Here comes a very delicious and healthy breakfast recipe from Karnataka, especially from Southern part of Karnataka (India). Uppittu is purely a Kannada word which is popularly known as upma in all over India. Uppittu or Upma is a very common breakfast dish cooked as a thick porridge from dry roasted semolina (Rava) with vegetables and natural spices. You can include vegetables of your choice and taste. Rava is a Kannada word for semolina. Semolina (rava) is made from hard and well processed wheat. The texture of the wheat used is little bit coarse and the texture after it is cooked is very unique and attractive. Since semolina (Rava) is naturally very low in fat, it is good for diabeties and for those who intend to loose weight. The fibre present in semolina will help you to digest easily. It is very light for your stomach and you don’t feel heavy even if you include it in your dinner. Added to this, I am using avare kalu which is very good source of dietary fibre. You will be happy to know that it consumes comparatively very less time to prepare and I made the procedure little bit easier for beginners. Let’s see the preparation of Avare Kalu Uppittu. INGREDIENTS
- Rava/Semolina – 200 grams (around 1 cup)
- Aware kalu/Hyacinth bean – 50 grams (around a small cup)
- Erulli/Onion – 1 (medium size)
- Kotambari soppu/Coriander Leaf (chopped) – 1 small cup
- Nimbe hannu/Lemon – 1/2 (medium size)
- Salt – 1 Tea spoon (Vary according to your taste)
- Grated fresh coconut – 1/2 cup
INGREDIENTS FOR SEASONING
- Cooking oil – 2 Table spoon
- Sasuve/Mustard seeds – 1/2 Tea spoon
- Kodali bele/Split bengal gram – 1 Tea spoon
- uddina bele/Split black gram – 1 Tea spoon
- Karibevu/Curry leaves – 1 String (8-10 leaves)
- Green chillies – 3 (you can vary the quantity according to your taste)
- Ginger (grated) – 1 Tea spoon
PREPARATION
- Clean up and sieve the rava ( do not wash ) and keep it in a bowl.
- Separate the avarekalu (seeds) from the pod and wash it with plane water. Pour avarekalu into a pressure cooker (capacity of 2 or 3 litres) and add 2 cups of water and 1/2 tea spoon salt to it. Place the pressure cooker on medium heat, allow it to whistle twice and take it out from heat. Until pressure of the cooker comes down, you can do other preparations.
- Cut onion into small pieces, chop coriander finely, cut green chillies in to small pieces, grate the ginger, remove curry leaves from the string. Keep all the chopped ones separately in small bowls or in a plate and keep them aside.
- We are preparing seasoning (Oggarane) twice for this dish. This is the speciality of this dish. Place a frying pan (Kadhai) on medium heat and pour 1 table spoon oil into it. Add 1/4 tea spoon of mustard seeds to it and allow it to splutter completely. Add Kadali bele and Uddina bele to it. Slightly roast them for 30 seconds and add cleaned rava (Semolina) to it. Roast it until rava gets golden brown colour or it start leaving an pleasant aroma. It may take 5 – 10 minutes. Take out the roasted rava to a plate and clean up the pan with dry cloth.
- Place the frying pan on medium heat for the second time. Pour remaining oil into it. Add remaining mustard seeds (1/4 tea spoon) to it, allow it to splutter completely and lower the heat. Add chopped green chillies, grated ginger, curry leaves to it (one after the other). Toss it slightly and add chopped onion. Cook it for 2-3 minutes.
- Open the pressure cooker and take out boiled beans (avarekalu) to a bowl. Separate beans and water and keep them in separate bowls, pour boiled beans to the pan, toss it and leave it cook with onion and other spices. We have to add 2 cups of water to it (double the measurement of rava). Here, I am using the water which is separated from boiled beans. Measure this water, if it is less than 2 cups, add plane water to it and make it 2 cups.
- Add 2 cups of water to pan, add 1 tea spoon of salt and grated coconut to it. Stir it once and allow it to boil for 1-2 minutes. It may take 5 minutes to come to boiling point. Squeeze 1/2 lemon once it starts boiling. Add roasted rava slowly in to the boiling water and you have to stir it continuously while adding rava. Close the pan with lid once stirring is over and stuff starts getting thick. Allow it to cook for 5 minutes. Open the lid, sprinkle chopped coriander leaves all over, toss it slightly and close the lid. Allow it cook further for 5 minutes and take the pan out from heat. Leave it as it is for 10 minutes so that it gets cooked further in steam. Delicious and healthy Avarekalu Uppittu is ready to serve hot.
- Isn’t it easy! Enjoy cooking….
————————————————————————————————————–
Food For Thought 