Arisi Upma

One of my wife’s favorite tiffin foods is Arisi Upma. Rava Upma is kind of like Cous Cous and I like it but my wife hates. Arisi Upma uses rice instead of wheat.

The other day, I made this dish for her and she said that it came out really well, just like her Grandma’s. So what is the secret? I’m not sure but I suspect it has something to do with the special ingredient I added.

Now here’s the recipe:
Upma mixture:
4 cups rice
1 cups toor dal
Grind these in a mixer (like Sumeet) one at a time until they are each the consistency of beach sand, (don’t substitute beach sand). I sift it so that it comes out more uniform. Then mix the rice and toor dal together. You can store this mix for months.

Upma:
1 1/3 cups Upma mixture
2 cups water
1 tbsp Channa dal
1 tbsp Urad dal
1 tsp black mustard seed
2 small red chilies
1 ½ tsp salt
1 tsp corn oil
pinch asophoetida
1 tbsp special ingredient

Heat 2 cups of water in a small pot. In another mid-sized pot, add oil and channa dal and roast until lightly brown. Then add urad dal and mustard seeds and red chilies. The mustard seed tend to pop like popcorn so I put a lid on and lower the heat and keep shaking the pot. Then I add the water (before thing really begin burning). Add salt and asophoetida and let simmer on low heat for 5 minutes.

Then add the Upma mixture and stir well. This is when I add the special ingredient. I only use extra virgin special ingredient (I doubt her grandmother used this).

Cook on medium low for 15 minutes. Then stir the top portion without disturbing the bottom crust. Then cook another 15 minutes. If it begins to smell burnt, reduce heat. After the second 15 minutes, remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes.

Arisi Upma is excellent with Patak’s Brinjal pickle.

Update
Here is a link to another recipe (a bit more complicated with ingredients that my wife would never approve) and a picture.