Overview

Barley Tomato Upma is a one pot meal made from simple ingredients as broken barley, vegetables blended with basic spices garnished with fresh cilantro (coriander) leaves. Barley is a healthy whole grain which is packed with fiber and nutty, sweet flavour. This grain is high in fibre, helping to shred those extra pounds (weightloss) and also offers many vitamins and minerals. Please include this grain in your diet which will keep you full for longer hours. This healthy whole grain fulfulling upma can be served as breakfast, lunch or dinner with chutney (coconut or tomato) of your choice.

Tips

1. Broken Barley can be boiled and kept in refrigerator for 4 - 5 days. This step can be done as a meal preparation.
2. When boiling barley, I never used any salt or sugar since many savory or sweet dishes can be prepared from boiled barley.
3. Please use broken barley as a grain which is easily available in any Asian or Indian store.

Video Recipe

Ingredients

Preparation of Boiled Barley (Meal Prep)

• Boiled Barley - 1 Cup
• Water
• Olive Oil - 3/4 tsp

Preparation of Barely Tomato Upma

• Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
• peanuts -2 tbsp
• urad daal- 1 tbsp
• curry leaves - 1 tbsp
• onions - 1/2 cup
• carrots - 1/2 cup
• green peas - 1/2 cup
• tomato - 1 cup
• salt - to taste
• turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
• coriander powder - 1 tsp
• sambhar powder -1 tsp
• chaat masala - 1/2 tsp
• red chilli powder - 1/4 tsp
• ghee - 1 tsp
• lemon juice - 1 tsp
• coriander leaves

Instructions

Preparation of Boiled Barley Method (Meal Preparation)

• Add 1 cup of broken barley (jau or jav) to pan and roast for 2 mins until it is light golden on low flame. After 2 mins, roasted barley will be ready.

• Add 2 cups of water to roasted barley. A basic rule for barley to water ratio is 1 : 2 i.e 1 cup of barley to 2 cups of water.

• Cook barley for 10 to 15 mins until barley puffs and becomes soft.

• Please note: I never added any sugar or salt in this step since this is meal prep and many savory or sweet recipes can be made from barley. You can add salt or sugar at later stage.

• Boiled Barley is ready and can be stored in refrigerator for 4 to 5 days. This step can definitely be a meal preparation.

• Alternatively, you can just roast broken barley and store it in a air tight glass container for months.

Preparation of Barely Tomato Upma

• Add mustard seeds, peanuts, urad dal and curry leaves to olive oil.

• Once mustard seeds starts crackling, add chopped onions.

• When onions turn translucent, add green peas, chopped carrots, tomato puree/blended and cook on medium flame.

• Add salt, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, sambhar powder (curry powder) and chaat masala powder (dry mango powder). Cook until vegetables turn soft.

• Add boiled barley, mix well. Add ghee (optional) which gives a nice aroma and texture to upma.

• Add 1 cup of water, mix well and cook for 5 mins until water is completely absorbed.

• Add lemon juice, coriander leaves for garnish.

• Serve Barley Tomato Upma hot along with coconut or peanut chutney as any meal of the day. It keeps you fuller for lonegr hours.