Bread Upma with Vegetables | Easy Tiffin Recipe

Bread Upma, a delicious and easy to make tiffin item with the leftover bread slices. It's one of my favorite ways to use the leftover bread. I usually make this as an evening tiffin along with some tea. Trust me, this combo is awesome and tastes heavenly. You can make this as breakfast or as dinner too.

Though i call this recipe as Bread Upma, it tastes more like Veg Kothu Parotta. So if you like kothu parotta and want an easy fix or Indian flavored bread recipes then i'm sure that this recipe is for you! Do give it a try and let me know how you like it.

Bread 

You can use any type of savoury bread for this upma. I have used the good old white sandwich bread for today's recipe. But in the past i used whole wheat and other types of breads also and it tasted equally good. 

Vegetables

Personally i like to use capsicum/bell pepper for this upma. Bread and capsicum really go together well. The capsicum flavor truly elevates the taste of this upma. So i highly recommend to use the capsicum.

In addition to the capsicum, i usually add the some carrots and peas. Here in the recipe, i have used frozen peas. If you're using dried peas, make sure to soak and cook till it's soft before adding into this upma.

Ok, Now let's check out how to make this delicious bread upma. 

Bread Upma with Vegetables

Preparation Time : 5 mins | Cooking Time : 15 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Tiffin | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Bread Upma, Bread Upma with vegetables, Kothu Bread Bread Upma, a delicious and easy to make tiffin item with the leftover bread slices.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients

Bread Slices - 4

Onion(small) - 1

Tomato(small) - 1

Carrot (small) - 1

Capsicum - 1/2 cup(chopped)

Frozen Peas - 1/4 cup

Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp

Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp

Salt - to taste

Oil - 2 tsp

Coriander leaves - a few

Procedure

First cut the onion into thin slices, carrot, capsicum and tomato into small pieces. Heat the pan with oil, and add the sliced onions.

Once the onions are translucent, add the ginger garlic paste and saute till it's aromatic then add the carrot, capsicum, peas and  tomatoes. 

Saute the veggies in the oil for about a min and then add the spices(turmeric, red chili and garam masala powder) and salt. Give a quick mix and then cover the pan with the lid and cook the veggies. No need to add any water, the water from the tomatoes is enough to cook the veggies.

In the mean time, cut the bread into small pieces. Once the veggies are cooked, open the lid, add the bread pieces, mix it well so that the masala coats the bread pieces well. Finally add the chopped coriander leaves and then switch off the flame. 

Delicious Bread upma is ready. Serve it with onion raita and some lemon wedges. 

Related: How to make Semiya Upma

Notes:

• Tastes good as it is but serving with onion raita elevates the taste to another level.

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Semiya Upma with Vegetables | Vegetables Vermicelli Upma

Semiya Upma with Vegetables, a quick & easy to make breakfast/tiffin with vermicelli and vegetables. Few weeks before, when i had shared this simple vermicelli upma in Instagram, many have requested the recipe, that's when i realized that this recipe is still not in the blog. 

It happens all the time, some how i always skip the simple recipe to post here, to be honest, it not even crossed my mind to post such a simple recipes. Guess, it's time to change that habit :-) Like i have already said, it's one of the easiest recipe to make in a jiffy. 

Back in Amma's place, she often make this as evening tiffin alone with coffee/tea for a long day or when we feel little hungry in the evening.  It tastes awesome with sip of tea/coffee. Do give it a try if you haven't already. 

Yesterday the temperature here was above 5c after almost 3 months and it was such a pleasant day  to be outside(with all those winter jackets of course  :-)). It's really amazing how our body adapts to the environment.

Back in days, when i was newly married, even the Tiruppur cold in December made me sick and had cold & fever for a few days. That reminds me of the quote " No such things as bad weather only bad clothing" . Realized how true is that here in this winter !!! Ok, now let's check out the semiya upma recipe.

