Vegetable Dalia Upma

Tired? Don't feel like making rice/rotis and an entire meal? Here's a quick dish that is light, both physically as well as physiologically. Yes, you guessed it. I am back with another variant of my darling: upma. If you have mixed vegetables in the freezer like I usually do, this meal can be whipped up very quickly.

1 cup Broken Wheat (Dalia)

1 Onion, chopped

1 cup Mixed vegetables, chopped and cooked (I used carrots, peas, potatoes and beans)

1 tbsp Oil

1/2 tsp Urad Dal

1/2 tsp Chana Dal

1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds

1/4 tsp Asafoetida

7-8 Curry Leaves

1 Red Chilli

¼ tsp Turmeric Powder

1 tsp Green Chilli paste

1 tsp Ginger Paste

Salt to taste

Coriander Leaves for garnish

Heat the oil in a kadhai. Add the urad and chana dals. When the urad dal begins to brown a little, add the mustard and asafoetida. When the mustard splutters, add the curry leaves, onions, red chilli, ginger and chilli pastes and fry for a couple of minutes. Add the turmeric powder and fry for a minute more. Add the mixed vegetables and the broken wheat and fry the entire mixture for 1-2 minutes. Add 2 cups of boiling hot water and salt to this.

Mix well, cover and cook for 5-7 minutes on a low flame.Mix well, garnish with coriander leaves and enjoy it as a snack or a light meal.

Mixed Dal and Dalia Cutlets

There's a huge downside to taking things other than roti-sabzi to work: we get very little for ourselves. But I'm determined to break away from that routine. It is difficult for me to eat the same kind of food on a daily basis. Moreover, we currently don't have a microwave at work. I try and pack things that taste good when cold. While sandwiches and salads are quite welcome, I figured about a year ago, that I can't eat that everyday either.

I made these cutlets a few days ago. Part of this idea came from my recent success with Paruppu Usli, part of if came from Amma's cutlets, and one part came from Nandita's bulgur patties. It was an experiment, and a successful one at that.

1/2 cup Mixed Dal, soaked for an hour

1/2 cup Dalia (Cracked Wheat), cooked

1/2 cup Mixed Vegetables(I used carrots, peas and beans), finely chopped and cooked

1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder

1 tsp Chilli Powder

1 tsp Oil + Oil for frying

Salt to taste

Grind the soaked dals to a coarse paste.

Heat the teaspoon of oil and fry this paste. Add the turmeric and chilli powders along with the salt and fry for about 4-5 minutes. Add the cooked dalia along with the vegetables. Mix well and take off the flame.

When cool, shape the mixture into cutlets. Shallow fry on a lightly greased tava until brown on both sides.

I packed this with a tomato coriander chutney. That recipe will feature here soon. I am glad I packed at least a couple of extra cutlets each. They were an instant hit at work. This recipe yielded around 12 cutlets.

I'm sending this to Sug as she hosts this month's edition of My Legume Love Affair.

Fada Ni Khichdi

I cook broken wheat just like rice and, at times, use the two interchangeably. Most of the time, one can easily tell that it is not rice. But in this Gujju dish, it is next to impossible to make out that there is no rice. I think I just might stop making rice khichdi altogether.

3/4 cup Broken Wheat (Dalia), soaked for 30 minutes

1 cup Green Gram (Moong) Dal, washed and drained

1 tsp Oil

1 Onion, chopped

2 cups Mixed Vegetables (Carrots, Beans, Peas, Cauliflower, Potatoes)

1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds

1 tsp Cumin Seeds

1 tsp Peppercorns

1” piece Cinnamon

2 Cloves

1 tsp Green Chilli Paste

¼ tsp Asafoetida

Salt to taste

Heat the oil in a pressure cooker and add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, asafoetida, peppercorns, cinnamon and cloves. After a couple of minutes, add the onions and fry for a minute. Drain the dalia. When the cumin crackles add the dalia, dal and vegetables. Fry for a minute and add the chilli paste and salt. Add about 4-5 cups of boiling hot water and cook for 20 minutes (4-5 whistles).

We had this with some kadhi. It was a complete wholesome meal. Perfect for those weeknights when you are too tired to dish out something elaborate.

Wheat Dalia Upma

Here's yet another upma variant. Wheat dalia or bulgur replaces rava in this easy recipe. Sometimes you realize that healthy eating needn’t necessarily mean tasteless food.



1 cup Wheat Dalia
1 Onion, sliced
1 tsp Oil
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
¼ tsp Mustard Seeds
7-8 Curry Leaves
½ tsp Chilli Flakes
1 tsp Green Chilli paste
1 tsp Ginger Paste
Salt to taste

Heat the oil in a kadhai. Add the mustard, cumin and asafoetida. When the mustard splutters, add the curry leaves, onions, ginger and chilli pastes and fry for a couple of minutes. Add the dalia and fry the entire mixture for 3-4 minutes. Add 2 cups of boiling hot water and salt to this. Mix well, cover and cook for 5-7 minutes on a low flame.



Enjoy it as a snack or a light meal. You could team it up with dal, sabzi, or sambar and make it a complete meal.

W is for Wheat Dalia. And this is my third W entry to Nupur's A-Z of Indian Vegetables.