Bread and pastry
In Ayurveda, bread is considered an important part of the diet, and its benefits come when the grain is of good quality and properly prepared.
Indian cuisine offers recipes for both plain flatbread and fermented pasta.
According to the Ayurvedic understanding, the health benefits of bread have more to do with the grain than with the fermentation process.
Types of Indian bread
The most popular bread products in Indian and Ayurvedic cuisine are:
- Chapati – flatbread with a mixture of oil and salt.
- Sesame – prepared with sesame topping, oil and salt to taste.
- Pratas – a heavier variety of chapati, prepared with ghee and stuffed with vegetables.
- Naan – a flatbread made of flour and sesame seeds, baked over an open fire.
- Bhatura– it is made of mayda flour and it’s fried in oil.
- Dosa – bread from South India, made of fermented grated rice with chutney and sambar.
- Apam – thin pancake made of flour, fermented in coconut milk or rice yeast.
- Bhakri – flatbread made of grits or corn.
- Biscuits – baked dough with different nuts, can be considered as a
- Khakhra – crispy flatbread, which is dried with various spices for longer storage.
- Kulcha – flat round loaf made of flour dough, mashed potatoes, onions and many spices.
- Papadam or papad – thin, cracked, crispy bread served before or with the meal.
- Puran poli – sweet flatbread stuffed with boiled chickpeas, lentils, turmeric, sugar, jaggers and spices.
- Roti, Rumali roti – other types of bread made with flour.
Different types of flatbread can be also made of corn, millet, millet, bajra and rice.
They should be baked in a pan without oil and can be consumed with different types of curry.