Cracked Wheat Vegetable Upma ( Dalia Upma) - With Stepwise Pictures.

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Upma, as I explained in this post is a savory snack usually made with semolina and vegetables. This is traditionally served at breakfast or as a "tiffin" a snack that is served in some south Indian homes in early evening hours or as a light dinner.  In the recent past I have been experimenting with various ingredients in a bid to make more healthier varieties of upma. After trying upma with  steel cut oats , quick oats and buckwheat, recently I also tried making upma with cracked wheat.



Cracked wheat / broken wheat or dalia as it is known in India is just grains of wheat that have been crushed/ powdered into coarse smaller pieces. Since cracked wheat has both the outer bran and the germ of wheat this has quite a lot of health benefits and fiber. A 1/4 cup of cracked wheat has 5 gms of fiber and it is also a low fat food with no saturated or trans fat or cholesterol. This healthy upma is perfect for a hearty breakfast or can even be served as a snack or for dinner.



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Ingredients and Method to make cracked wheat Upma
1 cup cracked wheat (broken wheat/ dalia/ fada)
1 medium onion cut fine
2 heaped cups mixed vegetables like cauliflower, peas, potatoes, beans etc cut fine.
I used  2 medium carrots cut fine
1/3 cup frozen green peas thawed to room temperature
2 small potatoes peeled and cut fine
1 green bell pepper ( capsicum/ Simla mirch/Koda molagai) deseeded and cut fine

1 tbsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
3/4 tsp cumin seeds
4 Thai or Indian variety green chilies ( or to taste) cut fine
1 thin sliver of ginger cut into fine pieces

3 cups of water
3 to 4 tbsp finely cut cilantro (coriander leaves/dhania/kothamalli) for garnish.

Prep the vegetables. Steam/ cook the vegetables on the stove top or in the microwave until soft. Keep aside.

Heat oil in a large heavy bottomed pan. Add mustard seeds, when the seeds splutter, add cumin seeds. When the seeds sizzle add green chilies and ginger pieces and stir a few times.
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Add onion and sauté until the onions are transparent. Add water and salt to taste and allow the water to come to a boil. Add cracked wheat and allow it to cook on medium heat for a few minutes. When the wheat gets a bit softer and absorbs some of the water, add vegetables and allow the entire mixture to simmer on low to medium low heat until the grains are soft and fluffy and all the water is evaporated.

Garnish with cilantro, remove from heat, close with a lid and allow the upma to "rest" for at least 10 to 15 minutes.

Serve upma hot with choice of chutney, pickle or even ketchup.

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Keerai Oat Dosai ~ Palak Oats Dosa ~ Savory Indian crepes with spinach and oats

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If you are very health conscious you may have already come across scores of articles and debates about the need to buy organic vegetables and fruits. But the price tag of organic veggies and fruits can be a little steep:-(    My rule of thumb so far has been, for greens like spinach and chard, I always buy organic and for the other vegetables, I am not very insistent on it being organic. But recently I came across this article that lists vegetables and fruits that contain the most pesticides and also contains a list of the cleanest veggies and fruits, meaning ones that contain the least amount of pesticides.

It is a very informative and illuminating article. I was surprised to find items like apple, celery, strawberries and peaches at the top of the list of items that have the most pesticides.  Spinach actually comes fifth on the list of items that contain the most pesticides. I guess I am going to have to revise my "definitely needs to be organic" list and soon ! If you too do not buy all organic veggies and fruits you may want to glance at the above article so you get an idea of which ones are safe to buy inorganic and which ones are better organic.

Moving on, it has been a while since I posted any type of dosai recipe in this space. Not because I am not making dosai these days, but because my hectic schedule these days does not allow me very much time for experimenting and I end up making tried and tested recipes that I have already posted here. Finally a few weeks back I tried something new....................... this time I combined oats, wheat, brown rice and spinach for a super nutritious dosai that we both loved. It was fast and quick to make. A little soaking + a little grinding + no fermentation= fast and yum dosai :-)  So if you are looking for new ideas to sneak in a little oats or spinach or both into your diet, give this dosai a try..... you may end up liking it as much as we did :-)

 



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Ingredients and Method to make Spinach oat dosai
1 cup cracked wheat (broken wheat/ dalia / fada)
1 cup brown rice (can be substituted with white raw rice ) (chawal/ arisi)
1 cup rolled oats
2 cups of  baby spinach or regular spinach leaves (washed, rinsed and dried) (about 5 oz/140 gms) (palak/keerai)
salt to taste (namak/uppu)
a little sesame oil to shallow fry the dosai (til ka tel/  nalla ennai)

Soak the first three ingredients in sufficient water for at least 3 to 4 hours.

