Bulgur Wheat Upma

I thought I will finish the list and add the Bulgur wheat upma as well. I decided to measure carefully and make this following the 21-day fix container method.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup bulgur wheat
1 shallot, chopped
1 carrot, chopped fine or grated
1 small potato, chopped
8-10 mini heirloom tomatoes, sliced
1 small jalapeno, chopped
1 tsp oil
1 tsp chana dal
1 tsp urad dal
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
8 cashews
a few curry leaves

In a small pan heat oil. Add cashews, dals, mustard seeds and let cook for a minute until lightly browned. Add jalapeno and curry leaves and fry for a few seconds. Add onions and potatoes and continue frying for 1-2 minutes.

Add carrots and tomatoes and mix well and continue frying for another minute. Add 1.5 cups water and salt to taste and bring to boil. Reduce flame and let simmer for 5-6 minutes until the vegetables soften.

Add bulgur wheat and mix well. Continue cooking until cooked and all the moisture evaporates.  I like to increase the flame to medium heat, add a little ghee and cook for a minute or two to let the bottom brown a little.  That’s the tasty part 🙂

Serve warm. Makes 1 serving.

I am not a 21-day fix expert, but I count this as 2 Greens, 1 Yellow,  1 Blue  and 1 tsp.

See Also:

Amaranth Upma
Millet & Beets Upma
Pearl Couscous Upma
Pearl Tapioca Upma
Red Rice Poha Upma
Quinoa Upma
Upma & Pesarattu

Millet and Beets Upma

I love trying healthy grains (or seeds)  in different ways. Especially those I can substitute for rice.Millet is a relatively unknown small, round, yellow (or white, gray or red) seed. Although the term millet refers to grains, it is not really a grain, but a seed. Millet is widely grown in India, Asia,  and parts of Africa. Certain forms of millet have high protein, minerals, iron and calcium compared to common grains such as rice and wheat. It is gluten free, and a good substitute for other grains such as rice, oats or couscous.It is a source of high energy,

This is my second time cooking it and I can tell you it is not the easiest to cook. It definitely takes longer and needs more preparation than other grains such as Amaranth and Quinoa. For details on preparation and how to cook millet, I found this site with good information.

Upma is a very traditional and popular south Indian breakfast item that I cook for brunch, quite often. I have a traditional recipe that we used at home and adapt it each time I alter the ingredients. Following my Upma series, here is another almost similar, but slightly different millet-based Upma.

Ingredients:

1 cup organic, hulled millet, rinsed (soaked overnight if possible)
1 small onion or scallion, chopped
1/2 red beet, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 jalapeno, chopped
a small piece of ginger chopped
a handful of cashews ( you can also use peanuts)
1 tbsp channa dal
1 tbsp urad dal
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp ghee (optional)
a few curry leaves

In a pan, add oil, channa dal, urad dal, mustard seeds and cashews (or peanuts) and fry lightly till golden. Add chopped ginger, curry leaves and jalapeno and fry for a minute. Add onion and continue frying for 2-3 minutes. Add beets and tomatoes and fry for 1-2 minutes.

Add 2-3 cups water, season with salt and bring to a boil. Reduce flame and let simmer for 5-6 minutes.

Meanwhile, rinse millet seeds and add.  Cover and cook for 30-40 minutes or until cooked, stirring often, and adding water as needed. Add 1tsp of ghee if desired and continue to cook for another 5 minutes.

Remove from flame and serve warm with a cup of tea or coffee.

See Also:

Quinoa Upma
Amaranth Upma
Pearl Couscous Upma
Pearl Tapioca Upma
Red Rice Poha Upma
Upma and Pessarattu

In addition you can also make upma with bulghur wheat, Sooji (cream of rice) or Vermicelli.

References:

Millet Nutrition with some recipes
Millet on Wikipedia
Let’s make some boiled Millet

Red Rice Poha Upma

Lately, I have been on the lookout for brown rice poha (flattened rice). Although I haven’t found brown rice poha, I did come across some Organic red rice poha.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup poha
1/2 onion sliced thin
1 small potato cut into small pieces
1 jalapeno sliced
1 carrot grated
1-2 tsp oil
1 tbsp channa dal
1 tbsp urad dal
1 tsp mustard seeds
a handful of cashews or peanuts
few curry leaves
salt to taste

In a pan, heat the oil. Add channa dal, urad dal, cashews or peanuts (or both), and mustard seeds and fry till lightly golden. Add curry leaves and jalapeno and fry for a few seconds. Add onion, potato and carrot and fry on medium low mixing as necessary to prevent sticking, until onion are translucent and golden and potatoes crispy.

Meanwhile rinse poha in some cold water. Don’t leave it in too long, or it will get soft and mushy. Rinse, and squeeze out the water and add to the pan above. Mix well. Season with salt and leave for 1-2 minutes. Can drizzle some lemon juice if desired.

Serve warm with some tea, coffee or juice!

