I personally found that Upma/Uppittu or Poha have been the top competitors for breakfast for me! It is not that I don’t like other dishes, it is something about the ease of these two dishes that appeals to me! If you have never heard of both these dishes, Upma is a savory dish made with semolina and tempered with spices! Poha is a similar dish prepared with flattened rice. Across India there are several variations of this, although Upma is predominantly popular in the southern states. Served with some spicy chutney, this dish makes a complete meal!
This recipe is a healthy take on the popular upma/poha preparation. I just substituted the poha with oats!! Sounds simple enough to do and is also a very easy way to adopt some new grain into ones diet :). Sometimes eating healthy and eating right is all about cheating your mind into believing that the “healthy” substitution is not a big deal :P. I understand it would be too difficult to think of eating “healthy” always, but a small change here and a small way to trick your mind into accepting the tasty yet healthy dish, can make a great deal of impact in the long run. And if you are too fond of adding potatoes in the poha, maybe you could skip that and opt for tomatoes and onions instead 🙂 !!!!! A simple two step change to go from batata poha to healthy oats spicy poha-like breakfast! Most people think oats is boring and plain. I agree that just having oats porridge everyday can make anyone sick of it, but with this spicy dish you can shake up your routine a bit. The trick here is to not have the oats too mushy or sticky. For that, I have used old fashioned oats and also I just rinse it with cold water before adding it to the dish!
Ingredients
- 1 cup old fashioned oats (This has a thick consistency like the thick poha you would use)
- 2 green chillies (Or according to taste, you can even use dried red chillies)
- 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
- few curry leaves
- 5-10 groundnuts (optionally – adds a good crunch)
- 1 small onion
- 1 small tomato
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp oil of choice
- few drops of lemon juice (optional)
- chopped coriander to garnish
Preparation Time: 5 min
Cooking Time: 5 min
Servings: 2
Method
- Chop the onion, tomato and chillies finely.
- Take a pan and heat 1 tsp oil in it. First add in the groundnuts and let it roast a little. If you don’t like groundnuts you can skip this. Once the groundnuts get a little brown, add in mustard seeds and let it crackle. Add the curry leaves and chillies and saute for a few seconds.
- Add chopped onion and sprinkle some salt. Once the onions brown a little add the tomatoes and let it cook well.
- While the tomato cooks, take the oats in a bowl and wash it in running water. Drain the water out completely and add it to the cooked tomatoes. You don’t want to over soak the oats as it will become sticky. Once you add the oats to the pan, give everything a good mix, adjust salt and spice if required and turn off the stove.
- Garnish with some lemon juice and chopped coriander and serve hot!
