A YUMMY FILLING TREAT - SANJA, UPMA OR UPEET

Sanja/Upma/Upeet is another very famous breakfast dish in India especially in Maharashtra and South India. If poha represents the rice grain in Indian breakfast food, then upma represents the wheat grain. In Mahrashtra, Upma stands shoulder to shoulder with poha on any menu card.

There are many different variations of this dish across India with different types of vegetables and with different and varying amounts of spices. The luscious and smooth texture of the semolina cooked in the richness of ghee melts in your mouth. Prepared using the delicious flavours of ginger, mustard seeds, curry leaves and tomato with a variety of fresh vegetables and garnished with lime, coriander and coconut flakes makes this dish delicious, wholesome and nutritious.

General health information: Semolina is made from durum wheat and is fibre rich, protein rich, high-carbohydrate, low-cholesterol and low-fat. It is also very high in complex carbohydrates. Hence, it is digested slowly, keeps you full longer and prevents you from snacking between meals. Major nutrients include vitamins E and B, potassium, phosphorus and magnesium.

Ayurvedic information:

Dosha information: V=P= K=

Rasa (primary tastes): Sweet, Sour, Salty, Pungent

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Type: Breakfast or snack

Serves: 1-2

Vegan: Yes

Ingredients:

1 tbsp ghee/oil (vegans should use oil)

½ cup rava, sooji, semolina

Water – usually twice the quantity of semolina. This may change according to personal preference of the texture of the upma.

1 tsp mustard seeds

½ inch ginger finely chopped

½ tsp asafoetida/ hing

8-10 curry leaves

1 small carrot cut into small cubes

1 small tomato chopped into small pieces

Rock/Himalayan Salt to taste

Lime

Optional:

½ tsp turmeric powder

1 small chilli or more/less depending on how hot it is cut in 1 inch pieces

Grated coconut/coconut flakes/desiccated coconut for garnishing

Coriander/Parsley for garnishing (optional – but mandatory if using chilli as the coriander will counter the heating effect of chilli)

Preparation:

1. The preparation begins with a wonderful sadhana of dry roasting the semolina – one of my favourite. Take a pan and add the semolina in it on low to medium heat. Keep stirring the semolina in the pan and bring your full awareness to your nostrils. Notice how the wonderful scent of semolina wafts out of the pan and fills the room. Close your eyes and take it in. Once the semolina releases the fragrance, appears to be dry and free flowing and turns into a light cream colour, take it off the heat and keep it aside. Do not wait till it turns brown. If you want to save on preparation time for this dish, you can roast semolina and store it in a dry place. This way, you do not have to dry roast it when you decide to prepare upma and cut down on prep time.
2. Take ghee/oil in pan and heat it over low to medium heat. Add the mustard seeds and wait for them to stop popping. Now add the chopped ginger and chilli and let it fry for a few seconds taking care that the ginger does not turn brown or burn. Now, add the hing and curry leaves and let them do their thing for a few seconds. I love this ritual of adding these preliminary ingredients and spices to the ghee/oil which is very common to many Indian dishes. I feel like a wizard from Harry Potter preparing some kind of a magic potion where every time you add an ingredient, its flavour and energies get imbibed in the ghee/oil – that ancient practice called “chaunk” or “phodni” in Marathi. Every time you add an ingredient, a different fragrance is emitted. And every ingredient does its own little performance – popping, crackling, sizzling, bubbling, exploding or bursting. Listen to these sounds and imagine how the flavours are now being transferred into the ghee/oil which will later coat every single grain of semolina giving it the taste of spices used.
3. Now add the carrot and tomato and let it sauté for a minute or two. Add the semolina and turmeric and stir well. Let the juicy mixture coat each and every grain of semolina.
4. While mixing these ingredients, heat the water till it boils. Now add the water gradually and keep stirring. There will be a loud sizzle and bubbling but keep stirring. Add salt. Continue stirring otherwise, the semolina will form lumps. Once all the water is absorbed by the semolina and it is as per the texture of your preference, the upma is done.
5. Serve with a wedge of lime, chopped coriander and grated coconut/coconut flakes/desiccated coconut on top.

Pitfalls:

1. When you heat the ghee/ oil before putting in the preliminary ingredients (mustard seeds, ginger, chillies, curry leaves and hing) make sure that it is not too hot. If the ghee/ oil overheats, first of all its composition will change chemically which is not good for health. Secondly, it will destroy the flavour and potency of the ingredients. So, it is better to start with low heat, add 2-3 mustard seeds to test and increase the heat, if required. If the ghee/ oil starts smoking and the ingredients turn dark brown or black, then the ghee/ oil and the ingredients have been damaged.
2. When you add the water to cook, make sure you stir the mixture continuously so that no lumps are formed.
3. Do not rush with the sadhana of dry roasting the semolina by turning the heat to high. It will get burnt and will get roasted unevenly. All good things take time and this sadhana will teach you patience. Synchronise your breathing with the stirring, enter fully into the sadhana and look out for the wonderful scent of roasted semolina.

Notes:

1. There are two types of semolina – coarse and fine. Use the coarse one for this recipe. Fine semolina can work too as a substitute, but coarse is better.
2. Chilli should be used only for its flavour and not for its kick because of the several health benefits which it offers. Individuals with Pitta constitution can go easy with the chilli or altogether without it especially in summer. However, the trio of lime, coriander and coconut will balance the effects of chilli. Kapha individuals can use some chilli. The heat and pungency of the chilli will negate the sweetness and heaviness of the semolina and thereby prevent the possible excess of the Kapha dosha in people of Kapha constitution.
3. The base grain of semolina is wheat. Semolina retains the sweet, nourishing and stabilising quality of the wheat but is relatively lighter than wheat. Dry roasting the semolina makes it even lighter and dryer reducing the heavy and moist kapha qualities thereby making it easier to digest. Therefore, dry roasting is a key process involved in preparation of upma from the health perspective.
4. Usually, this dish is made with base of onions and tomato is optional. But since I exclude onions from my recipes, I have kept tomato as a mandatory ingredient. Apart from carrot, you can use other vegetables like green peas, capsicum or green beans. These vegetables will go in at the same time as the carrot. It is best to not use more than two vegetables. Another important ingredient which is commonly used is urad dal (split, skinless black lentils) and channa dal (split, skinless black chickpeas). These go in after the mustard seeds.
5. Please refer my post Getting Started With Ayurveda for understanding of Ayurvedic terms and concepts.

Variations:

1. One common variation as regards preparation of upma is you can add water before adding semolina.