When you've run out of breakfast ideas and are feeling for something spicy and not too complicated... have Upma! A traditional south Indian breakfast dish made from roasted semolina and a few spices. Depending on how much time you have and how creative you'd like to get, you can add other vegetables as well, like carrots, green peas, green beans and sweetcorn. I've even seen recipes with tomatoes and onions and roasted cashews. I kept my recipe really basic though, so feel free to add in some other goodies as well.

Ingredients

1 cup semolina
1 Tbsp coconut oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 Tbsp yellow split and dehusked lentils (moong dal)
5 curry leaves
4 slit green chillies
3 cups water
salt to taste
2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp finely chopped coriander

Method

Heat the semolina in a non-stick pan. Dry roast on a medium heat for 4 - 5 minutes. Stir the semolina so that it gets evenly roasted. Set aside.
Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan on a medium heat. Add the mustard seeds. Once the seeds start to crackle, add the split lentils, curry leaves and green chillies. Sauté for a few seconds. If you’re going to add any other veggies, add them in at this point and stir fry for a few minutes.
Add the roasted semolina, water and salt. Mix well and cover with a lid. Cook on a low heat for 3 - 4 minutes. Stir once or twice to ensure that everything is mixed.
Add the lemon juice and sugar and mix well. Allow everything to settle in for 1-2 minutes before removing from the heat.
To display as a cool rounded dome, fill the mixture into a glass bowl and pat it down so that it gets compacted into the bowl and takes the shape of the bowl. Quickly turn the bowl upside down onto a plate. Gently tap the top of the bowl to get the mixture off the bowl and onto the plate. Lift the bowl slowly.
Garnished with coriander and serve hot!