I hate Upma! Not what you expect when the title of this is Upma- The saviour of Mankind!; don’t get me wrong but in our house we (read mom!) used to make Upma only when there is no good food to make (read more oil based and tasty!)!
My mom just hated Upma since it was what she used to make when she had no mood to make anything else and just needed a rest from the kitchen! It was like how many make khichadi or Pongal! Also it was the dish to make when someone was ill or not well.
In Bangalore though Upma is a delicacy and the residents here are known to put every possible vegetable in the concoction and of course the humble Upma is one dish which can digest any vegetable! No other fast food dish can come accept the variety of vegetable which Upma can take! Noodles comes close but have you ever put potatoes in noodles!?; I have and if you like potatoes then you can manage but Upma can take even potato like they were good buddies!
Another reason why I hate Upma is that during my stint in Calicut medical college, there was not a single day when I had not eaten Upma! This was because it was cheap and available all the time and the most important is that it was filling and godsend for a vegetarian like me! But eating this everyday for five years will make anyone hate Upma! Another dish I hate for the same reason is peas masala! But I still vividly remember those late night visit to the cart shops where our constant guy used to make hot Upma in minutes! The way he used to fry some onions and then add the rava and masterly parcel the plate in a plantain leaf parcel! I used to eat one plate then and there and save one for later! All for less than ten rupees and we have solved the food problem for the day! But do that every other day for five odd years and it will drive you insane or at least angry over the same old Upma!!
My mother also did not like Upma because it meant that she, a great cook had made Upma! It’s like Sachin Tendulkar scoring less than 10 runs! But then she was the Sachin Tendulkar of cooking! So even her Upma was one of the most tasty Upma in the world!
She used to make that with small onion and lots of ghee and always accompanied by a chutney and tomato curry! The combination was so tasty! That was the only Upma I used to eat but mom never used to make Upma for me since she knew I don’t like Upma and no mother will give Upma to her kid normally when she is cooking something special for him or her! I make Upma only once in a blue moon but when I do it is always like my mother and luckily it normally gets over when I make it and I do not have to run behind everyone to eat it!
My dad and wife Minu are big fans of Upma though! You give them any type of Upma any time of the day and they will gobble it up happily! Minu of course makes Upma typical Kannada style Upma and in her endeavour to make up for the fact that she is making Upma she will put all the vegetables which she finds in the vicinity and she will be happy that she is making something healthy for the kids! Then come me and my daughter (who is just like my mother!) and we look at the Upma and just pretend to like that but mentally we are thinking that lets just put this in the mouth and get it over with! Just like a bitter pill we have to swallow!
Lately though I tolerate Upma since the love Upma crowd have increased and in a democracy it is always better to go with the majority!
In any emergency though Upma is your saviour! The other day when I went to have dinner with dad, he embarrassingly accepted that he did not make much food and was planning to just eat some fruit. Then I made his favourite Upma in a matter of minutes and made sure he ate with relish (he saved some for next day also so I knew that he liked it!).
In Karnataka is is always served with the sweet version called the Kesari and in Kerala it is taken with their standard banana! The combination is called Chow Chow bath and the first time I heard it I felt that it was some foreign delicacy only to see my nemesis in a different name tag! I should have anticipated this since one other time when I was dining with my friends in Calicut; I decided to try on a dish called vegetable chow chow! When it came, it was all partially cooked vegetables in big size dipped in some kind of white sauce! My friend who came with me then commented that, “I think whatever vegetables were left after cooking the biriyani they have just put like that only in the left over batter of some pakoda!”
An instant tip there my vegetarian friends in Calicut; if in doubt just stick to Panneer butter masala or tomato fry in any mixed hotel!!
Then again during my experimental phase of Bangalore Dharshini I saw a meal called Khara Bath and this I ordered with high expectations only to be served with Upma albeit with chutney and more vegetables! No matter how you coat it; the fact of the matter is that it is still Upma nothing else!
Mothers and Upma always have a connection in that if you don’t have anything to make, you can always make Upma! It is one dish which is easiest to make and very difficult to go wrong! At the end of the cooking you can always eat it no matter how it tastes since the expectation has been reduced so much! In fact Upma is a very humble dish who takes every insult thrown at it and still serves to please!
That may be the reason of it being called Upma; a combination of salt and mother. When she was there it was sweet and there was no place of Upma constantly but now since she is not there, the salty tears have been transformed into Upma…
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