Poha Upma

Poha Upma (Aval Upma) is a very less time consuming, instant upma that you can think of, on a busy morning for breakfast. Made with flattened rice (aval) & onion and few spices, it is very tasty and healthy breakfast. Poha is light on stomach and easy to digest. It is a good source of energy due to its rice content.  So enjoy this simple & too easy to make aval upma with any chutney or sambar or even curds.

There are both white and brown poha available in the market. I use the white vareity (very thin flattened one) for this upma. You can also use other varieties of aval if you want for your upma, but there may be minor variations.

Soaking the Poha and using for cooking:

1. If white variety is used, soak the poha in just enough water to immerse it completely and give a nice rinse by hand and immediately strain all the water through a colander/strainer and let the poha sit for 3- 5 minutes. Within this time, the poha puffs and enlarges in size. It is then ready for cooking. (I have used the white variety in this preparation).

2. If brown variety of poha is used, soak the poha in tamarind water for 5 minutes and then drain all the water through a colander/strainer and let the poha sit for 3-5 mintues. Within this time, the poha puffs and enlarges in size. It is then ready for cooking.

In either of the above ways, once the poha is ready, you can prepare poha upma as below.

Ingredients:

Onion (chopped) - 2
Green chillies - 3, slit into 2 pieces
Red chillies - 3, broken into 2 pieces
Ginger (chopped) - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 3/4 tsp
Salt - 2 tsp
Coriander leaves (chopped) - 2 tsp (optional)
Lime Juice - 1 tsp (optional)
Seasoning Ingredients: Oil - 1 tsp, mustard seeds - 1 tsp, broken urud dhal - 1 tsp, channa dhal - 1 tsp, curry leaves - 8

Pre-requisite:

1. Take the poha into a vessel. Fill with water till it is fully soaked, give a nice rinse and then immediately drain all the water by passing the poha through a strainer/colander. Keep the water drained poha aside.

This quick rinsing and draining of water is enough for the poha to puff. Don't soak it in water for long.

Method:

1. In a non-stick pan or kadai, season as given.

2. When the dhal turns brown, add the chopped onion and 1/4 tsp salt and mix well. Let onion cook until it turns light brown.

3. Add the turmeric powder and remaining salt and mix well.

4. Add the water drained puffed poha and give a nice mix.

5. Remove from stove and optionally garnish with coriander leaves and add the lime juice & mix well and serve with any chutney.

Tips:

1.  Optionally before removing the poha  upma, add 1/2 cup of fresh grated coconut and mix well and remove. As I don't prefer adding coconut, I don't use it in my preparation (am bit cholesterol conscious and avoid coconut as much as I can).

Bisibelabath

Bisibelabath (or) Sambar Saadam is a very famous Karnataka dish, made from rice, lentil, mixed vegetables and spice powders. This is a one pot meal and very delicious to taste. For a long time,  I have been under the misconception that Bisibelabath is too complex to cook, but I was wrong. I realize now that this is one of the easiest dish that one can prepare and relish. This is a wholesome meal as it contains plenty of vegetables and very filling to the stomach. Generally this rice dish doesn't require any side-dish, as the dish itself has lots of vegetables in it, if you still need any side-dish, just enjoy it with few papads/chips.

For the preparation of Bisibelabath, we need to have rice and lentil (toor dhal) cooked separately and kept ready. The mixture of vegetables and spices are separately cooked and finally all the ingredients are mixed together to get the tasty sambar rice or Bisibelabath.

Bisibelabath powder is used in its preparation, which can be either made at home or can be store-bought. (I prefer MTR's Bisibelabath if store bought, as it taste good).

Ingredients:

1. Mixed Vegetables cut to 1 inch long - Small Potato (peeled) - 1, Small Carrot - 1, Beans - 10, Peas - 1/4 Cup, Raw Banana - 1/2, Elephant yam - 1/2, Chayote (peeled) - 1/2 , Drumstick - 1, Brinjal - 3, Broad Beans - 10, Cluster Beans - 6
2. Small onions (peeled) - 12
3.Tomato (Big) - 2 , finely chopped
4. Bisibelabath powder - 4 tsp
5. Tamarind Extracted Water - 1/2 Cup
6. Rice - 1 Cup
7. Toor Dhal - 1/2 Cup
8. Salt - 2 to 3 tsp
9. Seasoning Ingredients 1: Oil - 3 tbsp, Cinnamon Sticks - 2, Cloves - 4
10. Seasoning Ingredients 2: Ghee & oil - each 3 tsp, mustard - 2 tsp, curry leaves - 15
11. Coriander seeds (chopped)- 3 tsp

Pre-requisite:

1. Pressure cook the rice and toor dhal together, adding 4 to 4 1/2 cups of water for 4-5 whistle. (the rice and dhal can be overcooked , no problem. If they are undercooked, it will be a spoiler).

2. In 2 teaspoons of ghee, fry about 10-12 broken cashews and keep ready.

Method:

1. In a Pressure cooker, add the oil and add the seasoning ingredients 1. When they turn aromatic, add small onions and cook for 2-3 minutes.

2. Add all the vegetables and mix well, add little salt and cook the vegetables until they are 60% done (you can close the pressure cooker, but do not add weight. Cook closed for 3-4 minutes and then open).

3. Add the chopped tomato and mix well and cook for another 2 minutes, until tomatoes are mashed.

4. Add the Bisibelabath powder and required salt and mix well and coat the powder well into the vegetable mix.

5. Add the tamarind extracted water and mix well.

6. Add the cooked rice+toor dhal mixture and mix all the contents well. If the rice is thick, you can add 3/4th glass of warm water to loosen it up and mix well.

7. Add 2-3 teaspoon of ghee and mix well and close the cooker and immediately add the weight and switch off after one whistle.

8. Open the cooker when the pressure completely drops and then season as mentioned with seasoning Ingredients 2 and pour onto the bisibelabath and mix and serve.

9. Garnish with coriander leaves (optional).

Bisibelabath Powder

Bisibelabath powder is used in the preparation of Bisibelabath, a famous Karnataka Sambar dish.  This powder can be made freshly at home , just before starting  the preparation of Bisibelabath. Using fresh powder adds more flavor and aroma to the dish. Here is the steps to make the bisibelabath powder.

Ingredients:

1. Coriander seeds - 3 tbsp
2. Channa dhal -3 tbsp
3. Urud dhal - 1 tbsp
4. Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
5. Fenugreek seeds - 3/4 tsp
6. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
7. Cinnamon sticks - 6
8. Cloves - 6
9. Poppy seeds - 1 tsp
10. Red chillies - 30
11. Oil- 2 tsp

Method:

1. In a non stick pan, add oil, when it becomes hot, add all the ingredients except coriander seeds and poppy seeds. Fry everything until the dhal turns brown.

2. Then add the coriander seeds and poppy seeds and fry for just a minute or two, until the coriander seeds emanates nice aroma.

3. Remove and cool everything and take into a mixie and grind to dry powder.

4. Store the bisibelabath powder into an air-tight container.

Tips:

1. Poppy seeds is an optional ingredient. You can ignore if you want.
2. Cinnamon stick and cloves are essential ingredient, this gives the unique flavor to the powder, if you want strong spice flavor in bisibelabath, increase their quantity by adding 2 or 3 more in each.