Related : How to make Rava Upma 

Semiya Upma with Vegetables

Preparation Time : 5 mins | Cooking Time : 15 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Breakfast/Tiffin | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Semiya Upma with Vegetables, Vegetable semiya upma, Vermicelli Upma,Breakfast upma, Tiffin Upma, Semiya Upma with Vegetables, a quick & easy to make breakfast/tiffin with vermicelli and vegetables.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients

Semiya/ Vermicelli - 3/4 cup

Onion - 1/2 (small)
Tomato - 1/2(small)
Carrot - 1(small)

Green Chili - 2 nos
Ginger - 1/4 inch piece

Curry leaves - few
Coriander leaves - few
Sugar - 1/2 tsp
Coconut Oil - 1 tsp

Mustard & urad dal - 1 tsp

Water - 1 cup

Salt - to taste

Procedure

Cut the onions,tomato,carrot & ginger into small pieces and slit the green chili into half.Heat the pan with oil, add mustard & urad dal , let the mustard  splutters.Then add the onion ,chili and curry leaves and saute till the onions become translucent.

Next add the carrot and saute in the oil for 2-3 mins.

Add the tomatoes and saute till the tomatoes are soft. Then add the water.

Next add the salt & sugar , bring into boil.

Add the semiya (i have used roasted semiya here, see notes at the end for un-roasted semiya),give a good mix and cover the kadai with lid and keep the flame in medium. Keep it covered for 4-5 mins or until the  semiya is well cooked.

Finally add the coriander leaves, give a good mix and switch off the flame.

Tasty Semiya Upma with vegetables  is ready.Serve it with your favorite chutney. We had it with coriander chutney and coffee.

Related : How to make Idli Upma 

Related : More Upma Recipes 

Notes:

• I have used roasted semiya here, if you have un-roasted semiya, roast it in a 1/2 tsp of ghee till it's aromatic and starts to change color
• Roasted semiya gives non-sticky and fluffy upma. 
• In addition to carrot, beans can also be used in this upma.
• Adding sugar balance out the taste, so don't skip it.
• Coconut Oil & ginger gives such a nice aroma to the upma, highly recommend to add it.
• In addition to coriander leaves, grated coconut can also be added.
  

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Ragi Idiyappam | Kezhvaragu Idiyappam | Finger Millet Idiyappam

Ragi Idiyappam, an healthy string hoppers made from finger millet flour. If you have follow my blog regularly, you would have know by this time that how much i like idiyappam.

I love all kind of idiyappams that are made from rice flour, wheat flour, beetroot or the one made from rice batter.This ragi idiyappam is the latest additions to my idiyappam list. I have tried this many times with different proportion of ragi & rice flour or sometimes even without rice flour. Each one has slight difference in taste and texture. 
Here i'm sharing the recipe of ragi idiyappam which i like the most both taste & texture wise.Use this as a guide and change the proportion as per your liking. I like this idiyappam with grated coconut & sugar. But you can also have it with sambar and/or even with coconut chutney also, that too tastes equally good.

Ragi Idiyappam

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 15 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Breakfast | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Ragi Idiyappam, Kezhvaragu Idiyappam, Finger millet Idiyappam, Millet Idiyappam Ragi Idiyappam, an healthy string hoppers made from finger millet flour..

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients
Ragi flour - 3/4 cup
Rice flour - 1/4 cup
Water - 3/4 cup
Sesame Oil - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste

Procedure

Take the rice flour, ragi flour, salt  in a bowl, mix it well, then add the oil and give a good mix. Heat the water in a sauce pan and bring into boil, immediately pour the hot water into the flour and mix it vigorously. 

Once the flour became a single mass, cover it with lid and set aside for 10 mins. After 10 mins when the dough comes to hand bearable temperature, make a smooth dough .

Take a small portion of dough and make it as log. Fill the idiyappam maker with the dough.

Squeeze the idiyappam on greased idli plate.

