Cream of Rice Upma

Back home in India, we are used to having Upma(s), Idlis, Dosas and all those dishes in their close likeness as staple breakfasts. Something that always intrigues me is how quickly I've grown used to not having any of those for breakfast. A decade ago I would've stated the probability of that happening close to zero. Today I find myself still craving these dishes but certainly not for breakfast. I prefer to have them for lunch along with a serving or two of veggies. For breakfast I am kind of addicted and devoted to a steaming bowl of oatmeal with milk or buttermilk 4 times a week. At other times, I like to have bran flakes with milk, whole-grain toast with almond butter or hummus, oat flour pancakes, oats-and-fruit shake or oats upma! Uh-oh....all my choices seem to have oats in some form or the other. I need to start my day on a vibrant note and a healthy breakfast goes a long way in helping me achieve that. I also try to stick with breakfasts which are oil-free and low in sugar. So most of the Indian breakfast items I write here have transformed themselves into lunch dishes in our household! Cream of rice upma is one of my dad's faves. I remember my mom making this for us during weekends (on the ones she was around) when I was a kid. The consistency is all that matters in a upma to make it go from simply delicious to oh-what-a-sticky-mess!

Hot Rice Rawa Upma ready to be eaten!

Here goes Amma's recipe for this -

Ingredients -
1) Raw Rice - 1 cup (Use Ponni or Sona Masoori rice for best results.)
2) Toor Dal - one handful
3) Bengalgram Dal - one handful
4) Cumin Seeds - 1 tspn
5) Black Peppercorns - 1 tspn
6) Onion - 1 big (chopped)
7) Salt - to taste

For seasoning -
1) Mustard seeds - 1 tspn
2) Bengalgram Dal - 1 tspn
3) Blackgram Dal - 1 tspn
4) Asafetida - a pinch
5) Curry leaves - few (rinsed)
6) Ginger - 1 inch piece (julienned)
7) Green Chilies - 1 long one (slit)
9) Oil - 3 tspns

Method -
1) Wash rice in cold water and spread it on a muslin cloth overnight in an airy place so that the rice is completely dry. You can omit this step if you are sure the rice is absolutely clean like the one you get in the U.S.
2) Take the dry rice and add ingredients 1-5 and pound coarsely in an Indian blender (like Sumeet). If you don't have one, make sure you pulse in short bursts until the mixture has the consistency of coarse steel-cut oats or cracked wheat.
3) If you ended up producing too much of soft flour, do not panic. Sifting the cream of rice will separate out the soft flour. But you will have to make some more cream of rice with another batch of rice.
4) After this step, the procedure is pretty straightforward like upma made with any other ingredient.
5) Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed pan and toss in the seasonings one after another as mentioned above.
6) Next, add in the onions and saute till they turn translucent.
7) Pour 2.5 cups of water and stir in the salt and bring to a rolling boil.
8) The cream of rice can be added a little at a time to ensure no lumps are formed. (I generally take the pan off the stove and put it back on only after I'm convinced that I've created a homogeneous mixture.)
9) Cover and cook on a low flame until done. This could take upto 25 minutes. If you don't have a lot of time on your hands, you can pressure cook the upma.
10) If you are going the pan way, then you can uncover and leave it on medium heat for a few minutes after the upma is cooked through to get a yummy upma crust! :)