7 Indian Breakfast Ideas for Busy Mornings

A good weekday breakfast is quick, filling and familiar. These seven Indian breakfasts take little time in the morning, especially if you do a few minutes of preparation the night before.

Each idea follows the balanced plate approach where it can: a grain, a protein food and some vegetables or fruit.

The seven ideas at a glance

1. Vegetable poha

Flattened rice, softened with a quick rinse and cooked with mustard seeds, curry leaves, onion, peas and carrot, finished with lemon and peanuts. It is ready in about 25 minutes and needs only one pan.

Recipe: Vegetable poha with peas and peanuts

2. Moong dal chilla

Thin savoury pancakes made from soaked split moong dal blended with ginger and green chilli. Soak the dal before bed, blend in the morning and cook. Serve with mint-coriander chutney.

Recipe: Moong dal chilla with mint-coriander chutney

3. Overnight oats

The fastest breakfast of all: rolled oats soaked overnight in milk and curd with grated apple and cinnamon. Mix two jars in the evening and there is nothing to cook in the morning.

Recipe: Overnight oats with apple and cinnamon

4. Vegetable upma

Semolina (rava) cooked with mustard seeds, curry leaves and plenty of chopped vegetables. Dry-roast a batch of rava at the weekend and store it in an airtight jar to save time. Add roasted peanuts or serve with curd for protein. Rava is made from wheat, so it contains gluten.

5. Idli with sambar

Steamed idlis are quick once the batter is ready. Use homemade batter or a trusted ready-made one, and cook a pot of vegetable sambar ahead so breakfast is just steaming and reheating. Keep batter and sambar in the fridge.

6. Egg bhurji with roti

Scrambled eggs cooked with onion, tomato, green chilli and turmeric, served with whole-wheat roti and cucumber slices. Chop the vegetables the night before and it takes about 15 minutes.

7. Vegetable dalia

Broken wheat cooked like a savoury porridge with vegetables, or with a handful of moong dal for extra protein. A pressure cooker makes it hands-off. Dalia is made from wheat, so it contains gluten.

Make the night before work for you. Soak dal, mix oats, chop onions and tomatoes, or set out the pan. Five minutes in the evening can halve the time in the morning.

Rotate, do not reinvent

Choose three or four breakfasts you like and rotate them through the week, as in our weekly meal-planning guide. Repeating meals is what makes a routine easy to keep.

Adding more balance

• Add vegetables: peas, carrot, capsicum, spinach or grated cabbage work in poha, upma, chilla and dalia.
• Add protein: curd on the side, a glass of milk or chaas, peanuts, sprouts or an egg. See protein explained.
• Add fruit: a banana, guava or orange on the side is the easiest addition of all.
• Choose whole grains where you can, such as oats, dalia or whole-wheat roti. The NHS suggests higher-fibre breakfast options such as porridge oats.

For the rest of the day, see how to plan a simple Indian lunch for the week.