Thursday, May 10, 2007

Tomato Baath - Ewww/ Tomato Upma - Niiice

Well it's not pronounced Bath but baath but still doesn't sound that great sometimes now does it. Upma is a traditional dish made with cream of wheat or rice and also cracked wheat or rice. There are so many variations and today I made it with tomatoes and onions. Goes well with some pickle and plain yogurt on the side.

Ingredients:
Cracked wheat - 3 cups
White Onion - 1 medium thinly sliced
Tomatoes - 2 large diced
Green chillies - 4 minced or as needed depending on your spice level
Ginger - 1 Tbsp minced
Curry Leaves - 4 -6
cloves - 3
Cinnamon - 1/2 inch stick
Cumin seeds - 2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 2 tsp
Chana Dal - 2 tsp
Urad dal - 2 tsp
Oil - as needed
Salt - to taste
Butter - 1 Tbsp
Water - 9 cups

Procedure:

Heat oil in a shallow pan. Add mustard, cumin,chana,urad and stir till the dals start to turn light brown in color. Add cloves and cinnamon. Add ginger, curry leaves and chillies and walk away from the pan:). They start to spit oil:). Stir for 20 seconds and add onions. Add enough salt just for the onions and stir with or without lid till onions are golden brown in color. Add tomatoes to this and a little bit more salt. Cover and cook till tomatoes are soft and wilted. Remove the lid and cook till the raw smell of tomatoes is gone.

WHile the tomatoes are cooking heat the water in a different vessel. As soon as the tomatoes are done add this hot water to the mixture and let it come to a boil. Lower the flame and add salt to this. The water should be a little salty. Add cracked wheat to this slowly and keep stirring it while adding. Make sure there are no lumps. Add the butter. stir, check for salt and cook covered on low for 4 - 6 minutes or till it's cooked soft.

Turn the stove off and dress it with coriander if you like.

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