Stuffed Pepper with Cracked Wheat Upma

Upma, the humble savoury dish is going places after Floyd Cardoz serenaded it to glory.The dish is not pretentious and screams comfort & wholesome ; its moments of adulation n fanfare is welcome ! A staple of south indian hearths, upma sees a whole lot of variations with the star ingredients ranging from semolina/flattened rice/sago/varied sized grains of rice/whole or refined wheat. Upma as per tamil origin is from 2 words உப்பு + மாவு =   salt + flour; so basically it is flour mixture seasoned and garnished to suit one's palate.
We all like stuffed pepper right ? - with potatoes/cheese/peas/ rice the end result is always truly blissful; upma in pepper was equally good as a stuffing and vanished in no time !

My daughter calls 4 PM as Happy Times - Why you may ask? well after a long day in school, she looks forward to the delights from my hearth and enjoys her evening snack at 4pm with relish ! The treats range from light tiffin or cookies or freshly baked cake or even fried snacks. Yesterday, was a simple upma with cracked Wheat which  got a not-so-happy look from her. To brighten up things I stuffed them in green pepper topped with lots of cheese and baked it. Voila, she was delighted !

Cracked Wheat/दलिया/கோதுமை ரவை is made from crushed/cracked whole raw wheat kernels and is not to be confused with Bulgur; bulgur also involves cracking the whole wheat kernels but they are steamed and toasted before crushing! Coming back to cracked wheat, it contains a whole lot of nutrition & fiber. So it makes sense to involve them in our diet.I have used carrots n peas other than onions in the upma, however feel free to use other veggies like beans,tomatoes etc





Now to the recipe :- For the Upma

• Cracked Wheat - 1 cup
• Onion - 1 -large- finely chopped
• Carrot -1 - grated
• Green peas - a fistful
• Green Chillis -2 - to taste
• Curry leaves - a few- roughly chopped
• Water - 2 cups
• Fennel Seeds - 1 tbsp
• Oil - 1 tsp
• Salt - to taste
• Ginger - a small piece - skinned n chopped
• Coriander leaves - for garnish

For the stuffed pepper :-

• Bell Pepper  - 2 - as required - i used greens, bring colours to the platter
• Olive Oil - for greasing- as required
• Cheese - a combination of Mozzarella & Cheddar - more the merrier - as required

How:-


Before starting to make upma, let the peppers get ready! Wash the pepper and cut its top. Scoop out the seeds n membrane; gently grease it with olive oil; and on a lightly greased baking tray, place it to get them roasted in a preheated oven @ 175C. Let the skin get soft for about 15-20 minutes. In the meanwhile let the upma activities begin.
In a pan, add oil and let the fennel seeds crackle n sizzle. Add chopped chillis, curry leaves & ginger and stir it. Now add the chopped onions and as it turns translucent, tip in the veggies of your choice and saute well. Add water and bring it to a boil. at this point also season it with salt. Slowly add the cracked wheat while gently stirring and let it simmer with lid on for a few minutes. The upma is cooked to perfection and is ready to be taken off flame. Garnish with coriander leaves and some grated cheese.


 


Now take the upma as required and stuff it in to the pepper, adding more cheese as required. 





Let it bake for 15-20 more minutes till it is charred n browned as desired.
Serve hot with Tomato sauce. Enjoy !





It's off to Vardhinis's FFNFF ; event announcement by Priya Mahadevan





Linking it to Archana's LGSS - Capsicum ; event announcemnet by Vatsala





Sending the dish to Spicie Foodie's YBR-JULY



lInking it to Swathi's Hearth N Soul Hop #58

Also to Pari's Only Baked event guerst hosted by Harini