Thursday, July 7, 2011

Simple Vegetable Upma / Rava Kichadi

This is yet another life-saver for students, just like Maggi noodles. Rawa/Sooji is a form of durum wheat, commonly known as semolina. Rava upma or Kichadi is a very common breakfast/ tiffin item in South India. This is one of the first dishes I mastered as a teenager :D The dish is quite nutritious as it has a lot of veggies  plus carbohydrates from sooji and makes a one-pot meal!


Total Time - 25 minutes

What You Need -


Rawa / Sooji - 1 cup
Onions - 2 (finely chopped)
Tomato - 1 (finely chopped)
Vegetables - Potato, Carrots, French beans, Green peas, Cauliflower ( whatever is available) - finely chopped -  adding up to 2 cups
Salt - 1 tsp (adjust to taste)

Roasted Rava/Sooji and Chopped Vegetables


To Temper -

Oil- 2 tsp
Mustard - 1 tsp
Channa dal - 1 tbsp
Green chillies or Red chillies - 4 nos.
Curry leaves - a few
Hing/ Asafoetida -  1/4 tsp
Ginger paste - 1 tsp

To garnish -

Cashewnuts roasted in ghee

Ghee-roasted Cashewnuts - 10 nos. (optional)
Coriander leaves / Cilantro - a few  (optional)



How To - 

  • Heat oil in a kadai and do the tempering with ingredients listed, in that order.
  • Add onion and fry for 2 mins.




  • Then, add tomatoes and then the veggies. Fry for 2 mins then close with a lid for 5 mins.
  • Add 2 cups of water, 1/2 tsp of salt and allow the veggies to get cooked well.
  • Meanwhile, roast rawa without oil in another kadai. This step is very important. This is similar to Semiya Upma (Vermicelli Upma).  We get ready-roasted semiya from stores but sadly, not ready-roasted rawa :( 
  • Now, add roasted rawa to veggie kadai and keep stirring to avoid lumps getting formed. Add 1/2 tsp salt. Add 1/2 cup of boiling water if required.
  • Stir rawa and veggies together making sure they are mixed well.
  • Finally, garnish with ghee-roasted cashewnuts and some cilantro :)



Serve with Tomato Thokku or Sweet Onion Chutney or sambar or raitha . I like to eat it with plain sugar :)

2 comments:

  1. Rava upma, however derogatory some people may make it out to be, is a real life-saver for students. Amma used to roasted the rava before storing it to prevent insects, and that is a further time-saver. I even know students who bring pre-roasted and tempered rava that they need to just dissolve in water to make upma! Yours looks so yummy! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. That's a wonderful tip, Parvathy! Thanks :) Wow, pre-roasted and tempered rava, that sounds like instant upma :) And with frozen chopped vegetables, it's just a matter of 5 minutes!

    ReplyDelete

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