Upma

Upma is another breakfast item or snack,  that I make more often. It is made with semolina/sooji and you can add the vegies that you like to make it rich and healthy.

I like to have my upma with either sambar or banana. Hmm..banana..weird, right? But works for me :)

Sambar that I make for my upma is nothing like your regular sambar. It is very easy to make and I will share the recipe very soon.  This post is all about upma. So let’s stick to that.

So here goes the recipe my friends.

Ingredients:

Sooji/semolina – 1 cup

Carrot – 1 medium size

Green peas – ½ cup

Vegetable oil/ghee – 1 tsp

Mustard seeds – ½ tsp

Curry leaves – a few

Onion – ¼ of a medium size onion

Ginger – 1 “ piece

Salt – as per taste

Cashew nuts – few

Coconut slices – few

Ok lets make it now. Ready?

Dry roast the sooji in low flame. This has to be in low flame so the sooji does not burn. Keep mixing it in between so it doesn’t burn. When the sooji changes color slightly and you get the aroma, it is ready. Switch off the flame, transfer to a plate  and let it cool.

 

Wash and chop the carrot into little pieces. (Nobody likes to have big chunks of carrot in their upma and also they cook fast if they are in tiny pieces). 

In a bowl, add the carrot and green peas and little water and microwave for 3 minutes. Drain the water and keep it separate. Save the water.

 

Grate the ginger and chop the onion and keep it separate.

In another pan, add the vegetable oil/ghee.

When the oil is  hot, add mustard seeds and allow to splutter. (cover the pan so the mustard seeds are not all over your stove)

Add the grated ginger and saute for 2 sec.  Now add curry leaves and chopped onion. Saute till the onion becomes transcluscent. (take a deep breath and enjoy the aroma)

Add the cocunut and cashewnuts. Hmm..yum..yum..

Now add the cooked carrot and green peas and saute for a few seconds.

 

Now add the water that we saved earlier and some more if needed. The vegies should be immersed in water. Add salt. Mix, cover and let it boil.

When it starts boiling,  add the roasted sooji and keep stirring with a wooden spoon to avoid any lumps. (at times like this, i wish i had more than two hands). 

Mix thoroughly. Cover and cook for 5 min in low flame.

Uncover and mix and if needed you can add little ghee.

 

Your wonderful, colorful and delicious Upma is ready to be served. Good job :)

Is your tea ready?

 

Potato Masala

 

Potato masala is a good companion for dosa. You can either stuff it inside the dosa or have it separately.

I got the basic recipe from my mother-in-law but I modified the recipe a bit. So here is the modified version.

 

Ingredients:

Potatoes - 2 medium size

Green peas - ½ cup

Grated ginger - 1 tbsp

Curry leaves – a few

Onion – 1 medium size

Mustard seeds – 1 tsp

Chana dal – 1 tsp

Urad dal – 1 tsp

Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp

Salt – as per taste

Vegetable oil – 2 tsp

Preparation:

Wash the potatoes thoroughly and wipe it with a tissue and then scrub gently with a knife to remove the skin. (I don’t use potato peeler to remove the skin as the nutrients lies next to the skin layer)

 

Cut the potatoes into small cubes (if the size is small, it cooks fast).

Chop the onion and green chillies and keep it ready.

 

In a pan, heat the oil. When the oil is hot, add mustard seeds and allow to splutter.

Now add curry leaves and ginger.

After a couple seconds, add chana dal and urad dal.

When dal changes color, add onion and green chilies. Saute.

 

When onion becomes translucent, add the turmeric powder.

Now add potatoes and green peas.

Add salt and mix well and sauté for 1 min.

Now add hot water. Mix, cover and cook in low flame.

When the potatoes are well cooked, mash the potatoes to thicken the gravy.

 

Potato masala is ready and enjoy with your dosa.

 

Dosa - South Indian Pancake

Dosa is a South Indian breakfast dish made with fermented batter, comprising of lentils and rice.

Basic ingredients for dosa batter are raw rice and Urad dal (lentils),  which is easily available in any Indian Store. Dosa batter is also available in stores. Or else, another option is to go for rice flour and Urad flour so you can skip the grinding part.

As always, I do it the old fashioned way, the way grandma used to make. Here is how.



Ingredients:

Rice – 3 cups

Urad Dal – 1 cup

Fenugreek seeds – 1 tsp

Salt – as required

Preparation:

Wash rice and urad dal.

Put  the fenugreek seeds with the rice.

Soak rice and urad dal separately, in different bowls for 8 hours.

Now drain the water and grind rice along with fenugreek seeds into a fine paste. Keep adding water as and when required. Transfer to a bowl.

In the same mixer, grind urad dal into a fine paste and transfer to the same bowl containing rice batter.

Mix thoroughly. Cover and keep it in a warm place to ferment. (when the batter is fermented, it rises. So make sure that the bowl is big enough to hold the batter to avoid over flow).  

Check the consistency.  It should be similar to that of pancake batter. Not too thick but not runny either. 

When the batter is fermented and  ready, add required salt and mix with a ladle.

Warm the dosa pan. Pour 1-2 drops of ghee/vegetable oil and spread with a tissue all over the pan.

Pour a ladleful of batter onto the pan and spread in a circular motion.

 

Little holes appear on the top and  when the edges starts to brown and top is set, flip over and cook the other side.

Dosa is ready. Pair it with either Sambar, Potato Masala  Green Peas curry or coconut chutney.

Different types of dosas can be made with the same batter. There is a restaurant in south India that serves 185 varieties of dosas. Wow!!! 

Let me give you some ideas. 

After the steps 8 & 9 above,

Pour little ghee (clarified butter) over the dosa to make Nai Roast

Top dosa with grated vegies like, carrot, beetroot, onion and peas. When the vegies are cooked mash it with a spatula and spread it all over the dosa.

Pour ghee all over dosa and then  sprinkle chutney powder.

Top it with potato masala on one half and fold it and you get masala dosa.

Beat an egg and pour it right on top of the dosa and spread it with a spatula and sprinkle black pepper powder and also you can top it with finely chopped onion and tomatoes.

If you have a sweet tooth, top it with grated jaggery/sugar/brown sugar and grated coconut and roll it. This is my favorite.

Enjoy yourself and have pleasant weekend! :)