Upma @ Anytime

Upma- Staple breakfast for states in South India as well as Orissa from where I hail, so kind off grown up eating this since I was a kid.

Now there are a lot of variations to making upma and the best part about it is that its a very flexible dish. One can add or reduce the number of ingredients.

I'm gonna go for the easier one which you can make in like 10mins, this one recipe can be followed by those who are living in hostels or away from home and don't have access to a proper gas burner, trust me a simple aluminium base electric kettle is enough to do the magic! (been there, done that- so tried and tested)

Alright!

Serves: 2
Prep Time:5 mins, Cooking Time: 8-10mins

All you need is:
5 tsp Cooking Oil
1/2 tsp Cumin Seeds (Jeera)/ or 1/2 tsp Mustard Seeds (use any one, not both)
1 small chopped onion (optional)
1 chopped capsicum
1 chopped tomato
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 cup semolina (sooji)
2 cups water

# Note: semolina: water = 1:2 every time

Method:

• Heat oil in a low bottomed pan and add cumin seeds 
• After the cumin seeds have popped, add onion till its sort off transparent in colour, then add the other vegetables.
• Saute for a 2 mins, add water, salt and sugar
• Bring to boil
• Simmer and add semolina (pour semolina slowly and keep stirring continuously- avoid forming lumps)
• All the water will dry out quickly, so if your upma starts sticking to the pan, turn the heat off

All Done!!

# Tip: For better results you can fry some peanuts and add to your upma in the end (Not for those allergic)

# If you don't like capsicum you can use peas/ carrots/ cabbage/ cauliflower/ potatoes, etc (cooking time will vary depending upon which veggie you use- some need to be cooked more before adding water)

For those without any access to proper gas burners:

You can use a kettle like the one in the image, I had one of these when I was in hostel. Costs about 1-1.5K (not that expensive). Cooking in this can be a bit time consuming as these kettles normally have auto power off after they reach a certain temp/ but need not worry, you can cook upma in about 15mins if using this!

Method of cooking is the same as for normal burner, just takes a bit more time.

Well I hope you find this one helpful, if you want me to write a particular recipe, do drop in your comments, also if you have any suggestions regarding any of the recipes I will be happy to try them out!

What fun without a little experiment ;)

Foodie Out as Somya Stirs :P