Mere Paas (Up)Ma Hai!

It's that part of the year in Bengal - The Durga Puja is finally here. As I type this post,it's Maha Shashthi early morning,and I'm clad in a black china silk saree,practising how to sit and walk in it,so that the almost out of touch with wearing sarees me can carry off my prized possessions in the next 5 days fashion frenzy that Calcutta becomes for us girls, age no bar.But more about my secret trials later,this post is about the Upma, as the title puts it,albeit in a very non-subtle and filmy way!

I made two different kinds of upma today,both with the same sets of vegatables and basic ingredients with one slight difference in them, the major ingredient.Now for the naive,Upma is traditionally a South-Indian much loved savoury food item that is basically Semolina(Sooji) stir-fried and cooked with an assortment of vegetables,nuts(optional) and seasoning.You could consider it an alternative of the Rice Pilaf,with Semolina replacing the Rice and the basic idea remaining the same.It makes for a healthy and heartening mid-day light brunch as well as a very tasty breakfast.

Before I turned food-blogger myself,I was an avid food-blog reader for many years and that's where I came across the other Upma , the one which uses Vermicelli ( Sevaiyaan/Semui) as the chief source of carbohydrate.Since then I have made both versions at home over and over,and have developed my own style of making them,albeit keeping the basic format intact.Since these are festive days,and unexpected guests are expected to drop in without informing,the traditional household custom is to cook/stock a lot of sweet and savoury food so that we are always prepared to tackle any amount of people,atleast food-wise!

Here are my versions of the Upmas, the semolina first:-

SEMOLINA UPMA

(serves: 4-6)

Here's how I did it:-

1.Chop 1/2 medium carrot,1/2 medium potato,and about 8-10 french beans into bite sized pieces,like this. These are the colours of the Indian Tricolour,and it has been a marvellous journey for India at the Commonwealth Games so far :-)

2.Slice 2 medium onions finely.

3.Heat 4 tsp white oil in a pan and stir fry 1.5 cups of semolina on medium heat till it acquires a light brown colour.Take care not to fry it to too brown,because semolina tends to change colour very fast when it's heated to a certain temperature,before you can say sooji!

4.Heat 2 tsp white oil in a pan, and temper with 1 tsp black mustard seeds and 4-5 curry leaves.

5.When they splutter,add the onions and fry on medium heat for 3-4 minutes.

6.Add the vegetables along with 2-3 slit green chillies and stir fry continuously for the next 5-6 minutes .

7.Add the semolina to this, add salt to taste and mix well.

8.Add 3 cups of water to the semolina. I add 1 tbsp of tomato ketchup at this stage,but that's because I'm perennially obsessed with ketchup.You can totally omit it if you want to.

9..The semolina will now start to form little volcanoes of steam and puff out hot water so carefully put a lid on the pan.

10.The Upma will be ready in the next 4-5 minutes once the water dries up and the semolina and vegetables are cooked.Serve hot!

The Vermicelli Upma (pictured above) is identical to the recipe above,right down to the exact quantity of ingredients and the number of people it serves.The only difference is that instead of the semolina,I used 2 cups of vermicelli. Vermicelli is usually available in pre-roasted versions,hence saves me a lot of time.Frankly speaking,frying the semolina till it acquires the necessary light brown colour tests my patience,which is why I prefer the vermicelli upma.But then again,nothing comes from nothing,and so for special festive occassions like Durga Puja,I don't mind labouring in the kitchen for a few extra minutes.After all,there are few pleasures as wonderful as making food from scratch and sharing it with the ones we love,even though it is a humble, simple dish of Upma :-)