Wheat uppuma

Wheat upma is one of the easiest and simplest fulfilling Indian food. I am sure many of us know how to do it. I am sharing my simple recipe, which is my hubby dear's one of the favorites.
Cracked wheat (kothumai ravai) is available in almost all Indian grocery stores nowadays. But before they show up in the store isles, we used to buy whole wheat and break them into ravai (coarse flour) and fine whole wheat flour every month. Mom used to schedule this whole process at home and would dry the whole-wheat under direct Sunlight for a day, then send it to a grinding mill , get them done, would cool them off and store the flours in airtight vessels. Nowadays the whole process is reduced to a sachet sold in a nearby stores and we all are happily buying them too:)  So lets make this simple and delicious upma quick and nice !

Plain wheat rava upma with methi leaf chutney.

Wheat rava

Ingredients: (for 2 servings)
Wheat rava (cracked wheat)- 1 cup
water - 2 1/2  cup
red onion - 1
green chilly - 3
ginger - 1 inch
salt - to taste
curry leaf - few
cilantro - few
channa dal - 1 tbsp
mustard seed - 1/2 tsp
shredded coconut - 2 tbsp (optional)
oil - 1 tbsp

Method:
Dry roast the wheat rava for a few minutes till it smells nice. Take it out and keep aside.
Heat oil in a kadai.
Add mustard and let it start cracking.
Then add channa dal and fry for a few seconds.
Put the finely chopped onion, green chilly, curry leaves, chopped ginger and saute till onion gets cooked (golden color).
Add water, salt and bring to a boil.
Put the roasted wheat ravai, reduce flame and cook covered till rava gets all the water.
Check if it is cooked and stir till the upma looses the moisture.
Add chopped cilantro, shredded coconut. Mix well and switch off.
Cracked wheat upma is ready!

Serving suggestion:
Serve as breakfast or dinner along with chutney or sugar.
It tastes great with any spicy chutney like methi leaf chutney or cilantro chutney.

Simple breakfast - Aval /poha

Here is a very simple and common breakfast using Aval (Tamil). Aval is called beaten rice or Indian rice flakes (English) or poha (Hindi). Even before the Kellogs finds its way to Tamilnadu, many women find their solace in this 'no-cook breakfast' and I am one among them :) All you need is a few tbsp of freshly shredded coconut, sugar and optionally a banana along with this poha.
Hope many won't need a recipe for this. But just recording it for people like me:)

Aval - mix and enjoy!

Ingredients:

thick poha - 1 cup
sugar - 2 tbsp (for each plate)
freshly shredded coconut - 2 tbsp (for each plate)
banana - 1 (for each plate)

Method:

Wash and soak the poha (see note), till its soft. Drain the excess water and keep aside.
 Mix with sugar, banana, shredded coconut  and enjoy!
 We can serve the sugar, poha, coconut and banana separately for adults.
Mix everything and make small balls for children, so that they enjoy well.
The ripe banana should be placed along the side and the guest has to mash the banana, mix everything and devour.

Note:

We may need 1/2 cup poha for 1 person.
Thick or thin poha can be used for this recipe.
Thick poha will need 1 hour to soak, while the thin poha will soak in 5 minutes.
But the most healthy one is the red thick poha (sivappu samba aval).
Makes a very healthy breakfast.
Some times it can be served as a quick and mild dinner also.

Rava Upma

I don't think many of us need a recipe to make uppuma which is the very basic tiffin item of Indians. But for me making it without lumps was a great challenge till I learned the technique from Packiam aunty in my dad's house. Ingredients: Rava (semolina) - 1 1/2 cup water - 2 1/4 cup {water = (number of cups of ravai x 2) - (3/4 cup)} salt - 1/4 tsp (1/8 tsp per cup of rava) onion - 1 (small) green chilly - 2 ginger - 1 inch curry leaf - 1 sprig channa dhal - 1 tbsp mustard - 1/2 tsp Shredded coconut - 2 tbsp (optional) sesame oil - 2 to 3 tsp. Method: Heat a wok. Dry roast the rava till it smells good / starts to become coarse like sand. Transfer it to a plate . Chop the onion, curry leaf, ginger, green chilly finely. Heat 2 tbsp oil in the same wok. Add mustard seed. let it splutter. Then add the channa dhal and fry all the chopped ingredients along with it. As the onion starts to become transparent, add the water + Salt and let it come to a boil. Then reduce flame and sprinkle the rava in equal spacing , just like shower. Don't stir. (Stirring will result in lumps) Immediately cover with a lid. Reduce flame to minimum. After 3 minutes in low flame , open the lid and start to stir using a spatula. we can see the uppuma get cooked well and starts leaving the edges. Put off fire. Add shredded coconut , if desired. Now we get a very dry uppuma without any lumps. Serving suggestions: Serve as breakfast or dinner along with coconut chutney or sugar. The above said quantity served two adults.