As well as starting to answer one of the most asked questions on planning our trip to India, “What will the kids actually be able to EAT?!” More so this is a post all about Indian breads that serves as a euphoric bucket-list for all the breads you MUST try when travelling to India!
If you’ve followed us for a while you’ll know we love a good bread. See our blogs from Uzbekistan and Oman to clarify that!
Indian breads definitely did not disappoint.
As soon as you land in India and get a taxi or rickshaw, you will whizz past the busy roads and smaller streets that hum with activity no matter what time of day or night.
And, as soon as you adjust to the shock of the chaos and colours and the different sounds and smells, you will start to spot the flat-bread carts or dosa trolleys. You will notice the men selling chai next to roti carts. And the women sitting making chapati in stacks that are hundreds high.
So if you are traveling in India and wondering what you are going to eat. Here is a head start with all the fabulous Indian breads you can look forward to.
Let’s talk about Indian breads
Bread in India is served as an accompaniment to any meal. And it becomes an important utensil in eating where there aren’t otherwise any given.
- Fact: Most Indian breads aren’t actually baked in an oven, but cooked on a stove.
You could start by hunting out Chapati, Phulka, Puri, Roti, Bajra Rotla, Thepla, Paratha, Naan, Kulcha, Bhatoora, Appam, Dosa, Luchi, Puran Poli, Pathiri, or Parotta…
BUT, to make navigating those a little easier I am going to rank our favourite Indian breads and show you what they each look like.
Indian breads you need to try in India
So here goes.
These are just some of the many Indian breads to try.
1. Poori
The bread of ‘happy occasions‘!
Poori is unleavened, made with whole-wheat dough and deep fried. How good does it sound? And how good does it look?!
2. Dosa
Dosa is one of the most iconic Indian breads.
It is actually a specialty of South India but you can find South Indian restaurants in other parts of India too.
Dosa is made from a fermented rice and lentil flour batter, and cooked on a huge griddle with ghee or oil. They can be enormous! AND they can also be stuffed with pretty much any variety of vegetable.
I recommend the aloo (potato) masala dosa. But we did also try (more than once) the beetroot dosa…
3. Paratha
Paratha is another flat bread made from roti dough, and brushed with oil or ghee and folded into flaky layers.
The outcome is sort of like an Indian equivalent of a croissant; with the outside layers flaky and delicate.
I am fairly sure that Gavin and I ended on some kind of Paratha pilgrimage. We ended up eating our way from South India to Varanasi and on to Jaisalmer via the most delicious breakfast paratha breads we woke up longing for!
4. Aloo Paratha
Still technically the same bread, but I am awarding Aloo Paratha its own well-deserving category.
You can eat Paratha plain.
OR you can get yourself hooked on a breakfast of Aloo Paratha and have this croissant-like delicacy every day!
Aloo paratha is a fried Indian bread that is served stuffed with fried potatoes and served with a curd and relish…
5. Roti
Roti (or chapati) is a simple soft, round flatbread that makes up a staple part of daily diet in India. This is for sure the most commonly eaten of Indian breads.
However, roti is not to be underestimated. It isn’t easy to make as it can be delivered in a variety of thicknesses.
The best will be warm and soft and fresh from the stove. And likely your best choice with a full flavoured curry in the absence of utensils!
Roti is also a safe bet from most street food stalls or restaurants.
But I can guarantee no roti will taste better than the one you help to make yourself over a campfire at night in the desert…
6. Idli
This is another type of rice bread. However, Idli is steamed to cook a little bit like a rice cake.
The batter is made with fermented black lentils and rice. So not only is it a brilliant choice to mop up sauces, but it’s also good for gut-health reasons.
There’s no denying that Idli has a definite fermented kick to it. But if you’re up for trying it then its best at breakfast time. (It’s kind of like what we would call a crumpet).
Typically, Idli is served with sambar; a spiced vegetable soup flavoured with toasted lentils that it is most commonly served with. And is used to absorb sambar. An ‘interesting’ one of our 12 Indian breads…
7. Bathura
Bathura is a deep-friend leavened bread, so its much heavier and crispier than poori.
This is a typical breakfast Indian bread you might find in a restaurant buffet or on a street stall in the morning.
8. Uttapam
This is a bit like a smaller, thicker version of Dosa.
Uttapam is traditionally made with toppings such as tomatoes, onion, chillies, capsicum and coriander. Some servers in India will describe it as an Indian-pizza. (I guess it is sort of like a dosa-pizza?!).
The kids loved eating plain uttapam. And I’m guessing, as much for the joy of watching it be made as for the rather plain taste!
9. Vada
I’m giving this one a tick for interest. And we did try it on multiple occasions – perhaps largely because it looks like a donut!
Vada is actually a savoury snack, deep fried and mixed with onions, vegetables and spices.
It’s not bad… But it’s just not quite as good as some Indian breads!
10. Palak Roti
This is a fun-looking Indian bread option to jazz up an otherwise staple meal accompaniment! I hadn’t heard of it before but found it often came with Thali – a selection of mixed dishes served together on a platter. We had this Thali in Varanasi.
Palak roti is quite literally, a healthy roti made with spinach leaves and wheat flour/atta. This type of Indian bread is most common in North India.
11. Naan
For us, Naan is the most well-known of Indian breads and the one we could get at home.
But as you can imagine, nothing compares to trying a warm Naan bread fresh from a tandoor oven while actually IN India. Or, while looking out at cows wandering the streets amid the colourful chaos that is Rajasthan.
Naan is traditionally baked inside a very hot clay tandoor oven. The fire is heated with a charcoal or wood fire. And hence the delightful whiff of Naan cooking whilst looking out at sights like those…
12. Papadum
This is a thin crispy Indian cracker or flat bread. It is typically served as an appetizer but can also be eaten as a snack.
It can also be passed off as a pile of ‘chips’ to slightly apprehensive travelling kids who will after that first taste fall happily in love with papadum and never need to be tricked like that again!
Our favourite Indian breads
So there you have it – that’s twelve unique Indian breads that made a pretty impressive bread-bucketlist for us when travelling in India this time.
But I’d keenly give it a whirl to try and top this list the next time we visit. Maybe a roti-run eating our way across the desert? Or a paratha-pilgrimage starting from the East…
- How many have you tried?
More about travel planning for India and beyond…
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