Healthy Oats Upma

It’s been more than 45 days since I had uploaded my last blog post. And, what a terribly hectic period this has been! There was immense work pressure in the office. To add to the woes, my elder daughter’s school too scheduled their exams in this period.

Well, daughter’s exams have got finished and work pressure in the office, too has kind of eased off. The biggest casualty in this period was cooking. I would virtually fix dinner with whatever I could get near me at that time.

And for the breakfast, it was Oats, Oats & Oats. Blame it on the quick & non-fussy way it gets cooked or the healthy-lots of fibre-low calorie tag associated with that. The last Sunday, I said enough is enough. I need to make a breakfast which my kids & hubby would love to have.

For some reasons, my mind was so clouded with Oats, I wondered if I could make something interesting out of Oats only. Thus was born Oats Upma. Try this out, I bet you’ll love it.

Ingredients

Oats – 200 gms

Onion – 1 Large, chopped

Carrot – 1 medium, grated

Green peas – ¼ cup (optional)

Green chilli –  3 to 4, chopped

Peanut – 2 Tbsp

Chana daal – 1 Tbsp

Curry leaves – 8 to 10

Mustard – ½ tsp

Turmeric powder – 1 tsp

Chilli powder – ½ tsp

Coriander leaves – 1 bunch, chopped

Sugar – ½ tsp

Salt as per taste

Method

Heat a pan and dry roast the oats for 3 to 4 minutes with constant stirring so as to avoid burning of the oats. Remove it and keep aside.

Heat oil in a pan, add peanut and fry for 2 minutes. Add Chana daal in that and stir fry for half a minute. Add Mustard and Curry leaves. When it starts spluttering, add onion & green chili and fry for some time. 

Add grated carrot and peas and fry for about 2 to 3 minutes. Add turmeric powder, chilli powder and salt and mix well.

Now add roasted oats and mix well. Reduce the flame and sprinkle  water slowly, little at a time so that it doesn't become sticky. Cover with a lid and cook it for a minute and   then add some more water continue to stir with spatual till the oats become soft but not sticky. Add 1/2 tsp of Sugar, fried peanuts & roasted chana daal and mix well

Finally add chopped coriander. Switch off the flame and keep it covered for few minutes.

Oats Upma is ready to serve for a healthy yet tasty breakfast.

Cheesy Macaroni

Cheesy macaroni is one of those special items which  make a nice smile on my kids face when she opens her lunch box in school. Even my hubby also loves this very much. Recipe is as usual of my type " Easy and fast cooking". It doesn't need much of ingredients also. This indeed is a very tempting dish and a complete breakfast by itself.

Ingredients:
Macaroni (Elbow)              1 cup
Butter                               1 tbsp
All purpose flour                2 tbsp
Milk                                 1 cup
Processed cheese (grated) 1/2 cup
Pepper powder                1 tsp
Salt (As per taste)

Method:

1. Boil macaroni in 2 cups of water adding 1/2 tsp of salt. Cook it until macaroni becomes soft. Drain water and keep it aside.
2. To make the white sauce, heat a pan and add butter. Now add flour and  saute lightly in low flame so that it doesn't change the color. Now add milk slowly and stirring it continuously so as to avoid forming lumps.
3. Add grated cheese and keep stiring. Adjust the consistency of the white sauce by adding more milk. Add salt and pepper powder and stir again.
4. Heat butter in a pan and add boiled macaroni and toss it properly. Now add this macaroni in the white sauce mixture and mix throughly.

       Garnish adding other herbs or you can  serve it  without garnishing also.