Upma

Upma Pic: Priya Q

 

Vegetable Upma

I love this tasty upma with the goodness of vegetables! Quite simple and easy to make!

Roasted Semolina / Suji – 1 cup
Onion – 1 no big
Coriander– finely chopped
Garlic – 2 flakes (finely chopped) – optional
Ginger – ½ inch (finely chopped)
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Gram dal or white lentils – 1 tsp (also called chana dal* / split Urad dal (without skin))
Chopped vegetables –1 cup (carrots, cauliflower, peas, etc)
Oil – 1 tbsp
Chilli powder – 1 tsp

Turmeric – 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Water – 2 cups
Lemon juice – 1 tsp

1. Boil vegetables separately
2. In a pan heat oil and add mustard seeds. Once its stops spluttering add Gram dal
3. Now add Ginger and Garlic and sauté lightly
4. Add onions and sauté
5. Add boiled vegetables, chilli powder, turmeric, coriander leaves and sauté
6. Add water and salt
7. Once it boils add roasted semolina with continuous stirring, else lumps would form
8. Close lid and cook on low flame for 10 seconds
9. Open lid, sprinkle some lemon juice and stir
10. Serve hot. You can team it up with pickle / coconut chutney

 

*Chana dal is dried, split chickpeas or garbanzo beans

 

till next time…. happy cooking!

Bread Poha Recipe

Now that’s what you call a quick fix breakfast 🙂 Plus you have bread loaf at home but not in a mood for toast and omelette? Then this is what you can do…

Oil – 2 tbsp
Mustard seeds – 2 tsp
Chana daal (yellow gram lentil) – 2 tsp
Urad daal (white lentils) – 1tsp
Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Onions – 2 medium (finely chopped)
Green chilli – 2 (finely chopped)
Coriander leaves – for garnish (finely chopped)
Tomato – 1 big (finely chopped)
Tamarind water – 3 tbsp (soak small lemon sized tamarind ball in warm water and squeeze out juice after 10 minutes)
Ginger – garlic paste – 1 tsp
*Sambhar powder – 1-2 tsp
Bread – ½ loaf (cut in squares)
Fried Cashews – 3 tsp

1.    Heat Oil in a pan and add mustard seeds and let it splutter
2.    Add chana daal, urad dal, curry leaves and green chilli and fry well
3.    Add onions, ginger-garlic paste and fry
4.    Add chopped tomatoes and fry well
5.    Now add tamarind water, salt to taste, sambhar powder and cook until dry
6.    Add bread pieces and mix well without breaking the bread pieces
7.    Garnish with coriander leaves and fried cashew
8.    Serve hot

*if you donot have sambhar powder then take in a cup 1 tsp coriander powder + ½ tsp chilli powder and add sufficient water to soak the masala.This can be used in the above recipe for sambhar powder. Add it at Step 2.

Wasn’t this bread recipe cool?

Till next time….happy cooking!

Semolina Upma Recipe

Semolina Upma was another dish that used to find its way into my tiffin box quite often, but I must admit that it tastes much much better when served hot.

Roasted Semolina / Suji – 1 cup
Onion – 1 no big
Coriander / curry leaves – finely chopped
Garlic – 2 flakes (finely chopped) – optional
Ginger – ½ inch (finely chopped)
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Gram daal or white lentils – 1 tsp (also called chana daal / Urad daal)
Fresh / frozen peas – ½ cup
Oil – 1 tbsp
Chilli powder – 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Water – 2 cups

1. In a pan heat oil and add mustard seeds. Once its stops spluttering add Gram daal
2. Now add Ginger and Garlic and sauté lightly
3. Add onions and sauté.
4. Add peas, chilli powder and coriander and sauté.
5. Add water and salt.
6. Once it boils add roasted semolina with continuous stirring, else lumps would form.
7. Close lid and cook on low flame for 10 seconds.
8. Open lid and stir.
9. Garnish with coriander and serve.

You can also use finely chopped green chilli in place of red chilli powder. Serve this with ripe banana. For those who don’t know how to combine these two…its fairly simple. Just cut a piece of banana and smash it along with little upma and tada! :). Few people like to sprinkle sugar too; but its totally your choice.

Till next time….happy cooking!

Vermicelli Upma Recipe

Vermicelli Upma is Q’s favorite of all kinds of upma. It really is a magic how the basic ingredients for all upma are almost same yet it tastes so different. And the best part is that you get to lay on table variety everyday. Check it out….you will surely like it.

Roasted Vermicelli – 3 cups
Onion – 1 no big
Coriander – finely chopped
Garlic – 2 flakes (finely chopped) – optional
Ginger – ½ inch (finely chopped)
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Gram daal or white lentils – 1 tsp (also called chana daal / Urad daal)
Sugar – 2 pinches
Lemon juice – 1 tsp
Oil – 1 tbsp
Chilli powder – 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Roasted or Fried peanuts / Cashew – for garnish (optional)

1. Boil vermicelli just like pasta. Drain and keep aside. Take care it does not get overtly cooked. Else it will turn into one sticky mass
2. In a pan heat oil and add mustard seeds. Once its stops spluttering add Gram daal
3. Now add Ginger and Garlic and sauté lightly
4. Add onions and sauté.
5. Add chilli powder and coriander and sauté.
6. Add boiled vermicelli, salt, peanut or cashew and mix gently.
7. Sprinkle sugar and lemon juice and mix lightly.
8. Garnish with coriander and serve.

You can also use finely chopped green chilli in place of red chilli powder. Q likes to add an additional dash of sugar to his vermicelli upma. That also tastes yumm with the sugar crystals crunching in your mouth along with the tasty salty upma 🙂 Do try it out.

Till next time….happy cooking!