Grind together in batches  in a blender/ mixer, adding water as required to get a smooth and slightly thick batter. The batter should be not too thin and not too thick, definitely not runny. When in doubt err on the side of a thicker batter, its much simpler to add a little more water later on to achieve correct consistency.

If  the grains have been divided into 3 parts to process , then divide the spinach in 3 parts too and add one part of the spinach leaves to the processed batter and give it another turn or two in the blender until the spinach is pureed completely . Remove and continue for the rest of the grains until they are all processed.
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Add salt to taste and mix well.This batter can be stored in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days.

When making dosai, heat a flat pan/ tawa/ griddle. When hot pour a  little of the batter in the center and immediately spread into a thin even circle. Add a few drops of sesame oil around the circumference of the circle and a couple of drops in the center. Allow to cook until the lower side begins to get a little brownish. Flip over and cook the other side until the other side begins to get a few brown spots.

Remove and serve hot with sambar of choice/ chutney of choice or molaga podi or any combination of the three. I served this with oat coconut chutney for a double dose of oats in one go :-)

This dosa is off to the Show me your dosa event being hosted by Divya

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Cracked Wheat and Oat Adai ~Dalia Dhal Dosa ~ Vegan Savory Indian crepes ~ With Video Clip

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After my last post, a lot of you left comments and sent me emails saying that you would like to see how I made the paneer. I haven't had the chance to respond to each of you yet, so I just wanted to let you all know that I read your comments. Unfortunately the last time I made paneer, I did not take pictures, so I was not able to update that post with the recipe. I will post very soon on how I make paneer along with the pictures, so watch this space for it :-)

Moving on, Adai is a type of spicy savory crepe that originates from south Indian cuisine. One of the nicest things about adai, is the addition of three different types of lentils in it. It is a great way to get some protein in a vegetarian diet.  In the past I have played around with using quinoa and oats and barley in adai successfully.

 

This time I wanted to try and make adai minus the rice and substituting it with cracked wheat and oats. For those of you who are not able to get brown rice, this is a great way to make the traditional adai a bit more healthy. This adai turned out fabulously, I was a little worried at first about not having any rice in it, but from the softness, taste and texture angles the rice was not missed at all :-)

 


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Ingredients and Method to make Cracked wheat and oat adai
1 cup cracked wheat (Broken wheat/ dalia/ fada/ lapsi)
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup split yellow pigeon peas (tur dhal/ tuvaram parappu)
1/2 cup split yellow chick pea lentil (chana dhal/ kadalai parappu)
1/2 cup split black gram lentil (udad dhal/ ulatham parappu)


1 inch piece ginger
5 Thai or Indian variety green chilies (or according to taste)
7 dry red chilies (or according to taste)
salt to taste
1/2 tsp asafoetida powder (hing) (optional but recommended)

a little sesame oil (or any other flavorless oil ) to shallow fry the adai

Place the first five ingredients in a large container. Add water to it, swirl with your hand a few times and drain water. Fill with fresh water and soak all the five ingredients in sufficient water for two hours.

Grind in batches along with ginger, green chilies and red chilies to make a thick batter adding water as required. The lentils/ grains need not be ground until completely fine, they only need to ground until they feel a little like coarse, thick semolina texture.

Update: Added a pic of the batter that might give you an idea of the consistency and texture of the batter. Not a great pic I know, will try and update with a better pic soon :)

To the batter, add salt to taste, hing and mix well.
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Heat a heavy flat pan/ tawa/ griddle, you know the tawa is ready when a few drops of water splashed on it makes the water dance and pearl up. Pour a ladle of this batter on the center of the tawa and quickly spread into as thin or thick circle as you like. Thinner ones are crisper than thicker ones. Pour a few drops of sesame oil around the edges of the spread out batter, when the lower side gets to a golden brownish color, flip over and cook the other side until it get a few brownish spots on it.

Update: Have added a video clip to explain this process better. Take a look.....



Remove and serve hot with a chutney podi like this flax chutney powder or molaga podi, any chutney or avial or jaggery/ honey.

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