Semiya Upama

Today's post is from very good friend Nithya. Knowing her cooking skills and love for food I have been unsuccesfully trying to convince her to be co-author on my blog. When i recieved her mail with this post, it was a pleasant surprise ! But atleast this is a start !

Now handing - over stage to Nithya.

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Hey there I am here all inspired by Lopa’s posts. India with its varied culture and taste holds a treasure of cuisines. Every part of the country stands out for its own unique taste, tradition and culture.

After my marriage I was exposed to lot of cooking J Never had I entered the kitchen for regular cooking, it was just those special pasta or Chinese items that I used to venture into that adda.

Now I experiment a lot with gujju n south Indian food. So I though why not share it with you guys. It was always a nightmare for my mum that I would make these two areas meet one day but thankfully I have been successful in retaining each cuisine’s identity. I remember my neighbour who literary used to murder the taste by giving a Jeera vaghar in Sambhar and mixing both the cuisines. The ingredients are just as us. They have a few friends and there are a few whom they don’t like. So if you put them all in one they are not going to behave well and your dish is not gonna be like the one that you can boast of.

Ok enough of all these stories lets get on to some action

Since this is my first article for recipe I shall play safe and start off with a very simple recipe. Semiya Upama. Its very similar to the normal sooji upma that we eat but the texture and form gives a different taste to it.

My memories of this dish go 12 years back when there was a programme on DoorDarsham. Instead of showing an outrightly cooking show, they took a different concept. They show a big group of neighbours of a flat all from different parts of India. One of the senior member’s wife leaves for her hometown for 2 months and this uncle is left behind all alone no food. So to help him out and solve the food problem the ladies of the flat make different varieties taking turns each day. And each dish is one show. I saw the semiya upma then and still remember the images of the fluttering sweet neem and mustard seeds in piping hot oil.

Lets Collect the ingredients:

250 gms vermicelli (not the roasted one)

3 tbsp oil

1 onion finely chopped

Boiled peas and carrot ½ cup

2 green chilly sliced

½ spoon mustard seeds

Pinch of asafetida

1 tsp Urad dal
1 sp Bengal gram (Chana Dal)

Few curry leaves

4 glasses of water

Let's start cooking:

Heat about 1 tbsp of oil in a non stick Kadhai and roast the vermicelli for a while say about 5-10 mins. If you ignore it, its going to get angry and turn brown which we don’t want. So continuously stir it and take care of it.

Once it slightly changes colour immediately turn of the gas and transfer on to a flat plate and spread it.

In the same kadhai heat the remaining oil. Add mustard seeds and asafetida. Then the urad dal and chana dal, fry them till they are golden brown. In the meantime you can heat the water in a separate container.

Once the dal is golden brown you can add the chopped onion, chillies and curry leaves. Once done you can add the boiled peas and carrot. Then add the roasted vermicelli and mix well for about 2-3 minutes.

In case you have missed the first step of roasting the vermicelli or do not have time for it then you can increase the roasting time here at this step. Just make sure you do not burn it.

Once its done add boiling water to this such that the whole mixture is exactly dipped in water. Add salt about 2 spoons level and put it on high flame and fold continuously.

Make sure the upma does not stick to the bottom. You just need to fold till the water evaporates.

Make sure you don’t stir or mix as it turns the upma to a paste. Add 2 spoons of ghee in this process so that the upma does not become very sticky. Once done put the flame off and spread the upma in the kadhai itself and keep it open for some time.

Closing it will mean that you will give it a porridge consistency which will not be good.

Probably when you make the first time you will know the correct consistency and also the judgement for amount of water to be added.

So happy cooking. Next in- line some chutneys that you can have with dosa/bread etc.

- Nithya