Make and relish UPMA

Nothing great or new, still thought in case anybody wants to make...(This I flicked from Lakshmi's recipes list :-) )

Ingredients:
Upma Rava - 1 ½ cups
Fresh green peas - ½ cup
Onion (small) - 2 nos.
Green chillies - 5 nos.
Curry leaves - 20 nos.
Ginger - 2 inch piece
Mustard seeds - ½ tsp.
Bengal gram dhal - 2 tbsp.
Oil - 3 tbsp.
Ghee - 2 tbsp.
Water - 4 ½ cups (@ 1:3 ratio of Rava and water)
Salt - 2 tsp.

Method:

Pre preparation:

Wash ginger, green chillies and curry leaves.
Wash peas.
Remove skin of onions and wash.
Chop onions finely.
Cut green chillies into 2 cm pieces.
Grate ginger.
Dry roast upma rava till it gives a pleasant flavour.

Preparation:
Heat kadai (deep frying pan) and add 3 tbsp of cooking oil. (I prefer ghee instead..its more traditional )
When the oil is hot, add mustard seeds, Bengal gram dhal and fry till dhal turns golden brown.
Add chopped onions and fry for a minute.
Add grated ginger, curry leaves and green chillies. Mix well.
Add green peas. Keep stirring for two minutes.
Add water, salt and one tbsp of ghee. Allow water to boil.
Add rava slowly to the boiling water while stirring continuously till a soft consistency is reached. Add remaining
ghee and mix well.
Switch off the flame.

Tips:
Serve hot with recd chillies pickle or ginger pickle.
Can add cashew nuts in place of peas for that extra fat!, though adding peas gives a good amino acid combination (good quality protein ).

(Me: I love garnishing with coriander though)

No. of servings:
Can serve 3 adults for breakfast.

शुन्य्य (Zero)

Origin of Zero:

Was going thru a book wherein it was mentioned about the origin of Zero. Thought it worth sharing. The history goes like this:

Historians give complete credit to India for the invention of zero and its usage as number. (Looks like our guys have laid foundation for IT long back). Initially it was denoted as small circle. It was called SHUNYA which in Sanskrit means nothing. They say it came into existence around 458 AD. Historians also credits India for the introduction of Base 10 system for the calculations. Bramhaguptha described the concept of ZERO in his work 'Bramhagupta Siddhanth'

In 830 AD a arab mathematician Al Khwarizmi visited India and studied the India system. He popularized this system thru his works. He called shunya as Al saifar. ( Later Al saifar became Al Jabar and then algebra )

Then in 12th century it was taken to West and his works were translated to Latin. In latin al sifr became Zephyr and now it is called Zero.

आम का चटनी

Raw Material and Methodology:

Mangoes (of course you would like to have those sour. So no पेद्दा रसलू or बंगिन्नापिल्ली)
Oil,Black Gram, Mustard Seeds, Fenugreek Seeds, Red Chillies, Green Chillies, Curry Leaves, Coriander Leaves and Asafoetida, Jaggery and Salt.

Methodology:

Grate raw mangoes ( 2 number) and keep aside (wait...don't start eating that, nothing will be left for chutney)

OK..now heat oil (2 1/2 table spoons). Add black gram (3 tbsp), mustard seeds (1 1/2 tbsp), fenugreek seeds (1/4 notice this is tea spoons) and red chillies (5 nos.)

Now switch off the flame and add green chillies (4 nos), curry leaves (10) and corriender leaves (as as you like) andasafotida (हींग) (1/4 tea spoons).


Now mix all and add this paste to the grated mangoes and grind along with jaggery (2 1/2 tbsp) and salt.

Now what comes out..taste and let me know... (I have learn t this from someone..and passing it on to you)