Upma is the humble Indian version of a polenta or a spicy porridge. However, despite its modest beginning, it takes on multiple incarnations thanks to the many forgiving ways you can forge its recipe. For example, Floyd Cardoz, a Bombay-born New York chef, recently won the coveted Top Chef Masters contest in Los Angeles by taking this dish and upping it to an haute cuisine. Its unassuming nature starts with its name, which simply translates to ‘salty flour.’ It has always been a breakfast for sadhus, and aam aadmis and is the go-to food for train journeys and school lunches. However, by the time you are old enough to get out of your parents’ home, you, like me, had such an overdose of Rava Upma that you want to be miles away from any kitchen that serves this dish for the rest of your life. But the secret allure of this dish cannot be denied, and you eventually crave for it. This recipe goes back to the basics, and presents its classic taste by keeping it very simple. Please give it a try.
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Rava Upma, the common man’s polenta.
Upma is the humble Indian version of a polenta or a spicy porridge. However, despite its modest beginning, it takes on multiple incarnations thanks to the many forgiving ways you can forge its recipe. This recipe goes back to the basics, and presents its classic taste by keeping it very simple. Avoid butter in this recipe to make it a vegan dish. Please give it a try.
Pour the contents of the dry spices into a wide non-stick frying pan (put the spices in one small area of the frying pan). Pour the vegetable oil over the spices (enough to soak the spices plus a little more).
Heat on medium. When you first hear the sound of the mustard seed "popping," add the diced green chilies, curry leaves, butter, and ginger into the pan. Stir until the butter melts. Mix all the spices together well for a minute.
Add onions to the frying pan. Stir occasionally until the onions become translucent. They don’t need to be cooked to a 'golden brown' color.
Add two cups of water to the frying pan. Add green peas and salt. Bring the water to a first boil.
Add soji (rava) slowly while constantly stirring so that it does not form any lumps.
Keep stirring the mix until all the water is absorbed. It should happen fairly quickly.
Reduce the heat to low, and close the pan with its lid for a few minutes, until the soji is cooked and becomes fluffy and moist.
It is said that if you can cook a good Biryani, you can be a chef at the Nawab’s kitchen! Indeed, it is not for the fainthearted! In my opinion, the ultimate culinary experience is to cook, to smell, and to eat a well-prepared Biryani. Of course, they are not all made equal; the ‘Hyderabadi Dum Biryani’ has always been the uncontested champion of Biryanis. When you cook your Biryani with saffron (without artificial colors), you are preparing a royal food served only in the finest palaces of India! Here is an authentic recipe for Hydrabadi Vegetable Dum Biryani using the Instant Pot. IP is perfect to prepare the dum part, which is the best part of this style of Biryani. It seamlessly infuses the blend of spices and their aromas by slow cooking the rice in near ideal pressure conditions. It is going to take time to prepare this dish right, so do not over commit to prepare too many other dishes. Remember that this dish is designed to be a complete meal, thus many side dishes really are not needed anyway. Simply make a kurma, or raitha or both. Enjoy cooking this meal and Bon Appétit!
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Hyderabadi Vegetable Dhum Biryani
It is said that if you can cook a good Biryani, you can be a chef at the Nawab’s kitchen! Indeed, it is not for the fainthearted! In my opinion, the ultimate culinary experience is to cook, to smell, and to eat a well-prepared Biryani. This is a vegetarian meal and gluten free.
Rinse the rice thoroughly and soak it for at least an hour.
Add a few strands of saffron to a small amount of warm milk and set it aside.
On a non-stick frying pan, add oil and set the stove to med-high. Add 3 cardamom (only the small inner black seeds, and not the pods) to the oil.
Add 3 cloves, 3 small pieces of cinnamon stick, 1 tbsp of cumin seeds and fry until they are lightly brown.
Add green chilies, ginger and garlic and fry them all together for a few seconds.
Add onions and fry them until they become soft. Add salt and butter.
Add all Masala powders. Reduce the heat, then add ½ cup of yogurt, half of the diced mint and half of the diced coriander leaves. (Cooling it down when adding the yogurt ensures that it does not separate.)
Add all the vegetables (carrot, cauliflower, potatoes, and green peas). Adjust heat if needed. Slowly turn them over without making the vegetables fall apart. Cook until the potatoes just become soft. Be careful not to overcook the potatoes - if they overcook, then they will become mushy later in the process.
Ideally at this stage, you should have the vegetables cooked half way through and they are soaked in a thick gravy that is cooked as well. This is the most difficult and important part of the dum recipe for good consistency.
If the curry mix is very dry and all the moisture evaporated, add about 1/2 cup of liquid (puree) yogurt after it has cooled down. Mix gently. Add some fried onion (optional) and set aside.
In a separate large vessel, add 1 tbsp of cumin seed, and 1 tsp of oil. Add 6 cups of water.