Place it on steamer and cook it in steam for 6-8 mins. 

Tada, Ragi Idiyappam is ready to serve. 

Related: How to make Ragi Puttu 

Related: How to make Ragi Roti/Chapati

Notes:

• Depends on the flour quality,you may need more or less water,so always boil extra 1/4 of water.
• Add little by little of water into flour. If you add more water, then the idiyappam will be sticky. 
• Sesame oil gives wonderful aroma and i used the same for greasing the plate too.
• Instead of idli plate, you can steam it in idiyappam plate too.
  

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Rice Flour Idiyappam | Idiyappam with store bought rice flour | String Hoppers

Idiyappam, a rice noodles also known as nool puttu or string hoppers originated from south Indian states of Tamilandu & Kerala. I have already posted the traditional way of making idiyappam recipe. It's a lengthy process, first it requires soaking the rice,  then grinding  the rice as batter & finally sauteing the batter into dough  and also in that method, you can't make it instantly. Although, for me, that's the best taste idiyappam, but sometimes we need an instant and quick to make version, right? That's when this recipe comes handy. With the good quality rice flour, we can almost recreate the traditional idiyappam taste in this recipe. 

So, i'm here sharing the idiyappam recipe with store bought rice flour. It's so quick and easy to make, within 15 mins, you can make the first batch of idiyappam from the start. It's my favorite way of making idiyappam when i'm pressed for time and still wanna eat idiyappam. 

Before moving to the recipe , let's check out on some FAQ! 

Why is my idiyappam dough hard to squeeze? 

Dry dough makes it hard to reason. There are a couple of reason for dry dough

• There is not enough water in the dough.
• Don't let the dough sit for longer time, with time, the dough becomes dry and it's difficult to squeeze

Why does my idiyappam break when squeezed ? 

Soft dough is easy to squeeze without any breakage.  So, use good quality rice flour which is super fine. If the rice flour is super fine, then it's almost cooked when hot water is added into it and makes the dough super soft. 

What do you eat with idiyappam? 

Idiyappam tastes simply awesome with plain sugar and freshly grated coconut. For a vegetarian side dish, i would recommend sothi(a coconut milk veg stew), salna, kurma or even tiffin sambar also tastes good. For non-vegetarian side dish, i like to have with mutton / chicken kulambu.

 

Rice flour idiyappam

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 15 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Breakfast | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
How to make idiyappam,idiyappam from rice flour, rice flour idiyappam,nool puttu,string hoppers,homemade idiyappam,breakfast, idiyappam from store bought rice flour Idiyappam, a rice noodles also known as nool puttu or string hoppers originated from south indian states of Tamilandu & Kerala.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients
Rice Flour - 1 cup
Water - 3/4 cup
Sesame Oil - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste

Procedure

Heat the water in a sauce pan along with salt and oil.

When the water is about to come to boil, switch off the flame and remove from heat. Measure & take the flour in a bowl,add the water little by little into the flour.

Mix it with spatula gently until all comes together. Now take the idiyappam maker, take a log of dough and add into the idiyappam maker.

Grease the idiyappam plate and squeeze the dough into place as concentric circles.

Steam it in the steamer for 6-8 mins.Remove the idiyappam plate from the steam and invert it, the idiyappam will fall off easily. Do the same for the remaining dough.

Tasty & soft idiyappam is ready to serve.We had it with white kurma & cardamom flavored coconut milk

Related: How to make Saravana Bhavan style white kurma 

Related: How to make Coconut Milk from fresh coconut

Notes:

• Depends on the flour quality,you may need more or less water,so always boil extra 1/4 of water.
• Add little by little of water into flour. If you add more water, then the idiyappam will be sticky. 
• Sesame oil gives wonderful aroma and i used the same for greasing the plate too.
• Instead of idiyappam plate, you can steam it in idli plate too.
• Once the idiyappam is cooked,  its color changed from bright white to pale white.
  

