Carrot upma recipe | Gajar sooji upma

Upma is a popular maharashtrian & southindian breakfast dish .Upma is usually made with Semolina (called Rava or Suji in India).

A huge number of variations of Upma are made with whole or refined ground wheat and rice of varied grain size, vermicelli, Durum wheat semolina or pearl sago.

 A wide range of vegetables may be added, and may be garnished with a variety of beans (raw or sprouted), cashew and peanuts.

 For a variation called masala upma, sambar masala or garam masala is added along with red chilli powder, instead of green chillies.

I am posting the carrot rava upma recipe today as the main ingredient is carrot.


Ingredients
1 cups semolina (rava-medium size),
2 1/2 to 3 cups water,
1 chopped tomato
1 onion chopped
3-4 red/green chilies
small carrot chopped
1/2 cup carrot cut into pieces
1/4 cup soaked and shelled peanuts or broken cashewnuts,
1 tsp sugar,
salt to taste,
2 tbsp ghee (clarified butter) /oil,
2 tsp mustard seeds or 2 tsp split black gram (urad dal),
1/2 teaspoon asafoetida,
10-12 curry leaves,
fine shev &coriander leaves for garnishing


Method

1.Put 1 tsp ghee in a pan. Roast rava over medium heat till the color changes to golden brown and it gives out nice aroma. (for 10 to 15 minutes)
2.Keep water to boil in a pan
3. Heat ghee/oil in a pan.add hing. Add urad dal or mustard. As the dal turns reddish, alternatively, when the mustard seeds crackle, add asafoetida, chilies, curry leaves and peanuts or cashewnuts. Fry for some time.
4. Add tomato & chopped onion, chopped carrot & saute for 2 minutes.next add rawa & mix it well. Add salt and sugar and keep stirring
5.When the water comes to a boil, add water slowly  mixing after each addition, to keep from forming lumps.. Remove the lumps, if any
6. Now cover the pan and cook for 5 minutes. Add 2 tsp ghee and again sprinkle some water over the uppama to make it soft. Cover for a minute.squeeze 1 tspn lemon juice.
7. Garnish with yellow shev and coriander leaves. Serve hot with mango or chili pickle.

Tips and Variations:

1)Chopped onions, green peas, corn, tomatoes can be added for a different taste. If you add tomatoes, you may skip the yogurt.
2)The proportion mentioned here is for medium size semolina. You may use coarse semolina. Then, for 2 cups of semolina, use 4 to 5 cups of water. For fine rava, reduce the amount of water to 3 cups.
3)Drizzle a little bit of ghee on top before serving.
4)Try garnishing with 'shev/sev' (fried noodles).