Upma - A silky soft veggie semolina Upma

It is interesting to know that South Indians’ have a variety of light dishes for breakfast but their most loved choice is Upma. Upma is light, silky and healthy as it is mainly made out of semolina.

This could be made plain, omitting the vegetables, but by adding any veggies of your choice could make it healthy and very appealing too.  

Ingredients you will need:

Semolina / Rulang / Sooji	1 cup
Hot water	2 cups
Yellow split lentils – chana dhal	1 tbsp
1 Carrot – cut into tiny cubes
4 Green beans – cut into tiny pieces
Curry leaves
Green chilli – split in the middle	1
Mustard seeds	1/4 tsp
Onion – chopped	1
Olive oil	1 tbsp

Let’s make :

To get the soft and silky texture,  stick to the following proportions:

2 cups of water to 1 cup of Semolina.  A little more water could turn it into a lumpy mess.

• First, dry roast semolina for a min or two being careful not to change its colour and keep aside
• Heat oil in a non-stick pan and crackle mustard seeds
• Throw a handful of crushed curry leaves and chana dhal.  Slightly brown
• Add the chopped onion and saute until golden and add the green chilli

• Now, add the chopped carrots and beans.  Stir fry a bit

• Pour 2 cups of hot water and add salt to taste and let it boil away

• Then, slowly add half of the roasted semolina while stirring rapidly, otherwise, it will give lumps
• Add the other half while stirring

• Mix all together, check for salt,  close the lid and let it cook under very low fire for exactly 3 mins

• Open the lid, let the steam escape, squeeze 1/4 of lemon give a good mix
• Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot

Tips:

• To make it look more attractive, you can fill into a  glass bowl, press down and turn upside down on a plate, then remove the bowl slowly, leaving a dome in the middle. Yippee!
• You can add a pinch of saffron to make it look subtly golden colour while cooking.