Seviyan Upma (Bambino Vermicelli)

Vermicelli ( a type of pasta) is cooked with vegetables to form upma.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Vermicelli (Bambino)
• 1 potato baked in microwave
• 1 cup frozen cut beans, carrots and peas
• ½ cup diced tomato
• 2-3 tbsp oil
• ½ tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp split skinned black gram ( urad dal)
• 1 tsp split skinned chickpea (chana dal)
• 5 curry leaves ( meetha neem ka patta)
• 4 green chillies finely chopped
• ½ tsp turmeric powder
• Salt to taste
• 2 hard boiled eggs
• Finely chopped green coriander leaves to garnish

Method:

• Take a deep saucepan and boil about 8 cups of water. Add 1 tsp of salt and 1 tsp of oil to water. When water starts boiling, add vermicelli and stir continuously. Boil for 2-3 minutes till it is just done ( soft vermicelli becomes very soggy and sticky). Strain in a colander. Keep colander under free flowing water till vermicelli is cooled, then keep it aside for some time so that extra water is drained off.
• In a separate saucepan add oil till it becomes hot. Now add mustard seeds, after they splutter, add Urad dal, Chana dal, curry leaves and mix well. When it is pale red in colour, remove it.
• Add all the vegetables, except tomatoes. Mix well. Now add the green chillies, turmeric, salt and mix well. Add the tomatoes and fry for 1 min.
• Now add the boiled cooled vermicelli. Mix very well. Keep it for a minute, take it out in a dish, decorate with boiled eggs and garnish with coriander.
• It can be eaten with any Chutney or Sauce.

Do You Know?

Vermicelli is a type of pasta, round in section and somewhat thinner than spaghetti. In Bengal ( Eastern India) vermicelli is known shemai, in Hindi and Urdu it is known as seviya, all probably modified form of Chinese: ‘mian xian' in Mandarin.