Tomato Bath (Thakkali Upma)

Tomato bath is a comfort food... When I was in Bangalore, most of their dishes would end with 'bath' like bagala bath, bisibela bath, tomato bath etc... I wonder why? I guess bath is rice in Kannada (not sure)!!! This recipe here uses rava instead of rice... In Tamil cuisine it is known as thakkali upma.

Ingredients:

1 cup rava/semolina
4 ripe tomatoes chopped
1 onion chopped
3 green chillies
1" giner finely chopped
2 cups water
salt to taste



Seasoning:

1 tbsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp urad dhal
1 tsp channa dhal
curry leaves (optional)

Preparation:

Fry rava for few minutes in a wok till it changes to gold color. Remove from heat and keep aside.

Heat Oil in a pan, add the seasoning items one by one.... Add ginger and fry till aroma comes...add chopped onions and fry till onion becomes translucent. Add tomatoes and saute till tomatoes become mushy. Add salt and water, cover and cook for 10 mts. Once the water starts boiling...slowly add rava to the mixture. Stir continuously, otherwise u will get lumps!!! Keep stirring with all ur strength (kidding) until all the lumps are cleared and rava is cooked (approx 10mts). Finally, u can add little bit of ghee... purely optional...Remove form heat.

Serve hot with Pickle!!