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Tiffin Sambar | Moong Dal Sambar | Idli Sambar

Tiffin Sambar is also known as Idli Sambar, is a simple and delicious sambar made from lentils and vegetables. It tastes great with  all south indian tiffin/breakfast items like idli, dosa and pongal. Typically, the sambar recipe from south india varies from home to home. There is no hard and fast rule here, you can prepare as you like if you understand the basics. 

Sambar is simply a lentil stew. What lentil is used in the sambar or what  vegetables are added in the sambar or what spices are used in the sambar, based on the answers to the above questions, the sambar has a different name. 

Basically, the tiffin sambar/ idli sambar is a simple version of the meal sambar in South India.  In tiffin sambar / Idli sambar, neither tamarind nor coconut masala is used when it's prepared in households because this sambar is usually served with idli/dosai which is made from the fermented batter. It has mild sourness already, so for the idli sambar, it doesn't need more sourness, so tamarind is usually avoided in tiffin sambar.

Again as I said earlier, it varies from person to person. If you like more sourness in your sambar, go ahead and add tamarind. That's the beauty of home made food, right? We can make as we like.   

Related : How to make Sambar Powder 

Toor dal or Moong dal 

For idli sambar, you can use both toor dal and moong dal or combination of both dal. I prefer to make the tiffin sambar with the combination of both dals for its flavor and consistency. Moong dal for consistency and toor dal for flavor. 

Vegetables in the sambar 

Tiffin sambar can be made with onion and tomatoes also without any other veggies. Typically in our home, we like to add potato, carrot and beans for idli sambar. Brinjal, drumsticks and other indian country vegetables are mostly excluded in the tiffin sambar.

Sambar Powder 

Let's break the common myth here, we South Indians(I'm from South Tamilnadu) don't always use sambar powder in the sambar. Sometimes, we make sambar with plain red chili powder for subtle flavor. But if you're so used to the sambar from Indian restaurants, then without sambar powder, you can recreate that taste in home. In conclusion, adding a bit of sambar powder truly enhances the flavor and taste for sure.

Related : How to make Idi Sambar(a speciality sambar from South Tamilnadu city, Tirunelveli also know as Nellai )

Idli Sambar/Tiffin Sambar

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Sambar | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Tiffin Sambar, Moong dal Sambar,Idli sambar, dosa sambar, easy samba Tiffin Sambar, a simple and delicious sambar made from moong dal. It's ideal side dish for all south indian tiffin items like idli, dosa and pongal.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients

Moong Dal - 1/4 cup

Toor Dal - 2 tbsp

Vegetables - 1/4 cup (chopped, i used carrot, beans, potato)

Pearl Onion - 5

Tomato - 1 medium size

Green chili -1

Asafoetida powder - 1/4 tsp

Turmeric Powder - a pinch

Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp

Sambar powder - 1 tsp

Salt - to taste

Coriander leaves - few

To Temper

Oil - 1 tsp

Mustard & urad dal - 1/4 tsp each

Curry leaves - few

Procedure.

In a pressure cooker, add the moong dal, toor dal, vegetables, green chili, onions & tomato along with asafoedita powser & 1 cup of water, cook it for 3 whistle or till it's mushy.Once the pressure released, put the pan again in heat, add the spices(turmeric, red chili powder & sambar powder) & salt.Bring it to boil & keep it in medium flame for 5 mins. Temper the ingredients listed under "To Temper" & add into the sambar along with coriander leaves.Tasty Tiffin  Sambar is ready to serve. Serve it with idli or dosa ! 

Related : How to make Idli / Dosa batter using mixie 

Related : How to make small onion sambar 

Notes:

• Adjust the amount of water as per the consistency you want.
• Don't add more veggies in this sambar, it doesn't taste good
• I like to use small onions for sambar, but you can use regular onions too.

Related : How to make South Indian Mix Veg Sambar with Coconut

  

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