Semiya Upma

Living in a foreign country, most people refer to breakfast as being toast, cereal and orange juice. I had a traditional Indian mum and a hard core Andhra husband (I think mentioned this already!). This means that my breakfasts was far from the typical Aussie breakfast. When people ask me what I had for breakfast I struggle to answer. This is because I don't know how to explain what idli, dosas, attukulu, uggani (and the list goes on) even on weekdays. So when I came across Nandita's Breakfast blogging I thought this was good opportunity to explain my typical breakfast.

Due to demanding time constraints on weekday morning, my mum used to try and do breakfast that will only take 20 minutes from start to finish. One of these breakfasts was upma (can loosely to be considered a semolina porridge). And I used to hate it. She was either forced to make an alternative (well really give me the leftovers) or I resorted to 2 minute noodles. Now that I have my own place and I am doing the cooking, we have upma about once a week. And I eat it. But my standard upma stories later.

Semiya upma is a good alternative to me as I like it and it is quick. Semiya is a rice vermicelli that is more like thin spagheti rather than the thin chinese vermicelli. It is quick fix in the morning and good start to the day.

Semiya Upma

Ingredients
2 cups Semiya - you find this in all indian grocery stores
1 medium onion - sliced
1 cup mixed vegetables - I use frozen, you can use fresh but note the time will drastically increase!
2 green chillies - finely chopped
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp pulao masala - MTR brand is good
a few curry leaves
1/4 tsp hing
salt to taste

Method

1. Toast the semiya until golden brown.
2. In a little oil, splutter the mustard seeds. Add cumin, curry leaves and hing.
3. Set the flame to a high - medium. Add the onion and chillies. Fry until onion is golden brown.
4. Add vegetables and fry until almost tender.
5. Add masala powder, salt and the semiya.
6. Mix for a few seconds and boiling water to just cover the whole mix.
7. Reduce the flame to a medium low.
8. Cook until semiya is cooked. Will take about 3 to 5 minutes.

I guess this my first submission to Nandita's Breakfast blogging.
Just realised it has been moved to Pavani's Cook's Hideout so I guess it'll be there!