Last weekend we took a hiatus from our work and chose to go on a brief vacation- at Panchgani for 2 days. We were joined by our friends, Pooja and Girish, a fun loving and easy going couple from Bangalore.
This trip was planned couple of months in advance, sometime during October. I was back home after the completion of my Post Graduation course and was on catch up spree with family and friends. During one such phone call with Pooja we finalized the plans for this trip. In a weeks’ time we were done with our hotel bookings, our bus tickets were booked and I was really excited for couple of reasons. One of the reason being that I was meeting my old pals after a year’s gap and the weather was the other driving factor that cheered me up no ends.
I have another blog post planned in which I intend to share the detailed story of the trip with a bonus travel video that I have captured on my IPhone. Dear readers, besides what we cook in the kitchen, it is equally important that we explore the food served at different places. With my travel experiences over the years, I have come to realize that food is a great connector in India. While on this trip, we had many occasions where we managed to elicit a cordial and warm response from a shy and reticent restaurateur, from a street side vendor selling berries, turnips or lettuce or our ‘I know all’ cabbie who drove us around the city. In all these conversations, food was the central topic. Alright I realize now that I am jumping ahead of myself and I should be discussing this topic in my future travel post.
Let me pull myself back to what led to today’s recipe.
We returned back late Sunday noon, with a relaxed and rejuvenated mind. The following morning as we were going about our weekday chores, I was posed with the usual query that I am accustomed to being posed every morning- ‘What’s cooking?’. It suddenly dawned upon me that I haven’t prepared ‘Sevai Ka Upma (Semiya Ka Upma)’ in a while. Sevai Ka Upma is my favorite breakfast dish that I keep going back to quite frequently.
Sevai ka Upma is a quick and easy preparation that come in handy during morning hour rush. It becomes easier if you have roasted Vermicelli in your pantry. What makes the preparation even more interesting is different kind of veggies that can be added to this Upma. Depending upon my what is stocked in my pantry I keep adding or omitting the veggies. So someday while I may add Green pea, on other days’ carrots and French beans would feature in the recipe. So if you have a fussy kid who would shun away from eating these veggies, you can trick them into eating it by incorporating these veggies in preparations like this. This dish can also act as a healthy replacement for noodles that kids are so used to having now a day.
Let’s go through the preparation now. Remember to share your feedback/suggestions in the comment section below. Your feedback matters a lot to us, so keep them coming.
Love Upma? Have you tried Vegetable Upma
Meanwhile, show us your love for food Yum
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 3-4
- ¾th Cup=90gms Vermicelli (Semiya)
- 1 Large sized Onion=100gms (sliced into lengths)
- ½ Cup=60 Gms Frozen green peas
- 1 large sized=125gms Tomato (finely cut)
- ¼th Cup fresh Coriander leaves (finely chopped)
- Cooking Oil
- 1 tsp Mustard Seeds
- 1 tsp Urad Dal
- ¼ tsp Asafoetida Powder
- 3 Green Chilies (finely chopped)
- 8-10 Curry leaves
- ½ tsp Turmeric Powder
- Salt to taste
- In a pan, dry roast Vermicelli (Semiya/Sevayi). Dry roast on low heat until Vermicelli turns brown in color. Keep stirring to ensure even browning of the Vermicelli. After 3-4 mins, remove Vermicelli from the pan.
- Heat 2-3 tbsp Cooking Oil in a pan. Add Urad Dal. Urad Dal must become light brown in color.
- Add Mustard Seeds, Asafoetida Powder, Curry Leaves, Green Chilies, Turmeric Powder and Sliced Onions. Cook Onions until it becomes soft.
- After 4-5 mins, add Chopped Tomatoes, Coriander Leaves and reserve remaining coriander leaves for garnishing.
- Add little salt cook Tomatoes until it becomes soft. Lower the heat and cook covered.
- after 7-8 mins, tomatoes are cooked. Now, add frozen green peas. We have used frozen green peas in this recipe. We can even use fresh green peas. If you use fresh peas, you may have to cook it covered for 3-4 mins.
- Add roasted Vermicelli and mix and salt to taste. Add enough water (above the level of Vermicelli in the pan). We have added 2 Cups of water. Allow water to boil. Reduce the heat and cook covered.
- After 10 mins, water has reduced completely and Vermicelli is also cooked. Keep it covered until serving
- Garnish with Coriander leaves and serve.
- You may reduce the quantities of Chilies if you are serving this to kids. You may add other seasonal veggies like carrot, French beans. Try out this healthy option.
Click here to watch recipe video
Leave a Reply