Aval Upma

Aval Upma is the Tamil cousin of Maharashtra’s celebrated Kande Pohe, and it makes for some delicious tea-time tiffin (as South Indians call their snacks) or a hearty breakfast. The base of the Aval Upma is aval which is nothing but flattened rice flakes that cook up in no time at all (you can easily find these at Indian stores or online). In fact, it takes a lot less time to cook up this perfectly sumptuous dish than you’d honestly believe. Even better, it’s an extremely healthy dish because you can add to it all kinds of veggies and peanuts. You can find brown rice aval in Indian supermarkets that cooks up in about the same time as the white rice version. I prefer the brown-rice aval, but the grocery store was out of it the last time I visited. I kept my Aval Upma pretty simple by adding to it some red bliss potatoes and onions, but green peppers would be perfect in here, as would peas, zuccini, or even tomatoes. Check to get new recipe updates by email.

I have to run now, but not before sharing the recipe, of course. Hope everyone’s enjoying the long weekend!