Unlike the cuisine in North of India, the food of the South is predominated by rice as a primary ingredient – long, short, small, broken, flattened. This variety makes for some of the most healthy and interesting breakfast recipes, especially in Southern & Western India, particularly Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Gujarat and Maharashtra.

In Southern kitchens, upma as breakfast has an ubiquitous presence. Quick, easy, nutritious and filling, a stomach full of upma can sustain a person for several hours without getting hungry or craving for the next feed. Upma is usually made of coarsely ground rice or wheat (called semolina), enhanced with seasoning in ghee or oil (such as one described in 22) and a fair amount of vegetables such as beans, carrots, green peas, etc. Another popular breakfast, a standard fare particularly in the states of Gujarat and Maharashtra, is a variety of preparations made from flattened rice called Poha.

Preparation

The key aspect of breakfast food such as upma, poha, porridge is its quickness and ease of preparation – the whole process does not take more than 15 minutes, from start to finish. Hence, it is an ideal item to prepare when the number of people to feed is large or one is pressed for time.

Ingredients

As the recipes below will show, the basic ingredients are coarsely ground rice or wheat or flattened rice, seasoning with ghee and water as required. Nowadays, upma is also prepared using different kinds of millets, coarsely ground bajra, jowar, maize, etc.

Seasoned Flattened Rice/Poha

Ingredients:

Aval/Flattened Rice/Poha – ½ padi

Water – ¾ padi

Salt – ¾ palam

Grated Coconut – 3 palam

For seasoning:

Ghee – 1/16 padi

Urad Dal/Black Gram – ½ palam

Red Chillies – 1 r.e

Mustard – ½ palam

Cumin Seeds – ⅛ r.e

Curry Leaves – ¼ r.e

Method:

1. Soak the flattened rice in water and drain the water. Heat ghee in a rust free vessel. Refer to the seasoning recipe and add urad dal, red chillies, mustard, cumin seeds and curry leaves.

2. After the seasoning is done add the flattened rice/poha and powdered salt, grated coconut and stir well. Remove after 10 minutes from the stove. Fry cashew nuts in ghee and add to the dish.