See Also:

Pearl Tapoica Upma
Quino Upma
Pearl Couscous Upma
Amaranth Upma
Upma & Pessarattu

Pearl Tapioca Upma

Upma is an all time favorite breakfast item and I doubt if I will ever tire of it. Growing up,  almost every weekend we had upma or tomato bath (as we called it so my brother would eat it ). Most commonly it is made with cream of wheat but you can also use vermicelli, bulghur wheat or more recently I have made it with Amaranth grains, pearl couscous and quinoa. In India, upma is also sometimes made with tapioca or sago.

Recently while visiting some friends in Boston, I had tapoica upma. It has been so long since I had it and it felt refreshing and delicious. And of course, this past weekend, I decided to make some at home for breakfast. Here’s how I made mine. Try it!

Ingredients:

1 cup tapoica
1 medium onion chopped
1 medium potato chopped
1 jalapeno chopped
a few curry leaves
1 tsp chana dal
1 tsp urad dal
1 tsp mustard seeds
salt to taste
1-2 tbsp peanuts
1-2 tbsp oil
a few curry leaves

Soak the pearl tapioca in water for 2-3 hrs.

Lightly roast the peanuts and grind them in a blender. Set aside.

Add oil to a pan and add channa dal, urad dal and mustard seeds and fry till the seeds start to sputter. Add chopped onion, curry leaves and jalapeno and fry for a minute. Add chopped potato and continue to fry them till they turn slightly golden.

Meanwhile, rinse and drain the water from the tapioca. Squeeze out the additional moisture loosely and add the tapioca to the pan. Mix well. Add salt and ground peanut powder. Mix well. Keep on for another 5 minutes. Serve warm.

Can drizzle some lemon juice if desired.

See Also:
Quino Upma
Pearl Couscous Upma
Amaranth Upma
Upma & Pessarattu

Upma & Pesarattu (Moong Dal Dosa)

If you are waking up on a Sunday morning and wondering what’s for brunch…. here’s one idea!

Upma is a fairly common breakfast or snack (tiffin) item in Southern India. Typically it is made with cream of wheat with choice of vegetables of personal preference. It can also be made with Bulghur wheat or vermicelli.

Continuing my dosa series, here is one made-from scratch dosa that is fast, healthy, nutritious and tasty to boot. Pesarattu is a kind of dosa made from pesara pappu or moong dal or yellow split pea.  Compared to other made-from scratch dosas, this requires very short preparation time, is very easy to make and requires few ingredients.

Both upma and pesarattu are individual breakfast items but quite frequently are combined and served together.  It is very popular especially at wedding breakfasts. The upma is simpler than the stand alone version and is devoid of all the colorful palate of vegetables. In the past I have posted variations of Upma using Quinoa, Coucous and Amaranth. The steps to make upma are exactly the same irrespective of what main ingredient you use.

When making upma for pesarattu I typically use the following formula learned from my mother. It tends to be a little more greaser than the normal one. And what I remember of it is feeling the crunch of ginger as you take a bite!

First make the preparation for the pesarattu.

Ingredients for the Pesarattu:
1 cup pesara pappu (De-husked and Split Green Gram)
1-2 jalapenos
some cilantro
a piece of ginger
salt

The yellow split pea after being soaked for an hour.

To reduce the preparation time, use 2-3 cups warm water to soak the pesara pappu. After 45 minutes to an hour, the pappu will swell and almost double in size. In a grinder, blend the pappu with cilantro, ginger and jalapenos into a smooth thick batter using a little water. Add salt to taste. Set aside until ready to make the dosa.

Ingredients for the Upma:
1/2-3/4 cup cup rava (cream of wheat)
1 medium onion chopped
1-2 jalapeno sliced into circles
a few curry leaves
a handful of cashews
1 tbsp chana dal
1 tbsp urad dal
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 small piece of ginger chopped
1-2 tbsp ghee
1 tbsp oil

Heat the oil in a pan. Add the seasoning ingredients – chana dal, urad dal, mustard seeds and cashews and fry till lightly brown. Add jalapeno and curry leaves and fry for 30 seconds. Add onion and ginger and continue frying till the onions turn translucent. Add 2 cups water and bring to a boil. Lower to medium and continue cooking. Add salt to taste. When the onions are cooked, lower the flame to medium low and slowly start adding the rava while mixing to prevent lumps. Add enough rava that it holds together but not too much that it breaks into chunks. Add the ghee and leave on for a few more minutes. Remove and set aside.

Once the upma is ready and the pesarattu batter is ready, heat a flat frying pan on the stove on medium. Lightly grease with a little oil or cooking spray. For thicker dosas keep the batter thick. For thin dosas, add water to the batter to dilute it a little. Pour 2-3 tbsp of the batter on the heated pan and roll out into a thin crepe. Add a little oil and cook until it starts to brown. This is one of the easiest dosas to make since it does not stick to the pan and starts to peel once it is brown on the side. Using a spatula flip it and cook until cooked. Place the dosa in a plate with the crispy side face down. Add some upma and fold the attu over it and serve warm.

If making only pesarattu, I usually like to sprinkle the attu with finely chopped onion and chopped cilantro. Optionally you can also add chopped jalapeno.

It is excellent when eaten with some sweet and sour ginger pickle!