Akki Uppittu

Serves: 4 – 6

Instructions

1. 1 cup rice (200 grams) which yields 1 cup rice and 1 cup + ½ tablespoon of broken rice
2. 2 teaspoon whole peppercorns
3. ¾ cup skinned lilva beans (avrekaalu / hyacinth beans) (you can use frozen or fresh ones. I used frozen beans)
4. 1 tablespoon oil
5. 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
6. 1 teaspoon split yellow peas/chana dal
7. 1 teaspoon split black gram/urad dal
8. 1 finely chopped green chili
9. 1 halved spicy dry red chili
10. 2 tablespoons of curry leaves/kadi patta
11. salt to taste
12. 2½ cups of water

How to make the recipe:

1. Prepping rice:
• Firstly, powder 1 cup of raw rice using an electric blender or food processor, running it briefly at first speed only. Do not make a fine powder. The grains need to resemble coarse semolina. You can also pulse the rice a few times instead. 
• Coarsely powder the whole peppercorns next. You can even powder both the rice and peppercorns together.
2. Preparing Upma:
• In a deep, thick bottomed pan, heat 1 tablespoon of oil.
• Add mustard seeds, split chana dal, urad dal, stir them for a few seconds.
• Add finely chopped green chili, curry leaves and stir until the chana dal turns golden brown.
• Then add ¾ cup of lilva beans, stir so that they get mixed in with the tempering.
• Following this, pour in 2 and ½ cups of water. Add salt to taste. Bring this to a boil.
• Then simmer until the lilva beans cook through.
• Then add the powdered rice and peppercorns, give it a mix using a spatula.
• Cook stirring now and again very well. Break lumps if any. Continue to cook until all the water gets absorbed and the broken rice cooks through.
• This should take around 7 to 9 minutes at low-medium to medium heat. Once the grains are cooked through, turn off the heat. Cover with a lid for another 2 minutes.
• Serve rice rava upma with curd or chutney powder or pickle of your choice.
• Adding a teaspoon of ghee while serving enhances the flavor. But this is optional.

Notes

1. As an optional addition, you can add 1 tablespoon of tuvar dal/split pigeon peas while grinding the rice and peppercorns and follow the rest of the recipe as mentioned.
2. You can also add 1 to 2 tablespoon of grated fresh coconut to the dish. If you wish to add, add the same when the water comes to a boil.
3. Adding a teaspoon of ghee while serving, adds a lovely flavor. This is however optional.