and having a breakfast of dosas and mimosas- it only makes sense since they rhyme so nicely!