The alternate name I
used for upma is Concrete. During my school days it was my mother’s fav
breakfast as it’s easy to cook in very less time. I always felt like hiding
under the cot than gulping the upma. As I grew up, I now understand why it was
my mother’s fav. To sell my upma, I did struggle experimenting with different
ingredients and finally have learnt few ways to make upma interesting and
believe it or not, when I ask what they need for breakfast, my brother says
"UPMA":). Good luck with your version now. Here you go.
Ingredients:
=================
1 cup Semolina(Rava)
2 cups water(1:1 or 1:2
or 1:3) depending on how thick you want the upma to be.
1 Onion
3 green chillies
Vegetables of your
choice(Usually its beans,carrot,Potato)
Coriander leaves for
garnishing
lemon juice(optional)
Seasoning:
======================
1/4 teaspoon Mustard
seeds
1/2 teaspoon Cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon Bengal
Gram(Chanadal)
Curry leaves
Oil for seasoning
Heat pan in medium
flame. Fry Semolina till its golden brown in low flame. Take out fried semolina
and keep it aside. Now in a pan, heat 2table spoon oil. Add mustard, cumin,
Bengal gram. Wait till mustard seeds splutter. Now add curry leaves, finely
chopped onions, chopped chillies,chopped vegetables. Fry till onions turn soft.
Add water, salt to taste, Salt should be slightly at higher side than usual
taste as the salt will be absorbed by semolina in sometime. Bring the water to
boil. Add lemon juice if you want tangy taste. Add semolina, close the lid and
cook in low flame till water is absorbed and semolina is soft. You may adjust
it water if required depending on how soft you want your upma to be. Keep
stirring the upma to avoid lumps.
Turn off the flame.
Garnish with coriander and serve it hot.
This is usual upma
recipe. When I was in school I never liked it. Now when I cook, I make sure the
upma is interesting to gulp:). How do you make it interesting
Optional ingredients:
======================
1. Add cashews/ground
nuts in seasoning.
2. Add lots of
coriander, fresh coconut after turning off the flame/before serving
3. Serve it with lemon
so that only if required people may add it while having the upma.
4. Add tomato along with
other vegetables. This gives a different taste to upma. Make sure your tomato
is small and tangy ones. Tomato usually dominates the taste, so I usually avoid
it
5. Serve upma with curd.
It tastes awesome and is easy to gulp when not in mood to have upma.
6. Add sambar powder to
enhance the taste.
7. Add small cut ginger pieces to
basic upma recipe to give a different flavor to upma.
8. You may add ginger
garlic paste to make it like pulao.
9. Add fenugreek leaves
while seasoning. Make sure the leaves are fried in oil else it will give a
bitter taste to upma.
Let me know if you have
few more tips. I would love to try them too to make upma interesting to eat:).
Happy cooking
