Oats Upma/Uppittu

Oats Upma is a simple and quick dish and it can be eaten for breakfast, as snack or even for dinner. When you are really hungry and looking for something eat, fast and easy Oats Upma can be prepared.
Oats are said to be healthy to the core and the people who wants to diet will surrender themselves in eating Oats. Many many varieties of dishes can be prepared using Oats.

I normally store a small pack of plain oats. I do prepare laddu or some sweets using this oats. This time I just wanted to try this upma. Using Oats you can really prepare many Indian snacks and dishes.
Lets see some benefits of eating Oats in our diet.
Oats are extremely healthy grain. It is full of nutrients like fibre, Vitamin E, essential fatty acids. Eating Oats helps to lower the cholesterol levels. They are low fat diet content. They are rich in anti-oxidents. Oats are rich in soluble and insoluble fibre. They helps to regulate the bowel movements and prevent constipation. They also help to control blood sugar level in Diabetes.
Lets see the recipe now.

Oats (any brand) : 2 to 3 cups

 Onion : 1
Coconut : 1/2 Cup
Green chilly : 2
Ginger : 1 Teaspoon (grated)
Lemon : 12 Teaspoon
Oil : 2 Tablespoons
Ghee : 1 Tablespoon
Mustard seeds : 1/2 Teaspoon
Urid Dal : 1/2 Teaspoon
Curry Leaves : 8 to 10
Coriander leaves : 1 Tablespoon
Turmeric Powder : a pinch
Salt : required

Method : 

1. Remove the outer skin of onion, wash it and cut into small pieces.
2. Wash and cut green chilly, coriander leaves and curry leaves.
3. Squeeze out the lemon and keep the extract aside.

4. Grate coconut and keep it aside.
5. Keep a pan on the fire and heat. Add oil, mustard seeds and urid dal.
6. Let the mustard seeds splutter, add curry leaves and cut green chilly. Fry for 10 seconds.

7. Add onions and fry for a minute. Add oats and fry nicely for a minute. It mixes well quickly.

8. Add little less than 1/2 cup of boiling/ normal water, little turmeric powder, salt and cover with a lid. Let it cook on low flame.
9. Stir in between so that it does not get burnt at the bottom. Add a spoon of ghee.

10 Put off the fire. Add lemon extract, cut coriander leaves and grated coconut. Mix it nicely and shift the ready Oats Upma to a serving dish.

Note : 

Take care while adding water. Oats become soft very quickly. You can add cooked vegetables to the upma. Adding onions is also optional. (You can prepare Upma without onions). Adding more chilly is also optional.

Time : 10 minutes
Serves : 2          

Jack Fruit Kadubu

Jack Fruits are the seasonal Fruits and most of us love to eat fruits. We also prepare many dishes using jack fruits. Jack Idlis, kadubu, appa,(jack fruit fritters), dosa, payasam, papads etc etc.  Raw jack can be used for curries, papad and chips etc.Jack furit kadubu is an authentic dish of Dakshina Kannada and Malnad. Each household kitchen has one or the other dish made out of Jack fruits during jack fruit season.

Lets see some benefits of eating Jack Fruits.
Jackfruit is very hign fiber content, zero fat and high energy containing fruit. It contains high amount of nutrient like vitamin, minerals, carbohydrates and protein. It is a good source of calorie and no cholesterol or saturated fats. Jackfruit is rich in vitamins and minerals. It is rich in Vitamin B, Vitamin C, Magnesium and potassium. Jackfruit contain high amount of carbohydrates and calorie and it provides energy. It is rich in antioxidants and good for ageing and degenerative disease. It is also good for good eye sight and improve bone and skin health. Jackfruit helps to maintain ideal blood pressure and reduce the risk of stroke and heart attack.
I have used Jack fruits, raw rice, coconut and jaggery to prepare this jack fruit kadubu. We can have them for breakfast, or snack or even for dinner.

Things needed :

Jack Fruits : 10 to 15 Fruits
Raw Rice : 2 Cups
Fresh Coconut : 1 Cup
Jaggery : 1/4 Cup
Salt : a pinch
Banana leaves : 4 (Full size).

Method : 

1. Soak raw rice for 1 to 2 hours.
2. Dee - seed jack fruits

3. Grate coconut.
4. Wash banana leaves and cut them in to desired size.
5. Grind coconut and jack fruits nicely.

6. Add soaked raw rice once jackfruit and coconut mixture turn as paste.
7. Grind it till paste. Do not add water while grinding or add very little water.
8. Add jaggery and then grind all mixture nicely.
9. Remove from the mixi jar to a bowl and add salt. Mix it well.

10. Now spread the cut banana leaf. Add a ladle of ground jack fruit mixture and close it.

11. Repeat the same and fill all the cut banana leaves with Jack fruit mixture.
12. Keep a pressure cooker or idly cooker. Add some water at the bottom and keep a plate.

13. Arrange raw jack fruit mixture folded in banana leaves and cook for minimum 20 to 25 minutes.

14. Prick a knife/spoon edge to see its done. (if it is cooked the dough does not stick to the knife edge).
15. Remove cooked kadubu from banana fold and serve hot Jack fruit kadubu with ghee on top of the kadubu.

Note :

Using more fruits turn the kadubu soft and nice to eat. They taste better once it is cooled. Adding more or less jaggery is optional.
You can also use medium size rava instead of raw rice. ( have a look at older post). If the ground mixture turns watery add little rice powder to it. The dough consistency should be idli dough. You can also use idli plates to cook jack idli instead of banana leaf. Banana leaves give a good aroma and is healthy. You can also use Teak wood leaves instead of banana leaves. It adds to the colour and flavour.
Time : 1 hour to soak rice - 10 minutes for preparation and 30 minutes to cook 
Total time : 1 hour 40 minutes.
Serves : 3 to 4.