Wheat Upma

Paniaram Pan (Kotapanganalu)

Wheat Upma (Uppuma or South Indian Kichidi)

To describe Uppuma, it can be compared to an equivalent of the African couscous. It is authentic to South India and has been consumed for thousands of years as a staple breakfast food. South Indians typically consume much of rice based foods, but this is one of the delicious and often eaten wheat based food, cooked to a texture similar to that of couscous.

Ingredients:

Samba Indian Rava: 1 cup (coarse ground wheat from India. American wheat is too hard for this recipe)

Onions: ½ large, julienne sliced

Tomatoes: 1 chopped fine

Ginger: ½ inch piece (fresh or frozen, de-skinned)

Dried Red chilies: 2~3 (or 1 green chilli sliced into two)

Cumin seeds (Jeera): ½ teaspoon

Mustard seeds: ¼ teaspoon

Oil: 4 teaspoon

Salt to taste (1 ~ 1.5 teaspoon)

Optional Ingredients:

Cilantro leaves: ¼ cup chopped

Coriander seed powder (Dhania powder): 1 teaspoon

Sambar powder: ½ teaspoon (or curry powder)

Curry leaves: 4~5

Preparation:

1. Heat oil in a wide pan and when hot add the dry cumin seeds, mustard seeds, dry red chilies. If available, add the curry leaves as well. Do not yet add any powdered ingredients as it tends to dry up the oil

2. Saute for a minute and when roasted (slightly browned), add the onions and continue to sauté for another 5 minutes.

3. When the onions turn golden brown, add the chopped tomatoes. Cover with a lid and let sit for 2~3 minutes.

4. Remove the lid, and add the coriander powder, sambar or curry powder and sauté slightly for another minute.

5. Now add 2 ½ cups of warm/hot water (cold water is fine as well, but tends to cool down the sauté and needs additional heating) and increase the heat to high.

6. Smash gently and add the ginger piece to the mixture. Add required amount of salt and mix gently. Use caution, as the heating water may cause burns.

7. When the water is hot or boiling, “reduce” the heat to low. This step is important. Once you reduce heat, while the water is still hot, slowly and carefully add the wheat rava in small batches, and stir “continuously” with a spatula to avoid forming uncooked lumps.

Note: Do not add the entire rava in shot, but only little by little and mixing continuously.

8. Once all the rava has been added and stirred and mixed well, cover with a lid and let it cook for 10~15 minutes in low heat. Then open the lid, take a teaspoon of the cooked uppuma to check if it is well cooked, if not cover again and let it cook for a few more minutes.

9. Finally sprinkle the cooked uppuma with chopped fresh cilantro leaves.

Serving Suggestion:

Serve the hot uppuma on a plate with a side of Indian pickle or coconut chutney. You can also use a teaspoon of tomato ketchup as a side dish as well.

This is an excellent, energetic breakfast food balanced with carbohydrates, proteins, little bit of fat and lots of dietary fiber and other nutrients.

This recipe is rated ****