In a tea ball, put in 3 cloves, 3 cardamom, 3 cinnamon sticks and a few bay leaves and close it with the lid. Drop the tea ball in the water. Heat the water and bring to a rolling boil. Keep it boiling for a few minutes.
Add the rice. Wait for 3-5 (maximum five) minutes. Do not cook the rice completely (just half way through). The test is that if you take a rice grain, and press it with your fingers, it should break into two halves.
Take the rice out of the container. Strain the rice, and spread it on a on a large plate for it to become dry for a few minutes. Make sure you save at least one cup of this water.
In the inner pot of the Instant Pot (IP), spread a layer of the cooked vegetable gravy mixture (from step #11) evenly at the bottom. Use as much as half of the cooked vegetables and the leave the other half for later. The trick here is to add the liquid part of the vegetable gravy to the bottom. You want more liquid in this layer than the later layers.
Add a layer of the half cooked rice slowly until the vegetable gravy base is covered with rice. Spread the rice uniformly over the cooked base. If the rice is cool enough, use your hand to sprinkle it on. If the rice is very hot, gently spread the rice using a spoon.
To this layer, sprinkle a uniform layer of coriander and mint leaves to cover the rice. Use as much as you like, but if you are not a fan of mint or coriander leaves, you can skip this step as well. Also sprinkle the fried onion (optional) onto this layer.
Note: Do not fill in layers beyond the 4L mark. Remember, rice will still expand a bit.
Repeat the above three steps, i.e., building a layer of vegetable base, then rice and then finally a layer of mint and coriander. Continue to build these layers until all rice and the base are used up. Ensure that the top/final layer is rice.
Sprinkle ½ cup of water over the top layer, preferably the leftover water from the rice preparation step (from step #15). Also, remember the rice and vegetables are only half cooked, so you need some amount of moisture in the pot. For 2.5 cups of rice, you need a total of about one cup of moisture for the rice to cook in.
Sprinkle the saffron milk on the top layer. Add some additional yellow coloring, if needed. Sprinkle some long cut onions and chilies over the top layer.
Close the lid. Close the valve to the 'sealing position' and set to 'slow cook on high' for 30 minutes. This the dum part. The IP may not build enough pressure for the 'floating valve' to pressure position. That is okay.
After 30 minutes, open the lid. Biryani should be done, check the vegetables and the rice. Taste some from the bottom layers. If the rice is not done, add additional minutes.
Mix the rice and serve. Some folks like to serve it without mixing, but I like to mix. Garnish it with onions, green chilies, and cilantro.
When it is gloomy, cold and raining, it is time to reach for my pot. Oh shush, I am speaking of my Instant Pot!
Pongal
When I was growing up in my village, during the winter months of December/January, if we went to the temple early in the morning, the priest would serve us a hot cup of Pongal. Ever since then, I have always associated winter mornings to the taste of a good Pongal. Over the years, I have ever so slowly perfected my own homemade Pongal. Recently, I have updated my recipe to make this cooking very simple using an Instant Pot.
For my non-South Indian friends, Pongal is the South Indian equivalent to a spicy western porridge. It has become a national breakfast food in India, and a very popular dish in the South. You can make this recipe a vegan dish by simply substituting the butter with a suitable vegetable oil. It is gluten free if you avoid the hing.
Here is my recipe. Give it a try and let me know what you think.
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Pongal
Pongal is the South Indian equivalent to a spicy western porridge. It has become a national breakfast food in India, and a very popular dish in the South. You can make this recipe a vegan dish by simply substituting the butter with a suitable vegetable oil. It is gluten free if you avoid the hing.
Put moong dhal in a small pot on medium heat and dry roast until it is hot to touch. Do not over roast it. Make sure you turn the moong dhal over constantly so as to make the roasting uniform.
Plug in the Instant pot, press ‘sauté’ and ‘adjust’ to change the digital display to ‘more.’ This is the high setting for sauté. In the Instant Pot inner pot, add the butter. Once it is melted, add hing, add finely chopped ginger, sauté for 2-3 seconds, then add pepper (best if you have freshly ground pepper) and cumin seeds. Add salt. Add the green chilie. If you want to add more flavor, add a bit of ground cumin powder. Adjust the ‘sauté’ temperature down if needed. Sauté for another 1 min. You can add fresh curry leaves. Make sure nothing burns or stick to the bottom of inner pot. Add roasted moong dhal and the rice.
Add three cups of water. The amount of water you add would vary based on the rice you use. I use Thai Jasmin rice for my cooking. Adjust as needed.
On manual, under high pressure, with vent sealed, cook for 8 min. Let it cool down naturally.
Open the lid, add the Cashew nuts, and thoroughly mix.
This recipe is for making rice in an Instant Pot. The ratio of rice to water is given for Jasmine Rice. Water amount changes and it depends on the type of rice used.
