South Indian thali recipe | Satvik thali recipe | Indian lunch thali recipe menu ideas (2024)

Usually, the thali comprises six flavors which includesweet, salt, bitter, sour, astringent, and spicy on a single plate. As per our Indian food custom and Ayurveda, a proper and balanced meal should be a perfect balance of all these six flavors.

In today's recipe post, we are going to learn how to make a simple and healthySouth Indian vegetarian thaliwith step by step procedure. It just takes one hour to make this delicious meal. Every day, I prepare 5 dishes for our lunch which include salad, rice, dal, dry curry/poriyal, and buttermilk. This is my usual style of cooking for the past few months.

You may think it takes a lot of time to prepare. But if you plan ahead this entire thali meal can be prepared within 1 hour. Alright, let me show you how to prepare this veg thali with minimal effort and kitchen utensils. Yes, using fewer gadgets while cooking is essential for my spouse and me. It saves a lot of time. Mindful cooking and mindful eating is the key to a healthy life.

South Indian lunch menu list:

How to prepare south Indian veg thali with step by step procedure:

1. To start with, keep the pressure cooker with little water on a medium flame. Let the cooker heats up and water comes to a boil. This takes around 5 mins. Meanwhile, wash and rinse rice & dal separately and place it in a separate container.

In a dal container, add 1 chopped tomato, a pinch of turmeric, 1 green chili, 1-inch ginger, a tsp of coconut oil. Place the container in the cooker and close it with a lid and let it cook for 15 to 20 mins.

2. In the meantime, wash and chop the veggies for carrot and cabbage curry. Also, slice the sweet potato for the potato fry recipe. The entire veg chopping process should take around 10 to 15 mins.

3. Take two Kadai or pan and place them separately on a medium flame. Pour a tbsp of oil into each pan. Temper it with cabbage carrot curry ingredients. In another pan, prepare for potato curry. Both the recipe takes 15 mins for cooking.

4. Once the pressure is released, open the pressure cooker and take out the dal container. Mash the dal using a wooden mathu/churner. Transfer the dal into a saucepan or Kadai. Add required salt and water and let it boil on a medium flame. The boiling takes 10 mins.

5. In the meantime, let us make the kachumber salad which requires onion, tomato, and cucumber. For spice, you can sprinkle some pepper or red chili powder. This recipe takes only 5 mins.

6. Finally, temper the dal with mustard and cumin seeds, curry leaves, etc. Then garnish with cilantro and cover it with a lid.

7. Now it's time to serve all the dishes on a thali plate. Serve salad, rice, curries, dal rasam, and curd/buttermilk. You can also have it with papad, pickle, sweets, etc.

Lunch thali looks colorful, isn't it? Would love to hear from you:)

The recipes are given below. Please click the recipe for more detailed procedures with images!