News of an Indian chef taking out a ten thousand dollar prize for this humble breakfast dish surprised the food snobs of this fair land while the rest of us soul foodies applauded. Asked to create a dish based on food memories, the Mumbai born Floyd Cardoz whipped up this soulful dish based on his childhood memories for the Top Chef Masters and took out the top prize.
The grass roots of this dish is evident in it’s name; the word upma coming from uppu (salt) and maavu (flour), hence uppuma. In the gorgeous south of India, upma is a breakfast dish or a fast food snack, it takes only minutes to prepare. Here is how..
Take 1 cup of fine semolina and dry fry it in a pan, stirring so it browns nicely then remove from the pan. Add a tablespoon of ghee or oil and throw in a good pinch of mustard seeds and watch them pop. Then throw in 5 or so curry leaves and a couple of green chillies split lengthwise. Some chopped cashew nuts can go in once the spices have settled down, then a little bit of grated ginger. Chopped onions go in next. Cook them until they are translucent or push the envelope and brown them a little if you like that sweet onion on the edge of caramelisation taste. Then add 2 cups of hot water and a pinch of turmeric, salt to taste and bring to a boil. Add the semolina and stir like crazy to keep lumps from forming. The semolina will absorb the water like the desert drinks the rain. When this happens, remove from the heat and squeeze some lemon or lime over the dish and stir it in. Garnish with coriander and enjoy!