Khara bath, in my opinion, a spicier take on the humble sooji/rava upma. It can be loaded with more veggies and what makes it different from regular upma is adding some masala powder – vangi bath, sambar or rasam powder. Each of them has a different flavor and surprises your taste buds.

This is usually served for breakfast with chutney, though I make it for dinner too occasionally and serve it with chutney and sambar to make it a heartier meal. It is also a very flexible and very forgiving recipe. You can make it really indulgent by using just ghee and lots of cashew nuts or tone it down by using a mix of oil and ghee. You can roast the sooji or skip it if in a rush. You can add as many veggies you want to it or keep it relatively simple and just use onion and/or potato. I have done all the above and love each variation!

There are a few tricks to making this dish though, as I have discovered after some disastrous attempts years ago. One, cook the veggies al dente. They should be cooked but still be crispy enough. Two, add ginger and chillis while sautéing the onions, but reserve a few ginger pieces to be added in when adding water. Ginger flavor can be easily lost in this recipe but when added and cooked in water without being sautéed first retains the flavor. Three, add the sooji while stirring in to the boiling water to avoid lumps (I can never forget lumpy upma dishes served by yours truly). You need not stress too much about it, you will get a hang of it pretty quick as you keep mixing it all in. Four, add in some water if the khara bath seems rather thick – this dish tends to thicken as it cools. Five, add in a good dollop of ghee once you turn off the heat – the ghee flavor tends to come through much better I think when added again at the end. Six, please eat this dish when it is still hot or warm, it tastes really good! Cold upma fares poorly in comparison.

Ingredients

Sooji – 1 cup

Oil/Ghee – 3 tbsp + 1 tbsp ghee for garnish

Onion diced – 1/2 cup

Carrots diced – 2 tbsp

Peas – 3 tbsp

French beans diced – 3 tbsp

Chillis – 3 (please adjust to taste and heat)

Ginger minced – 1.5 tsp

Cashews broken – 10

Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp

Curry leaves – 1 sprig (optional)

Vangi bath/Sambar/Rasam masala – 1.5 tsp

Chana dal – 1 tsp

Split urad dal – 1tsp

Cumin seeds – 1 tsp

Mustard seeds – 1 tsp

Hing – a pinch

Salt – to taste

Water – 3.5 cups

Time taken – prep – 10 mins, cooking – 20-25 mins; Serves – 3-4

Recipe

• Heat up the oil/ghee in a kadhai to start with tempering
• Once hot, add in chana dal and roast for about 10 seconds. Next goes in urad dal for another 10 seconds. Then cashew nuts. Now add in cumin seeds, mustard and hing. Let all these roast until they sizzle and pop.
• Add in the chopped sliced chilli and 2/3rd the ginger and sauté for 10 seconds. Add in the diced onion now and let it cook for about 2-3 minutes until partially soft. You can speed this up by sprinkling some salt on the onion – not all of it
• Add the turmeric powder now
• Add in the rest of the veggies now – carrots, beans and peas. I used frozen peas, so they cooked rather quick
• Add in some more salt – about 1/2 tsp. Sauté all of these until they look cooked and still crispy.

• Add in the masala powder and let it coat all the veggies. Stir it for about 30 seconds or so
• Now add in the torn curry leaves, rest of the ginger along with the water.
• Add in enough salt here and stir it in. The water should taste like its well seasoned with water. This ensures that the end product tastes well seasoned.
• Let the water come to a rolling boil.
• Add in the sooji at this stage – pour it in slowly while stirring it into the water to avoid any lumps.
• If after adding the sooji, the mix looks thick and is splattering, please add in about 1/3 cup of water here.
• Cover the kadhai and let it cook for about 5 minutes.
• Once done, you would see that the sooki looks cooked – does not look like white specks any more.
• Turn off the stove and add in a dollop of ghee – I like to add up to a tablespoon – and stir it in. This does two things – smoothens the texture of the dish while the flavor of ghee lingers on.
• Remove to a serving plate and enjoy!

I’m participating in #BlogchatterA2Z hosted by BlogChatter.