Traditional Tiffin Varieties

(Traditional Indian Tiffin Recipes)

Today I am going to take all of you into the black and white era; an era of wholesome, steamed and healthy food. In that era, grains were not opened from covers but from sacks where it was stored for the complete year. It was an era where spice powders did not come in sprinkler containers, but came freshly hand ground from the mortar and pestle. It was an era where the “Organic vegetables” did not come in paper bags but came directly plucked from the farm. Yes!! These recipes are the traditional foods that come from our grand mothers’ kitchen.

Wikipedia says Indian cuisine reflects a 8000 year history of groups and cultures interaction, leading to diversity of flavors and regional cuisines. If we notice, Indian cuisine dates backs to be more of vegetarian style of eating, comprising of bajra or pearl millet, rice, whole wheat flour and a variety of lentils along with vegetable, fruits and dairy products. The kinds of oils used were also dependent on the region of cooking. For an instance, people from Tamilnadu prefer to cook in sesame oil while people from Kerala preferred the coconut oil. The third is the method of cooking. Most of the recipes were steamed, which implies that they were healthy, oil and cholesterol free. Another important aspect of the traditional recipes is the use of different spices, which are mildly used yet impart a great flavor. 

Each of the recipes also has its spiritual and cultural affinity and are compulsorily made in some festivals. For an example on Ganesh chaturthi, is synonymous with kozhukattai which is made as an offering or prasad to god. Likewise, no festival lunch is complete without a medu vada on our plates. Ven pongal and Sakkara pongal are the dishes we find in all the houses on the pongal festival. Each dish that is written about has its own cultural and social affinity to our traditions. Let us not forget these age-old traditions, age old cultures and our traditional recipes. Cheers!! Happy cooking..

Traditional South Indian

Boiled Sweet Potato	Ragi Puttu	Aval Nanachathu (Sweet Poha)	Aval Upma (Poha Upma)
Pidi Kolukattai	Puttu	Idli	Kuzhipaniyaram
Rava Coconut Upma	Idiyappam	Sevai	Pal Paniyaram
Appam	Aapam without coconut	Kotthu Barotta	Upma Kozhukattai
Sweet Pongal	Medhu Vadai	Kaara Kozhukattai	Kothamalli Sevai
Ragi Idli & Dosa	Kappa Vevichathu	Oats Kozhukattai	Kambu Choru
Kambu Koozh	Unniappam	Vatalla appam	Vella Kozhakkattai
Ragi Kuzhi Paniyaram	Ven Pongal	Ammini Kozhukattai	Ammini Kozhukattai Spicy
Ragi Idiyappam	Ragi Sevai	Ellu Kozhukattai	Kappa Kuzhachathu (Mashed and Spiced Tapioca)
Wheat Puttu with Atta	Rava Puttu	Corn Puttu	Red Rice Puttu
Black Rice Puttu	Bamboo Rice Puttu	Whole Wheat Puttu	Idiyappam with Boiled Rice
Karupatti Pongal (Palm Jaggery Pongal)

Traditional North Indian

Khaman Dhokla	Rice Dhokla	Plain Layered Paratha	Alu Paratha
Thalipeeth	Methi Thepla	Sabudhana Kichadi	Bhakri