I don't know about the "most important meal of the day" part but for sure breakfast is my favourite meal of the day and one that I spend the most effort on. I love starting my day with a fulfilling, healthy and cruelty-free breakfast and try to make one everyday. I typically start working late into the day, sometimes even the noon so I love to get myself some breakfast, make a nice tea, play some podcast and savour the breakfast. And my idea of a breakfast isn't a muesli bowl or toast-butter or any such supermarket hacks but something made at home, has some element of cooking and is not loaded with sugar. But the idea of an "elaborate, home made and vegan" breakfast can be intimidating to most. It was to me too until I realised how fulfilling it is and not really that time consuming if you plan well. So in this post, I'm giving my 10 favourite vegan breakfast recipes that I regularly make at home. Mind you, most of the recipes here have Indian origins and some of the lentils and spices may be more common in India than in the west, but worry not if you're not from India, you can still find most of the ingredients at your local supermarket since now these are pretty much universal. So, bookmark this blog or share it with others as a handy guide to making delicious, healthy and wholesome vegan breakfasts at home.

1. Vegan Breakfast Recipe: Vegan Omlet or "Munglet"

Before I turned vegan, I used to have the egg omlet quite often, but I haven't so much as tasted an egg in about two years now. And trust me, not once have i missed it. Especially because I discovered that this vegan omlet or the "Moonglet" is as close it comes to the "real thing." While it seems to be all the rage in the west for the last few years, it's always been around in India and is called "Mung chilla' here.

The recipe is really simple. Soak a cup of "mung dal" (small yellow split lentils) for 5-8 hours and grind them into a fine batter. Heat a tawa or flat pan, smear it with oil of choice. (I use virgin coconut oil for most of my cooking,) spread the batter on it while garnishing with toppings like chopped tomato, onion, coriander and green chillies. Cover with a lid and cook for 5 minutes, then sprinkle oil on the side facing you and turn the omlet and let cook for another 5 minutes.

Delicious, nutty and healthy vegan omlet or "munglet" is yours to eat.

2. Vegan Breakfast Recipe: Spiced roasted chana

This one's a cult favourite in India and is an excellent source of vegan protein. For this, simply soak a cup of "black gram" or "kaala chana" overnight in water, drain and boil/pressure cook in the morning. (Put it in a pressure cooker and take your dog for a walk or the washroom while the stove does its thing.) Once cooked, either season with spices and raw chopped veggies or sautee some onion-garlic-ginger and tomato in a wok, cook for a bit and then add the cooked chana. Garnish with a squeeze of lemon and some fresh parsley or coriander leaves and tada your 25 grams of protein are waiting!

3. Vegan Breakfast Recipe: Bread Besan Toasties

I love this one so much because it doesn't require any prework or soaking and is a great option for when you run out of all other materials. All you need is a few slices of bread, veggies like onion, tomato, chilli and capsicum and some "besan" or chickpea flour.

To make, make a thin batter with 1 cup of chickpea flour with water and add 1 tsp of salt, chilli flakes, turmeric and pepper powder each. Now heat a flat pan, smear it with oil. Take a slice of bread and dip it in the chickpea batter a few times. Now press that soggy chickpea-coated bread slice onto the pan, top with the chopped veggies and cover with a glass lid. Follow the same process as for the recipe for the vegan omlet or munglet.

4. Vegan Breakfast Recipe: Lentil Pancake (chilla) with peanut chutney

This is a recipe I discovered on Instagram and became an instant. Again, this is packed with protein. For this, soak one cup of red lentils or "masoor dal" for minimum 2 hours. Once soft, blend it into a high-speed blender along with 2 garlic gloves, 1 inch of ginger, salt, pepper, cumin powder, and one grated carrot. Blend until a smoothie-like consistency.

Then once you have your batter, follow the same process as for the #1 or the vegan omlet recipe.

5. Vegan Breakfast Recipe: Roasted Vermicelli or "Masala Sevaiyya"

A famous breakfast in India, but for those who're from outside may understand it like a thin rice-like pasta. It's one recipe I like making when I have others to feed as it can be made in bulk. For making the vermicelli, first dry roast say half a cup of peanuts until brown. Keep them aside. Now in a pan, add one tbsp of olive oil (or any other oil of choice), sprinkle some whole cumin seeds (jeera) till they splutter, add 2 chopped green chillies, some curry leaves (if available) and then one chopped onion and let it cook for 5 minutes. Now add one chopped tomato, one finely chopped potato, some shelled peas (all optional but highly recommended), one cup of roasted vermicelli and two cups of hot water. Mix well and let it cook for 10 minutes. Turn. Cook for another 5 minutes or until the vermicelli is soft and edible consistency. Once cooked, all the water should've disappeared. Pour it out onto a plate, garnish with coriander leaves, roasted peanuts, pomegranate or any other seasoning of choice. Best to wash down with a cup of masala chai.

