Upma / Sanja / Upeeth

Upma also called as Upeeth or Sanja in Maharashtra is an easy-to-cook, healthy-to-eat dish. This is a typical breakfast or tiffin item. Are mornings busiest times for you? Grab this recipe. You can complete most of the procedure the night before and store the ingredients as a ready to eat item. :)


Ingredients:

1. Sooji (Rawa / Semolina) -  1 cup
2. Water – 2 cups
3. Assorted veggies – 1/2 cup. Beans, carrot, cabbage, onion, tomato, capsicum – finely chopped, peas peeled
4. Peanuts - 1 tablespoon (not roasted)
5. Salt – per taste
6. Sugar – 1/2 tsp (optional)

For spluttering:

1. Chana daal (Bengal gram daal) - 1/2 tsp.
2. Dhuli urad daal (Split black gram daal) - 1/2 tsp.
3. Mustard seeds (Sarson or Rai) – 1/2 tsp.
4. Cumin seeds (Jeera) – 1/2 tsp.
5. Asafetida (Hing) – per taste
6. Turmeric (Haldi) powder - per taste
7. Green chilies /  red chilies – finely chopped. Per taste
8. Oil (refined vegetable oil / Canola oil) – 1 tbsp.

For garnishing:

1. Grated coconut – 1 tbsp.
2. Coriander leaves (cilantro / hara dhania / kothimbir) – 1 tbsp. Finely chopped.

Procedure:

1. Heat a pan and add sooji. Saute till it turns golden brown and remove from fire.
2. Add a tablespoon of oil. Once the oil is hot add chana daal and dhuli urad daal and saute till they turn golden.
3. Add a pinch of asafetida, 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, 1/2 tsp mustard seeds and let it splutter.
4. Add chilies, turmeric and peanuts. Roast lightly.
5. Add veggies. Cover and let cook for a couple minutes till the veggies turn soft.
6. Now add roasted sooji, salt and sugar. Mix well.
7. If you wish to use this mixture at a later time, simply take it off the heat, cool and refrigerate. Stays good for at least one day.
8. To proceed with making upma, boil 2 cups of water separately. Make sure the sooji mixture is slightly hot, take off from the heat and add boiling water to it. Stir well so that there are no lumps. Cover for about two minutes.
9. Garnish with grated coconut and coriander leaves.

Serve and be ready to accept compliments :)

Red Chilly Pickle

During my vacation last year, one of the things I learned to make was the hot, delectable red chilly pickle. It's that time of the year again. Go make some for your family....

Let me share the recipe with you. This time I am not going to point out the proportions of ingredients. Rather, I’ll simply depict the relative proportions in a picture and let you experiment a little. Ready to have some fun?

Procedure:
1. Clean the red chilies with water and dry in sun.
2. Split them so that each one opens only on one side and is able to hold the stuffing inside.
2. Heat some oil in a pan and keep it aside to cool.
3. Mix ingredients given in the picture below.


4. Add Lemon Juice or dry mango powder (Amchoor) or finely cut mango pieces to the mixture.
Start with the minimum quantity you think will do, after the mixture is ready you can adjust as per your taste.
5. Stuff the chilly pieces as shown below:


6. Store closely in a glass bottle with a tight cap.
7. Add the cooled oil till it covers most of the pickle.
8. Keep the bottle tightly closed in the sun for a couple of days.

Enjoy!

Lemon rind + Curd curry (Nimbu ke chhilke wali kadhi)

Ingredients:
1. Curd (Dahi) - sour, about 250 gms.
2. Rice flour - 2 tbsp.
3. Lemon rind (Nimbu ka chhilka) - Take half a lemon and squeeze out the juice and the seeds. You'll need only the skin for this preparation.
4. Grated Coconut - ripe but not dry. 1 tbsp.
5. Green Chilli (hari mirch) - 2
5. Cumin seeds (Jeera) - 2 tsp.
6. Black pepper (Kali Mirch) - 4~5 seeds.
7. Salt to taste
8. Water - 1/2 to 2 cups.

For spluttering (tadka):
1. Mustard (sarson/rai) seeds - 1 tsp.
2. Asaefoetida (hing) - 1/2 tsp.
3. Curry leaves - 4 / 5

Procedure:
1. Add water and churn the curd so that no lumps appear.
2. Cook lemon rind in water till it becomes soft.
3. Grind cooked lemon rind, coconut, cumin seeds (jeera), black pepper (kali mirch), green chilli (hari mirch) with a little water.
4. Mix well - churned curd, ground mixture of coconut, rice flour and salt. Add little more water if needed.
5. Heat oil in a pan and add the ingredients of spluttering one-by-one.
6. Once the contents splutter, add the mixed curd and bring to a single boil.
7. Take off the heat and server hot with plain rice or roti.


Tips:
1. If fresh lemon leaves are available, 2~3 leaves can be substituted for the lemon rind.
2. In case you do not like the tangy flovour it yields to curd, a tsp of sugar can be added to the preparation.
3. A single red chilli addded to the spluttering will give the dish a spicy taste.
4. Optionally dry urad dal (split Black Gram, polished, without cover) + dry chana dal (split Bengal Gram, polished, without cover) can also be added to the spluttering.