Bread Upma

Bread Upma is what we call this all time dish, it usually is liked by all. Some variations and additions have been made by me but the main recipe is the regular one. This normally should be made with stale bread so that it does not become sticky. Ayi made it the best. Fresh bread does not bring out the right taste. So here goes the way I prepared it.....

Ingredients

6 slices of brown whole wheat bread, preferably a day old, broken by hand into very tiny pieces
3 onions chopped into medium sized squares
1 mud sized tomato chopped into small pieces
4 green chillies chopped 
A sprig of curryleaves
Salt to taste
1/2 tspn of sugar
1 ladle of milk
Juice of 1 lime
Chopped coriander and freshly grated coconut for the garnish

Method

in a pan take some oil and add mustard seeds, asafoetida, turmeric powder, now add the chillies, curry leaves, wait for a bit, add the chopped onions, drizzle little salt, saute till golden, add the tomatoes, now add the bread, salt to taste...note that bread already is salty and we added salt to the onions so add carefully, sugar, lime juice and the ladle of milk to give it the softness. stir to mix well, keep for about four to five minutes. transfer to a serving bowl. serve garnished with coconut and coriander. Some people like sev too for garnishing. This is an all time dish, can be eaten anytime of the day.

Batatavada..... 
Topped With  Kat Misal

Batatavada is the favourite of every Mumbaikar, a quick snack available at every nook and corner of the metro. All stratas of society would have definitely eaten this tongue tickler at some point of time, if the person denies, then he is not telling you the truth!! Just joking, anyway, there are variations to this dish too, like the vada tucked inside a pav with chutneys, it becomes the special vada pav. My husband likes the combination of vada with kat misal, the misal is a pulse curry, extremely spicy, eaten with every bite of the vada, mixed with mixed farsaan, some coriander and chopped onion with a dash of lime squeezed on it. Here goes the way I made the super spicy Usal for the Misal.....

Ingredients for the Misal

1 cup of  matki/turkish gram /moth beans sprouted and pressure cooked to 2 whistles

For the Gravy you need to grind all the ingredients to a smooth paste
8 cloves of garlic
3 cloves
1 piece of cinnamon
1/2 a spoon black pepper corns
4 green chillies
1 inch of ginger
2 chopped onions
1/2 cup of grated dry coconut
Few sprigs of coriander

Salt, lemon juice to be added later as per taste
Fresh coriander chopped for garnishing

Method

In a kadhai or a pan take some oil, add the ground paste, cook till the oil leaves the paste, add some salt, some lemon juice, the sprouted gram, add 3 cups of water, wait till it boils well, transfer into a serving bowl and make a platter as shown in my picture above. The second picture shows some mirchi bhaji which I love and made as an accompaniment. Now mix the mixed farsaan, chopped onion, coriander into the curry, your misal is ready and eat each vada morsel along with the misal. you have a choice of adding chopped chilli and a dash of lime while eating.