Uppudu Pindi ~ Rice Rava Upma

As we enter the final stretch of this marathon, A-Z Challenge Journey Through Telangana Cuisine, I am running out of steam and do not know how to start this post. This and the next three are going to be short, as I am yet to write the posts. Last two are already scheduled and that is a relief!

Today, it is U for uppudu pindi or uppidi pindi. Uppudu pindi is basically upma prepared with rice rava / coarse cream of rice. Uppudu pindi is slightly drier than upma with few variations. Along with rava, chana dal or moong dal is used. I used chana dal here. This can be served for breakfast or as a light meal for lunch or dinner. Some prefer eating it with pickle and/or yogurt. This is prepared even in Andhra and have seen recipes similar to uppudu pindi from other parts of South India as well, with slight variations. In olden days uppudi pindi was made with broken rice, the rice that was broken when husking. Nowadays it is made with coarse rice raw.

My grandma use to sprinkle some water on rice to lightly dampen the rice, let it dry in shadow and then use to make rava out of it. Rice rava is cream of rice and the one used for uppudu pindi is coarse. Nowadays, rice is directly ground to rava. I followed the procedure that was followed in olden days. The only step I skipped is, sieving, which gives even rava, but I was lazy to run it in a sieve.

Above picture and rest of the pictures in the post were taken at a different time of the day and place. I wasn't happy with above picture and the pictures from that batch. Fortunately, I ate only one bowl and used the other one to re-take remaining pictures I used in this post. In fact, I had recooked uppudu pindi for better pictures. Pictures I took back in Feb were so bad and could not get myself to share it publicly.

Here is the list of some of the vegetables, fruits and dishes starting with 'U'.
Fruit:
Usirikaya - Amla (Hindi) ~ Gooseberry
Legumes:
Ulavalu - Gorsegram
Vegetables:
Ulligadda - Onions
Dishes:
Usirikaya pachadi (pickle), ulvacharu (rasam with horsegram), ulligadda pulusu, ulligadda ukkera / Onion Curry, upma, uppu pachadi (salt pickle) or uppu aava pachadi (mango pickle without chili powder)

Preparing Rice Rava:

Sprinkle some water on ½ cup of rice to wet the rice. Do not add too much water, about a tablespoon or 2 should do.
Spread rice on paper towel or a clean cloth. Let the rice dry for 2 - 3 hours.
Once the rice is dry, pulse it in a grinder for few seconds. I ground it in my spice grinder for 2 - 3 seconds.

Uppudi Pindi
Cooking Time: 15 minutes
Serves: 1 - 2

Ingredients:

½ cup Rice Rava (check preparing rice rava above)
1 ½ - 2 tbsp. Chana Dal soaked in water for about 30 minutes (I used 2 tbsp.)
1 ½ - 2 tbsp. Oil
⅛ - ¼ tsp. Cumin Seed
⅛ - ¼ tsp. Mustard Seeds
3 - 4 Curry Leaves
½ small Onion, sliced or chopped
2 Green Chilies or Dry Red Chilies (adjust to taste, check note below)
⅓ - ½ tsp. Salt (adjust to taste and will need less than ½ teaspoon of salt )
1 - 1 ¼ cups Water

Preparation:

Heat oil in a saucepan, add cumin and mustard seeds. Let the seeds crackle.
Add curry leaves and green chilies and let the leaves change color.
Add onions and sauté for a minute.
Add Chana dal and fry for 2-3 minutes until dal is lightly toasted in oil.
Add water and bring to a boil. Add salt.
Stirring constantly add rice rava.
Give a good stir, cover the lid and cook on medium flame until most of the moisture is absorbed.
Stir again, reduce the flame to low and cook until rava and chana dal are cooked, about 6 - 8 minutes.
Turn off the heat and let it sit for sometime or serve right away.

Note:

Chilies - I made it once with 2 green chilies and once with 2 dry chilies. I preferred green chilies. Or can use one each.
Water Ratio - I used 1:2 rava to rice ratio and added about 1 - 2 tablespoon of extra water.
Substitute - I used rice rava and some of my friends make it with store bought rice flour. Chana dal can be substituted with moong dal.

This day in 2014: Green Eggplant Habanero Peppers Stir Fry from Sikkim
This day in 2015: Orange Cake
Events: This post also goes to A-Z Challenge for day 21, letter 'U'.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 63