Sunday 13 May 2012

Bread Upma


Bread Upma
My mother-in-law was here with us recently and whenever folks are around I try not to ask them to prepare food but if they wish to help, they could help with the clean up. However, I thought my husband may fancy some dish that his mother makes and asked him if there was anything I should ask her to make for dinner on one of the week days. His immediate choice was bread upma. I then recalled how much he actually liked bread upma as he used to make it every now and then before we had our wee one. I somehow did not really enjoy the dish as it seemed a bit too dense for me. Anyway, after enjoying what his mother made, he later asked me to make it one morning for breakfast. He does not usually bother me with request for any specific dish so I was glad he even asked me for something but the condition was that ‘it has to be as good as mom’s’. Ah well, I have heard many women face this challenge of meeting husband’s expectations that his wife cooks like his mom but fortunately, in my case I could set my own benchmark as he is not too picky in some ways. Anyway, what better than a challenge in the kitchen for a food blogger. I set out to make it similar to how she makes but could not let it miss my touch. Addition of ginger garlic paste made quite a difference to the dish and so did the roasted groundnuts. I added it mainly because it is a good source of protein and it will be nice to have something crunchy along with the otherwise soft consistency of the dish. I was unsure if he would like it so did not bother crushing it coarsely but next time, I would. So the verdict was ‘I have indeed shown that I am quite a serious food blogger with about 300 recipes on my blog’. So, this recipe is a keeper. Below mentioned quantities serves two.

5 slices bread (I used wholemeal bread)
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tomato, chopped
2-3 green chillies, chopped
Turmeric powder
Asafoetida
½ cup peas
3 tablespoon yogurt
Salt to taste
1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste (optional)
1 teaspoon sambar powder
Handful of roasted groundnuts (optional)
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
Cooking oil
Few curry leaves

Cut the bread slices into small bite size square pieces and add the yogurt and mix so it is all coated in yogurt. Set aside while you get on with rest of the steps

Heat some oil in a kadai and add mustard seeds. Once it crackles add onions and turmeric powder

Add tomatoes, curry leaves and peas and cook until tomato becomes mushy

Add the sambar powder, salt and cook for couple of minutes so raw smell goes off

Add the yogurt coated bread slices and mix together and cook for a couple of minutes

Garnish with roasted groundnuts and serve!

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