Capsicum - Rava Upma (Uppittu).

Capsicum Rava Uppittu (Upma) is a healthy snack and we can have them for breakfast, as snack or for dinner too. Adding Capsicum to Upma gives a good aroma and adds taste to Upma.

Lets see some benefits of Semolina and Capsicum which are main ingredients in Capsicum Upma.

As we all know Rava or Rave (in Kannada language) is from durum wheat and contain lots of minerals such as phosphorus, zinc and magnesium. Semolina is a good source of two vital vitamins, E and B group which are essential for good immunity from disease. Eating semolina makes you more active and it digested slowly, so that you do not feel hungry for a long time. For those who lead an active lifestyle, semolina is a quick and nourishing source of energy.

Capsicum  helps to keep the skin clear, prevents rashes and pimples. It contain vitamin A which is good for eyes and helps to prevent eye diseases.Capsicum is helpful in treating pain - related diseases. It burns calories. Eating capsicum speeds up the metabolism. It reduces weight gain and prevents indigestion. It also regulates blood pressure and lowers cholesterol. Capsicum extract is one of the best hair growth boosting product. It also prevents hair fall.

Here is a recipe of Capsicum Upma. I have used Medium sized Rava, capsicum, grated coconut.

Capsicum Upma is a tasty dish which every one will love to have it. Its one of the most favourite breakfast and snack dish for the South Indian. A bowl of Hot and Spicy Upma and a cup of Coffee or Tea goes very well together. We can also serve this dish in small kitty parties or get together. This capsicum - rava upma is prepared without onions and you can have them on special days and fasting time.

Ingredients :
Medium sized Rava (Semolina) : 2 Cups
Capsicum : 2 (Medium Sized )
Coconut : 1/2 Cup (fresh and grated)
Green chilly :  2 to 3
Ginger : 1 Table spoon (grated)
Oil : 2 Table spoons
Ghee : 2 Table spoons
Mustard seeds : 1/2 Tea spoon
Urid dal : 1/2 Tea spoon
Jeera :1/2 Spoon
Curry leaves : 6 to 8 leaves .
Salt : to taste
Water : 3 1/2 to 4 cups

Method

1. Wash and cut green chilly, curry leaves and capsicum. Grate coconut and ginger.

2. Boil water and keep it aside.
3. Keep a pan on the fire and heat. Put oil and mustard seeds, urid dal. Let the mustard spurt.

4. Add cut green chully, jeera and curry leaves. Add capsicum and fry nicely till they turn soft (2 nutes).

5. Add rava and fry with capsicum till the raw smell disappear.

6. Add salt, ginger and required boiling water.

7. Mix it well and stir till they turn little thick. cover the lid and cook on low flame for 2 to 3 minutes.

8. Now remove the lid and put fresh grated coconut and 2 table spoons of ghee and stir slowly and put off the gas.
9.Shift the Ready Capsicum Upma to a serving dish.

10. Serve Capsicum Upma with a cup of coffee or tea...or curd and coconut chutney.

 Note : 

You can use more vegetables if you wish. Adding more oil or ghee adds to the taste but not a healthy habit. You can lesson or add more chilly according to your wish.
Time :  20 minutes
Serves : 4.

Jaggery Kesari Baath/ Gul Pavate

Gul Pavate/Jaggery Kesari is a sweet dish.

It is prepared  using jaggery, rava, ghee and cardamom.Gul Pavate is one of the traditional and healthy dish. Loads and loads of ghee used in preparing Gul Pavate. May be some thing like Chooran Halwa which is prepared with wheat, sugar and ghee. In olden days this dish was one of the kids special too. There is a proverb in Kannada " Kallu tindu jeerna Maadi kolluva kaala ". This means kids can digest whatever they eat. in the younger age. But as the time changed, the favour for using sugar grown and sugar replaced the jaggery in most of the items and it became more fancy and the status too. So lots of sweets prepared using sugar loaded the market too. It made easy for people to have more crave for sugar made sweets. Now again people prefer to intake jaggery and reduced the consumtion of sugar.

There are innumerable benifits of jaggery. Jaggery is a great remedy for anemia, astama, joint pains and menstrual pains. It also aids in digestion, purifies blood and keeps the skin away from problems like pimples and acnes. It is a great enery booster as it provides us lots of energy. Jaggery is a very good source of minerals for the body.

Semolina is made from durum wheat and it is digested slowly. Semolina improves kidney function. It contains potassium. Samolina is an ideal food for active, energetic people. It contain protein and variety of minerals. Samolina contains Vitamin E and Vitamin B.

Remember Samolina is high gluten content and it should be avoided by those who are sensitive to gluten.

Here is a Gul-Pavate recipe. As I said, gulpavate is prepared using rava-jaggery, ghee and cardamom. I added carrots to Gulpavate. Carrots provid the natural colour and taste to the Gul Pavate. I am sure the whole family will enjoy eating Gulpavate and all age group will surely like this dish.

Things Needed :

Rava : 1 Cup
Jaggery : 1/2 Cup
Ghee : 1/2 Cup
Cardamom Powder : 1/2 Tea spoon
Carrots : 1 Cup

Water : 1 1/2 to 2 cups
Cashew nuts : 1 Table spoon

 :

Method :

1. Wash and grate carrots, cut cashew nuts and powder the cardamom. (5 to 6 pods)

2. Keep water for boiling.
3. Keep a pan on the fire and heat.
4. Add 1 spoon of ghee and fry cashew nuts and carrots for 2 minutes. Keep it aside.
5. Keep a bigger pan on the fire. Heat and put 2 to 3 table spoons of ghee and fry rava until the raw smell disappear. (3 to 5 minutes).

6. Add boiling water and stir slowly. Let the rava cook and become thick.

7. Add jaggery and stir kesari. Let it mix it nicely.
8. Add fried carrots and cashew nuts. Stir and mx it well.
9. It starts to become thick Stir until it starts leaving the pan.
10. Now add cardamom and remaining ghee.
11. Mix it well and shift the Jaggery Kesari to a serving bowl.
12. Serve Jaggery kesari with any savoury or as it is .

Note:

You must roast Rava well to get good Kesari baat. You can add jaggery according to your taste. I have used organic jaggery. You can also prepare jaggery syrup and filter it and get the clean jaggery. Adding ghee increases the taste of the Kesari. You can also use ripe banana or pineapple or ripe mango pulp to give a fruit taste and natural flavoural.   

Time : 30 minutes 

Serves : 3 to 4