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This is a personal recipe for vegetable upma, an Indian breakfast/brunch dish, from my friend Jaishree Misra, a London-based Indian novelist who spends her time creating tasty dishes in between writing books! It’s always very exciting to be invited to her home to sample them…
Vegetable Upma:
- 5 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 cup semolina (grainy is better than smooth)
- 1 medium sized onion, finely chopped
- 1 green chilli, deseeded if preferred and finely chopped
- 1 1/2 inch piece of ginger, finely chopped
- 1 cup mixed vegetables (peas, corn, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, beans, potatoes), all chopped into small pieces and 3/4 cooked. Frozen also works
- 2 cups of boiling water
- salt to taste
For the garnish:
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 1 dried red chilli
- 2 tsp dried lentils (urad and channa is best)
What to do next:
Dry roast the semolina on a low flame until it is pale brown and smells nutty. Set aside. In the same pan, heat the oil and when it is very hot, throw in the garnish. Do not let it burn, but the seeds should crackle nicely. Then add the chopped onion, green chilli and ginger. Fry this until the onion is soft and then throw in the chopped and semi-cooked vegetables. Fry gently before adding the roasted semolina. Once all this is mixed through, add the boiling hot water (double the quantity of the semolina) and cook on a low heat (it shouldn’t need more than 10 minutes to cook through).
Please let me know how your upma turned out!
Hi,
Thanks for your simple receipe.
I tried it out and it turned out to be very delicious.
I am interested in quick prep dish like this and it is very useful. I have made a copy of this receipe.
Meanwhile I have a clarification. My Mom preparation of upma will be white in color, whereas the one I prepared is in brown. Is it due to roasting the semolina?. Please let me know if other methods are available.
Thanks,
Madhan
Hi Madhan
You’re right - it’s the roasting that changes the colour. I find that, without roasting the semolina, the upma can sometimes be a bit lumpy. The only way to overcome this (ie to get a white upma without lumps) is to use a lot of ghee/oil. My preference is to dry roast the semolina but you could try the alternative if you don’t mind the calories!
Jaishree
Love Indian food to death, wonder if you can also suggest a Greek book thats helpful.
Hi Milad! Have just consulted Greek friend and am waiting for her response. Will get back to you…Helen Yuet Ling
Quite a light and tasty dish and quite easy to make.
Yup, the roasting does smooth things out quite a bit. My indian friends are sure to love this when they come over.
Joyangel123
http://joyangel123.googlepages.com/recipes
Hi again Milad.
My Greek friend says the BEST Greek Cypriot cook book she has come across is TRADITIONAL GREEK COOKING FROM CYPRUS AND BEYOND by Julia and Xenia Chrysanthou. According to her, every recipe works, but don’t attempt to change quantities!! I saw a copy on Amazon.
Have fun!
Helen Yuet Ling
Thank you for a wonderful recipe. It turned out very tasty.
Regards
Hi Santosh, thanks for letting me know! I’ll tell Jaishree, who will be very pleased to hear this…Helen Yuet Ling