Morning time means

• Wake up
• Make Break fast
• Feed Kiddo
• Help him get ready for school(Collective effort here)
• Pack snacks for kiddo, lunch for hubby
• Pack off kid and hubby

All this happen with in a time frame of 25-30 minutes. That is because I get up late, real late every morning. And you can guess why – all the posts here are posted after 1 AM.

So breakfasts have to be very simple and very fast. Aval Upma is one such simple dish.

Ingredients:

1 cup Aval/Rice Flakes/Poha

1 medium size Onion, chopped fine

1 or 2, Green Chillies, chopped fine and sliced thin

1 or 2 tsp Lemon Juice, optional

1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder

1 tsp Mustard Seeds

1 tsp Urad Dal

A few Curry Leaves

2 tsp Oil

Salt, as required

Water, to soak the Aval

Method:

1. Wash the Aval thoroughly. I used the thick variety and so soaked it in water for about 10 minutes. The thinner variety needn’t be soaked.
2. Heat oil in a pan, add the mustard seeds. Once it splutters, add urad dal and the curry leaves.
3. When the urad dal becomes brownish, add the onion and saute till it changes color.
4. Squeeze out the Aval and add it to the pan.
5. Add turmeric powder and salt. Let it cook for 2-3 minutes.
6. Take off the heat, add lemon juice and serve.

You can always elaborate it with more veggies (peas or corn or carrots), but I just like it the simple way. This can be served as a quick snack too.

Variations:

When soaking, if you use tamarind water (need to be soaked for a longer time – 20 to 30 min), then you have the tamarind aval upma. You shouldn’t add lemon juice in this case.