Aval Upma - Flattened Rice Upma

Aval Upma is an easy-to-make North Indian breakfast dish. It can be eaten for dinner as well.

Desika Products:

Peanut oil, white aval, jaggery powder, Tamarind

RECIPE FOR AVAL UPMA

Ingredients:

Serves: 4

White Aval - 2 cups

Large Onion - 2

Tamarind extract - 2 tbsp

Green Chili - 1

Potato - 1

Idli Podi - 3-4 tsp

Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp

Curry leaves - few leaves

Jaggery Powder - 1 tsp

Oil - 1 tbsp

Salt - as needed

Instructions:

1. Boil the potato until soft and cut it into medium-sized cubes.

2. Slice the onions lengthwise and slit the green chili in two.

3. Soak a big marble-sized ball of tamarind in water and extract 2 tbsp of juice.

4. When you are ready to cook, put the aval in a colander and run it under water for 30 seconds.

5. Transfer the aval into a big bowl, add tamarind extract and mix gently until the aval is fully coated.

6. In a big kadai, heat up oil and add mustard seeds. Once they sputter, add in the onions and fry for a minute. Add a little bit of salt and continue frying until onions are translucent. Add potatoes and mix thoroughly.

7. To this, add green chili and curry leaves. Mix well.

8. Once everything has fried for a little bit, add in the aval, idli podi, salt, and velam. Mix until everything is nicely spread out and coated in idli podi.

9. Upma is now ready to be eaten! Make sure to serve when hot.

Tips & Tricks:

• We enjoyed this upma with coconut chutney. However, you can enjoy it with any pickle of your choice.

• Make sure you run aval under water no more than 5-10 minutes before you are ready to begin the cooking process, otherwise, it will disintegrate while you mix it.

Variations

• If you don’t have tamarind extract, you can mix the aval upma with lime and salt.

• If you don’t have idli podi, you can use 1/2-1 tsp of red chili powder, based on your level of spice, instead.