All mothers Fav -UPMA

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:

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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:

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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:

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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