A popular, savoury Indian breakfast dish Upma is easy to make and delicious to eat. Made with Suji and seasonal vegetables, it's low-calorie and quite nutritious.
Peel and cut the onion into thin slices, keep aside.
In a frypan dry fry suji over medium heat until the suji looks toasted, or light brown in colour. Remove from the heat and keep aside.
Peel and cut the boiled potatoes into cubes, keep aside.
Heat oil and ghee in a frypan, temper with mustard seeds.
Add the onions and a pinch of salt, sauté the onions over medium heat until light brown in colour, add the curry leaves in-between.
Next, add the potatoes, and a pinch of salt, sauté for a minute.
Add the chopped ginger, green chillies, and mix quickly.
Next, add the suji, salt, green onions, peanuts, and peas, mix well, and add a splash of water. Now as you go on with the cooking, keep adding splashes of water (2-3 times) and allow the suji grains to turn softer.
Don’t add water at one go while cooking the upma. Adding too much water at the beginning of the cooking makes the upma a homogeneous mixture, where the textures from different ingredients become hard to experience.
The ideal upma is neither lumpy nor dry, and the suji will appear moist, fluffy, and well-cooked.
Add desiccated coconut (if using) when the suji becomes moist, mix well, and remove from the heat. The addition of desiccated coconut enhances the flavour of the Upma, so if you haven’t added it earlier to your upma, you must try it now.
Serve Upma immediately, if you wish you can pair the Upma with chutney, enjoy!