Upma with leftover keema

Jolted out of my precious sleep by the tring of the doorbell at 10:00 am, I tended to the errand of paying the cable guy, answering the Watzapp messages and a few calls... Suddenly out of nowhere, I was hungry. With a diminished pantry, my options of a hearty breakfast was limited... As I rummaged through the shelves, I came across onion, rava... pinne there was garlic, ginger, ulli chedi, green peas... Perfect!! Upma it is today, making use of what I had !!

What I used

1. Rava: around 1.5 cup (I really didn't measure, kept on adding from the packet based on the water I had added)
2. Medium-sized diced onion:1
3. Chopped ulli chedi: 1 stalk
4. Cooked and  frozen green peas: few 
5. Green and dry red chilies: 1 each
6. Leftover cooked keema that I had: 2 tablespoons (this is completely optional)
7. Finely chopped ginger and garlic: 1 teaspoon
8. Water: about 1.5 cups (I didn't measure this either)
9. Salt: to taste
10. Oil: 3 tablespoons
11. 1/2 teaspoon of mustard seeds and a sprig of curry leaves is recommended (I didn't use it in this recipe as I did not have them the day I cooked this)

PS: carrots and beans are the traditional ingredients of upma. Apart from adding color, it also adds certain amount of sweetness

How I made it

1. In a pan, heat some oil and saute the onion, ulli chedi, green peas, ginger garlic and the chilies together with some salt
2. Once the onion has turned translucent and dry red chilli had fried, add the water
3. Check the salt and add the kheema 
4. Stir the contents and once the water starts to boil, add the rava slowly mixing with the contents of the pan simultaneously. Add enough rava so that the mixture is not too mushy or too dry
5. Keep stirring till fully cooked and turn off the heat

I find upma to be a great breakfast, as well as light snack or dinner. It tastes yumm with banana or just plain sugar. It also works wells with kadala and egg curries. A cup of coffee alongside would complete the meal ;-)