Mandakki Upma

I’m a sucker for quick-fix breakfast dishes. Like this one. Much as I love our idlis, dosas, adais and other traditional power breakfast dishes, I also like to explore breakfast/tiffin options from other ethnic cultures, and this is one such dish that I absolutely love. If you haven’t heard of Mandakki upma earlier, you will not guess the main ingredient in it. Mandakki is ‘puffed rice’. Yes, a breakfast dish made with puffed rice! Sounds novel? For the people of North Karnataka though, this is staple diet…something that they churn from their cook-pot just as often as we make our idlis and dosas. What’s more, the recipe is very adaptable too. If you don’t have the veggies on hand, just give it a simple tadka with hing, mustard seeds, jeera, green chillies, curry leaves; add coriander and a dash of lime juice after you remove from the flame and the Mandakki upma will be just as deliciously lip-smacking. Whatever goes for you…come on now, get those creative juices flowing a bit.

Bread Upma

For one, I cannot eat bread every other day, and two, even if it’s once in a while, I need to spruce it up and make it as interesting as possible, or it won’t just go in! Yeah, I admit I’ve been spoilt real bad by my folks with all the variety of good food et al. Bread is a very very rare thing at Amma’s, and if bread was brought home, most often than not, it meant that one of us was down with fever, because that is one of the few palatable foods when you have a fever and your taste buds are dead! Old habits die hard, and bread comes even into my home only about 3-4 times a year, unless I need to make us some garlic bread to go with an appropriate entree once in a while. How some people can eat bread dipped in tea/coffee for breakfast every other day, gets me thinking if they have any taste buds at all! Ick!

I’d got some bread to make us some Bread Dahi-vada last week, and was left with a packet full of the crust and a few last slices (yeah, that includes the 2 end slices that no one wants to eat!). I wracked my brains to put it to some use other than feeding the neighbourhood stray-pups, which I had already done. Anymore bread crusts from me, and the poor pups would have fled the neighbourhood for good!

Ingredients:

• Whole Wheat Bread – 1 loaf (I used just the crust from one loaf + 4-5 slices)
• Onions – 2 nos (medium-sized; finely chopped)
• Tomatoes – 2 nos (medium-sized; finely chopped)
• Green Chillies – 2 nos, slit
• Curry leaves – a sprig, finely chopped
• Coriander/Cilantro – a handful, finely chopped
• Lime juice – from 1 lime
• Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
• Salt – to taste
• Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
• Asafoetida – a pinch
• Oil – 2 tsps
• Water – 1/4 cup

Procedure:

• Crumble the bread crusts/slices with your hand, onto a large, wide plate.
• Gradually sprinkle the water with your hands, onto the bread and crumble gently, some more, to ensure all of the bread is moistened. Make sure you don’t overdo the water.
• Now add the lime juice to the crumbled bread and give it a stir so it is well incorporated. Let the bread soak in the water and lime juice for atleast 10 minutes.
• In the meanwhile, heat oil in a wok. Pop the mustard seeds and add the asafoetida.
• Add the finely chopped onions, green chillies and curry leaves. Saute till onions are tender.
• Add the tomatoes, and after 2 minutes, add the turmeric powder and salt. Stir well and cook till mushy.
• Add the crumbled bread, stir well and cook on a medium flame for 4-5 minutes. Remove from flame.
• Garnish with coriander and serve hot.