Wednesday, July 27, 2011

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
Your Best Recipes


lInking it to Swathi's Hearth N Soul Hop #58
Hearth and Soul Hop at Sunshine and Smile
Also to Pari's Only Baked event guerst hosted by Harini

48 comments:

  1. Now this is interesting ....love the idea ...looks yum

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  2. Thats an interesting combo. looks so delish...

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  3. clicks- awesome, gal! Lovely presentation, innovative idea

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  4. What a lovely combination. Healthy baked dish..

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  5. Nice n interesting one...looks delicious..:)

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  6. What a twist to the regular wheat rava upma....interesting idea..

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  7. Wonderful and innovative recipe. Looks yummy and delicious.

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  8. love the healthy filling....interesting recipe!!

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  9. this is really new to me..loved your idea of stuffing peppers with dalia, will sure try it and way healthy...

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  10. Looks delicious! I've never had this before so I will have to look into it and see if we have any cracked wheat around here. :)

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  11. very interesting !! looks delicious !!

    Ongoing Event - CC-Roti Pachadi/Chutney

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  12. Priya,Fabulous recipe :)I do make upma from cracked wheat but learnt something new today.These capsicums look so well done and the cheese melting on these makes me drool;)

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  13. Innovative recipe..sounds interesting..yum

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  14. that's an interesting idea there!!

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  15. Good idea of eating bell peppers. Nice combo. Must be very tasty by looking at pictures.

    Cheers,
    Uma
    http://umaskitchenexperiments.blogspot.com

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  16. This is healthy and delicious and also South beach phase 2 friendly recipe. I make them too but I just love the plain upma rather than being stuffed inside capsicum.

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  17. This is so new to me,a wonderful way to sneak in something not so welcome. I will try this and surprise my little one.

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  18. I immediately felt like attacking those bell peppers with a knife and a fork. Upma looks so yummy too :)

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  19. Hey, this is fun and a good twist from the usual potato filling

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  20. This is brilliant n you totally sold it to me :)
    US Masala

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  21. Lovely stuffing, I love the ingredients.

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  22. Brilliant idea! Love it.....

    http://treatntrick.blogspot.com

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  23. Absolutely love this dish.Too bad I don't own a OTG as yet!..such a coincidence that we are paired.So glad !!Thanx for letting me know abt the 17th event.Shall peruse your blog. Thanx for choosing the wheat halwa.So sweet of you.Your arms may hurt though!

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  24. Oh this sounds like a great snack for the weekend :) I love stuffed peppers :)
    Tes
    http://tesathome.com

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  25. Very innovative dear!!!! Ive alwayz wondered what the big fuss was bout upma coz that has always been my breakfast dish...There are endless ways to present the humble upma!!
    Prathima Rao
    Prats Corner

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  26. Very innovative Idea. A sure kid pleaser.

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  27. An interesting combo...I have only tried stuffing bell peppers with potato filling so far :-)

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  28. My mouth is watering, this looks so yummy! Very interesting idea!

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  29. Very nice recipe Priya. Perfect for a quick, healthy lunch.

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  30. We have cracked wheat upma in our drafts..This is an interesting recipe! Great idea! Tempting clicks too..

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  31. Stuffed capsicum is one of my fav and it's alwasy so easy to make. This looks lovely and i like the twist you gave in the filling.
    www.sunshineandsmile.com

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  32. nice.. its almost like a party dish.. fun filled capsicum!
    thanks for dropping by my blog
    Richa @ http://hobbyandmore.blogspot.com/

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  33. Looks fabulous Priya,fun and yummy way of getting nutritious meals.

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  34. Nice twist and a bit of healthy too! Looks so yummy!

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  35. stuffed peppers is one that my hubby likes. Nice recipe and healthy too.

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  36. Thanks for sharing with the Hearth n Soul hop! Stuffed peppers are always a treat.

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  37. I've come across so many stuffed pepper recipes but never with upma. Simply lovely idea!

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  38. DELICIOUS!!! Like the stuffing idea :)

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  39. I love stuffed peppers. I usually stuff them with leftover rice but I've never done an Indian spiced version. I will look out for cracked wheat too!!

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  40. awesome..way to go manni dearest..i have tried the veggies stuffed peppers and was looking for a healthier alternative to frying them in oil, will try the baking next time..

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  41. wow, that is such an excellent idea, I am sure she was a happy camper after seeing that, I would be too :)

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  42. This is such an amazing idea to incorporate the goodness of wheat & capsicum in a unique idea, definitely bookmarking this!!

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