As kids, many of us tend to be more picky on the food we eat, and so was I all the time. You know what? When I was a child, upma was the only breakfast item that I hated (not any more now) and that was a favorite one for my lil brother. Since younger ones get to win the game, I always had to eat the normal sooji upma when mom makes it. But neverthless to make me feel happy mom used to make this variation of upma atleast once a week, most of the times on Saturdays when she fasts. It is called Uppudu pindi and is made with coarsely ground rice also called as “biyyam ravva” or “rice ravva”. It’s a simple yet delicious breakfast and also makes a great evening snack. Want to make it more healthy? Add diced carrots, green peas, green beans, potatoes to make it more nutritious. The good part about it is, it does’nt take a lot of your time, so when you are back home tired and want to whip up a quick meal or for bachelors out there :)Â who want to finish up with a handful of ingredients, do try this and I bet you’ll love it. Why did I call this “rice rava upma -1”? Well, my mom makes 2 versions of this one with moong dal and the other one without. Today I’m going to take you thru the recipe with moong dal and it is cooked in a pressure cooker. While cooking in a cooker, if you happen to see a nice golden brown crispy layer of the upma at the bottom of the pressure cooker do not throw that away. It tastes so good trust me :).
Ingredients:
2 cups rice ravva,
5-6 tbsps of cooking oil
½ tbsp mustard seeds (avalu)
½ tbsp cumin seeds (jeera)
1 cup moong dal (pesarapappu)
10-12 curry leaves
3-4 dried red chillies (tear into pieces) – adjust to your spice levels
1 medium onion (finely sliced). – If you have sometime use peeled off shallots. It tastes amazing.
6 green chillies (slit into halve lengthwise) – adjust to your spice levels
5 cups of water
Salt to taste
Others:
A Pressure cooker
How to:
- Heat oil in a pressure cooker. On low flame add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and let them splutter. Add moong dal, increase the flame to medium heat and fry till light golden brown (about 2-3 mts). Take care not to burn them while frying. As you fry the moong dal a nice aroma emanates the kitchen.
- Turn the flame to low again. Add curry leaves, dried red chillies, and saute for a few seconds. Then add sliced onions, green chillies, salt and saute for 2 – 3 minutes.
- Add water, adjust salt. Increase the flame and bring to a good boil. (Check the taste of the water. If its salty then your upma would have the right amount of salt after cooked. If it is’nt salty then adjust. Once you add ravva the salt cannot be adjusted so make sure you do the check before adding it)
- Reduce heat to low and slowly add the rava to water and mix it continuously so it combines well with the water and does’nt form lumps.
- Put the pressure cooker lid on, and place the whistle. Increase heat to high and pressure cook till 3-4 whistles. Turn off the flame. Allow the pressure to go away before you attempt to open the lid.
- Serve with avakaya (mango pickle) or tomato pachadi (tomato pickle) or any other pickle of your choice on the side.