Typical Indian Meals

Indians eat several little meals per day. A light meal of chai and a salty snack accompany many families' rising at dawn. A couple hours later, breakfast will take place, usually consisting of aloo paratha, a flatbread stuffed with spiced potato, or toast with eggs. Other popular choices for breakfast include halwa,  a dense and sweet pastry, and uppma, a spicier version of halwa. Indian students often eat a mid-morning snack, like a banana with juice or tea, at school. For lunch, one or two cooked vegetable dishes with rice and chapati. Sometimes students eat sandwiches.  An afternoon snack is normally served between 5 and 6 pm. It includes tea and namkeen, (snacks or appetizers), and sometimes involves a visit to a street vendor for a samosa or bhel puri, a combination of puffed rice, yogurt, tamarind sauce, and boiled potatoes. Also, various fruits may be eaten. Usually dinner is served pretty late, again including a couple vegetable dishes with rice and chapati. Before going to bed, the members of most Indian households have a cup of hot milk flavored with some sugar and cardamom.