While I sometimes vary on whether I want a sweet or savory breakfast, savory is usually my preferred option. And I feel that no one does savory breakfast quite like South Indian cuisine, which has a range of fantastic vegetarian breakfast items, from idli to dosa to upma.
Upma is a wheat-flour based dish that incorporates many of the standard tempering spices and vegetables used in South Indian food generally. It can be a great one-pot meal that I wanted to make even healthier by incorporating steel-cut oats - an approach used by some of my cousins. My thought was that if I get this recipe right, it could be my new weekday breakfast that I could prepare on Sundays for the entire week (taking from a NY Times recommendation to cook a pot of steel-cut oats on Sunday to last until Friday).
My first attempt at steel-cut oats upma was pretty good, though not great. I think I should have added curry leaves to add a bit more complexity of flavor; used maybe 1/2 onion instead of a full one; and perhaps should have shredded the carrot instead of chopping it, for more textural consistency. I'll report back as I continue to refine the recipe, but in the mean time, I think the following recipe will result in a pretty good, spicy and filling make-ahead breakfast.
Steel-cut Oats Upma
Ingredients:
- 1 carrot diced
- 1 onion chopped
- 1 green chile, sliced
- 1 tomato, chopped
- 1 tsp ginger, minced
- 1 cup steel cut oats, roasted
- 3 cups water
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp mustard seed
- 1.5 tsp urad dal
- 1.5 tsp channa dal
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 2 tbsp grapeseed or vegetable oil
Directions:
- Heat a small pot on medium heat, and dry roast the oats until fragrant with a nutty smell - approx. 2 - 4 minutes.
- Place oats in separate bowl to cool, and use same pot to heat oil on medium heat.
- When hot, add spices and stir mixture periodically. When mustard seeds begin to pop, add the ginger, chile and onion. When the onion is translucent (approx. 4 minutes), add the tomato and carrot. Cook down for 4 - 5 minutes or until tomatoes begin to break down.
- Then add oats, coating oats in vegetable and spice mixture. Add water, salt and turmeric and bring to a boil.
- When boiling, turn down heat to low and cover the pot.
- Cook for approx. 40 minutes, stirring every ten minutes or so, or until the oats are cooked down to your liking.
- Add additional salt and pepper to taste before serving.
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