Recipe - Vegetable Upma

 

Upma. This dish can evoke extreme emotions with people either loving it or hating it. Now if you belong to the second category, allow me one chance to change your mind. This Upma recipe with lots of fresh veggies makes for a warm comforting breakfast or evening snack and comes together in 15 minutes. I am confident that one bite of this will surely convert you into an upma fan. This dish is also a great template to experiment with different types of vegetables and see what works the best for you. I've even tried mushroom and spinach upma that was pretty good, but that story is for another day. 

With this recipe and the others on this website, I hope to inspire each of you to experiment different ways to add more vegetables into your diet through our daily Indian dishes. There is a lot of research which talks about plant diversity in your diet and how it can bring about optimum health. There are several plant based doctors out there who share a ton of research and content on this but two of my absolute favorites are Dr. Greger and Dr. B. Do go check out their linked websites but in short, they encourage you to add anywhere between 25-30 different plants in your diet throughout a week which includes whole grains, legumes, vegetables and fruits. Now if you were to get a headstart into this with 4-5 veggies in your morning Upma, wouldn't that be a great start to a brand new week? Here goes the recipe. 

Vegetable Upma - Recipe 

Ingredients:

1.5 cups roasted rava (I prefer the coarse one, fine rava works well too)

1 handful (one small cup approx.) of fresh or frozen peas

1 carrot peeled and cut into small cubes (approx. to the size of the peas)

8-10 beans - cut into small discs (approx. the same size as the carrots)

1 inch ginger peeled and grated

8-10 curry leaves finely chopped 

2-3 green chilies slit

A handful of microgreens/ Cilantro leaves and some more for garnishing (optional)

1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds

1/2 teaspoon urad dal (split)

1 tablespoon oil

Salt to taste 

A pinch of hing (asafoetida)

1 teaspoon ghee (optional)

1.5 cups water

In a large kadai, add the oil and once it heats up, add the mustard seeds. Let it splutter and then add the grated ginger, curry leaves, chilies, urad dal and stir. Then add the hing. Now add all the vegetables (carrots, peas, beans and microgreens/cilantro if using) and stir well on medium flame. Add salt according to taste and stir. Now add the water and let it come to a rolling boil. The vegetables should have cooked by now. Now slowly add the rava in batches while continuously stirring. Lower the flame once all the rava is added and stir one last time before covering it. Let it cook for about 1-2 minutes. Now open the lid and mix the upma well. At this point you can add some ghee or oil to help mix the upma but this is optional. Switch off the flame and set the upma aside. Scoop a big serving onto a plate, top with more microgreens or cilantro and serve hot with a generous serving of coconut chutney.