Puffed Rice (Murmura) Upma

This upma is perfect for breakfast. I make this often. But these murmura or borgulu as we call them in Telugu should be consumed when still fresh as they lose crunchiness and smells bad with prolonged storage.

An Update:

Dear Bee of Jugalbandi has given a nice tip regarding the freshness of the murmuras. In her own words:

When murmura gets old and starts smelling funny, pop it in a 350F oven for a few minutes. it will smell and taste fresh again.

Thanks Bee for this wonderful tip. And regarding the difference between Poha (Beaten or Flattened Rice) and Murmura (Puffed Rice) please refer at the following links.

Puffed Rice: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puffed_rice

Beaten or Flattened Rice: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaten_rice

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Puffed Rice
• 1 small Onion
• 1 medium Tomato
• 2 or 3 green chilies
• ¼ tsp Turmeric
• 1 tsp Lemon Juice (Optional)
• Salt as required

For Seasoning:

• ½ tsp Mustard Seeds
• ¼ tsp Cumin Seeds
• ½ tsp Bengal Gram (Chana dal)
• ½ tsp Black Gram (Urad dal)
• Some Curry Leaves
• 1 tsp Oil

Preparation:

Wash puffed rice very well and soak in water for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, cut onion, tomato, green chilies into fine pieces.

In a pan, heat the oil and add the mustard seeds. When they splutter, add the cumin seeds along with the Bengal and Black grams and fry till the dals turn golden brown in color. Then add the curry leaves and fry well.

Then add the chopped onion, tomato and green chilies and fry very well until they appear cooked and soft. Keep the flame on medium setting.

Later, squeeze the water out of the soaked murmura and add it to the pan along with turmeric, lemon juice and salt. Mix well. Add some water if needed. Cover and leave it for some time.

After some time remove the lid and stir the upma well and check if the puffed rice is cooked. Switch off the flame once it is cooked and all the water is absorbed. Leave it for 5 minutes.

Serve hot with any chutney you like.

I am sending this over to Barbara's LiveStrong Day - A Taste of Yellow as my contribution for LiveSTRONG day.