Gourmet Upma

Other day I was meeting some old friends over brunch.  It was a pot luck so I decided to make Upma as my share of dishes to the bruch spread.  Upma is a common South Indian breakfast dish cooked as a thick porridge from dry roasted semolina.   There are many ways of preparing Upma.  In fact every cook usually incorporates variations to Upma flavor by adding certain spices and condiments.

Upma can be made in a very simple and basic way by not adding any condiments.  In fact the basic one would be just semolina, water, salt and mustard seeds.  I have added some other spices and condiments and turned the Upma into a gourmet one.  My friends liked it so much that they took second and third helpings.  Here is me recipe:

Ingredients:

1 cup Semolina(sooji), 2 cups of boiling water, 1 medium onion chopped finely, 1/2 cup chopped red pepper(bell pepper),  1 medium potato boiled and cut into small cubes, 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, 1/2 tsp mustard seeds, 12 - 15 curry leaves, 3 tsp cooking oil, 1 tsp ghee, 1/4 cup roasted peanuts, 1/4 cup cashews, 1/2 tsp coriander powder, salt to taste

Method:

Dry roast semolina.  You may roast semolina a day before and put in a airtight container.  

Heat the cooking oil, add cumin seeds and after 10 seconds add mustard seeds.  When they stop spluttering, add onion.  When onion turn light brown, add red pepper and potato cubes.  Sauté this mix for  two minutes.  Add curry leaves, peanuts, cashews and coriander powder.  Now add roasted semolina to this. 

Mix it well and add salt.  Add two cups of boiling water to this mix and stir continuously till the mixture thickens.

At the end, sprinkle melted ghee and stir it once.

Enjoy hot with pickle, chutney or just a cup of tea or coffee.