6. Vegan Breakfast Recipe: Potato Corn Fritters

A recent addition to my breakfast recipe roster, these potato corn fritters or tikkis as we call them in India are so delicious and a crowd-pleaser.

They require the prework of boiling potatoes so make sure you do that first thing in the morning so by the time you have to start making them, the potatoes are cooked and cooled.

Once you have 4-5 cooked potatoes, de-skin them, and in a wide bowl, mash them, add spices like salt, pepper, red chilli powders, cumin powder, chopped coriander, along with some sweet boiled corn. You can even skip corn and add any other veggies of choice. Even grated capsicum, carrots or even peas or green leaves like spinach work well. Now make this dough into tennis sized balls. Simultaneously heat a griddle and smear it with olive oil. Once heated, press these balls onto the griddle so they're flat. Cover with a lid. Cook for 10 minutes or until they're golden brown. Then smear oil on the top-side and turn. Repeat.

Take them out onto a platter or plate and serve with peanut chutney or a vegan mayo.

7. Vegan Breakfast Recipe: Spinach Corn Sandwich

Easily one of my top 5 breakfast recipes that I can have any other time is a spinach-corn sandwich. Delicious and healthy as it is, easy is what it's not. Especially if you believe in going at it from scratch. But you can indulge in it every month or so like I do.

Here's my recipe for the vegan spinach corn sandwich

Wash one bundle of spinach leaves (has around 10-15 stalks) in warm salty water and strip the leaves from the stalks. Strip corn or sweet corn off the cob. Or use frozen.

In a wide pan, add a tsp of olive oil and start sauteeing the soaked spinach. (Make sure it's completely drained or your mix would be soaking wet!) You'll notice the spinach'll start reducing in quantity and go from a light to a dark green. Add the corn. Add a dollop of vegan mayo or vegan cheese if at hand. Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste

Once cooled, spread the mixture between 2 slices of bread to make one sandwich and toast in your sandwich-maker or even on a flat griddle with a lid for 5-7 mins.

8. Vegan Breakfast Recipe: Tomato Mushroom Toastie

One of the easier and quick-to-make breakfasts, this tomato-mushroom toastie is an old favourite. It also works great as a side to a pasta dinner. For this to work best, you need to have bread that's not the supermarket sandwich variety but maybe a more artisanal bread, a baguette or a sourdough.

To make, chop 2-3 tomatoes finely, grate a couple of garlic gloves, and cut button mushrooms in halves. Heat a shallow pan or griddle, add one tbsp of olive oil, garlic and throw in the mushrooms in there. Sautee until brown and squiggly. Now remove the mushrooms and keep aside. Repeat this procedure with the tomatoes. (You can't cook mushrooms and tomatoes together as the water from the tomatoes doesn't let the mushrooms cook and they remain raw-ish! (ew!).

So once both the tomatoes and mushrooms are nicely fried and golden, keep them aside. Now on the same flat pan, add some more olive oil, rub a clove of garlic on each piece of bread and press it on the griddle. Turn both sides. Then add the roasted mushrooms, tomatoes and chopped basil on the top side and remove onto a platter.

ready!

9. Vegan Breakfast Recipe: Nourishing smoothie bowl

This may be the simplest and the only no-cook breakfast recipe on this post but it's one that I usually have when not in the mood for cooking, traveling or simply out of fresh veggies.

Even though, you can make a smoothie in so many ways, here's my recipe that gives me joy.

In a blender, (I use a Blendjet), take one cup of soy milk (or any other plant milk of choice), pour 2-3 tbspns of peanut butter (Non sweet), a banana, 5-6 soaked almonds (optional) and blend for one cycle. Pour this out into a big bowl, add muesli (I use a chocolate granola), and lay out slices of banana, coconut, roasted seeds, pomegranate seeds or whatever fruit and seeds you have at hand. Enjoy cold!

10. Vegan Breakfast Recipe: Beetroot Ragi Instant Dosa (Pancake)

Now the dosa is a staple breakfast in South India and one that I often make too. But I skipped it in this post as the conventional dosa requires a day of prework including the soak and fermentation time. But this ragi and beetroot dosa is instant so it finds a place of pride on this list of simple vegan breakfast recipes.

Here's what you need to do: Add one cup of Ragi flour (for the uninitiated Ragi is a millet.), half a cup of rice flour and combine together with puree of half a beetroot into a runny batter. Add salt, pepper, cumin seeds, chopped coriander and chillis. Optionally, you can even sprinkle chopped onions and tomatoes.

Heat a griddle, add oil of choice (I use cold-pressed coconut oil for all my dosas) and once hot, pour the batter in the middle spread it in a round shape on the griddle. Cover with a glass lid and let cook for 7-10 minutes. Now very carefully, using a thin silicone spatula or steel turning ladle, turn it the other way. Once the dosa looks toasted on both sides, serve on a plate with a coconut or peanut chutney or any other dip of choice.

Hope these recipes will encourage you to make delicious and hearty vegan breakfasts at home. I'd love to know if you tried one of the recipes here and how it turned up so please do comment and let me know.