Rava Upma

When we say Upma, the dish that comes to our mind is 'Rava Upma'. It is a common breakfast recipe and can be cooked for all situations. However it is a tricky task to get the upma in the right manner and it is only possible by knowing the tricks of stirring and mixing the rava well.

Ingredients:



Rava - 1 cup

Water - 2 cups

Onion - 1 chopped

Green chillies - 3

Chana dal - 1 tablespoon

Urid dal - 1/2 teaspoon

Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon

Curry leaves - 1 string

Salt - To taste

Oil - 3 teaspoon



Method:



1) Roast the rava well in the wide pan. Keep it aside when aroma starts coming from rava. Flame should be in low level when roasting.

2) Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and chana dal. Let the mustard seeds pop up.

3) Add urid dal, curry leaves and green chilies and fry for few seconds.

4) Add Onions and fry then until the onions turn translucent.

5) Add 2 cups of water and salt to taste. Stir it well and allow it to boil.

6) Now add rava slowly to the boiling water.Simultaneously keep stirring until the rava becomes thick.

7) Always keep the stove in low flame while adding rava in water. Continuous stirring is a trick to avoid lumps.

8) After few minutes, rava is cooked and ready to be served.

Carrot Poriyal / Carrot Stir Fry

Carrot Poriyal is again a typical South Indian side dish. Carrot is a rich source of Vitamin A and also has high dietary fibre content. Moreover it is free of fat and cholesterol.

Ingredients:

Carrots - 2 large size

Onion - 2 tablespoons, finely chopped

Green chillies - 3 nos, slit

Curry leaves - 1 string

Mustard seeds and urid dal - 1/2 teaspoon

Salt - to taste

Oil - 2 teaspoon

Grated coconut - 1/4 cup

Water - <1/4 cup



Method:



1) Scrap the outer skin of the carrots well to remove any dead skin or dust.

2) Cut them into small uniform sizes.

3) Take a frying pan, heat oil. Add mustard seeds and urid dal.

4) When mustard seeds start to pop up, add curry leaves, green chillies and after few seconds, add chopped onions and saute them well.

5) When the onions become filmy (turn translucent in colour), add the chopped carrots. Then add salt to taste and sprinkle some water.

6) Close the frying pan with a lid and leave it to cook for few minutes till the carrots turn soft.

7) Now add grated coconuts and mix then gently. After few minutes transfer the contents from the stove to a bowl.

8) Carrot poriyal is now ready to be served.

Note:

1) If you microwave the carrots for few minutes before you actually start to cook then it requires only seasoning. Hence it saves time.

2) You can also use the same procedure for grated carrot also.

Lemon Rice

A simple south Indian dish which can be easily prepared and goes down well with fried potatoes or pickle as side. It can also be prepared with rice that has been leftover and you intend not to waste it.

Ingredients:

Rice - 1 cup

Lemon - 2 nos or lemon juice - 1/4 cup

Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon

Green chillies - 2 nos,  sliced along vertically

Dry red chillies - 2 nos

Curry leaves - 1 string

Coriander leaves - 3 strings for garnishing

Chana dal - 2 tablespoon

Urid dal - 1/2 teaspoon

Roasted peanuts - 2 tablespoon (Optional)

Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Ginger - 1 teaspoon, finely chopped

Oil - 2 tablespoon

Salt - to taste

Water - 2 cups



Method:




For Rice:






1) Wash the rice two or more times, till the water becomes clear.

2) Drain the water from rice and then add 2 cups of water; 1 teaspoon of salt and boil the rice in Pressure cooker or Microwave.

3) After the rice is boiled, please add one tablespoon of oil and stir it gently and place the rice aside.



For Seasoning:



1) Heat the remaining oil in a frying pan on a medium flame.

2) Add cumin seeds. When the seeds start to splutter, add channa dal and peanuts. Fry these for few seconds till they turn golden brown in colour.

3) Then add sliced green chilies, dry red chilli, urid dal, sliced ginger, curry leaves - all but one by one.

4) Add lemon juice and salt and taste now. Care should be taken while adding lemon juice as adding too much juice will give a bitter taste.

5) Switch off the flame and mix it with the rice. Mix it gently and thoroughly.

6) Garnish with coriander leaves and your lemon rice is ready.

Note:

1) While boiling rice few of us wouldn't add salt to it. In this case, you can add more salt when seasoning.

2) The picture illustrated doesn't have peanuts and coriander leaves added to the lemon rice. However this can be added as explained above.