Friday, August 27, 2010

Chia Upma Breakfast (Raw-Vegan)

You won't see a recipe for Raw Chia Upma anywhere else on the net, believe me I googled ;) So what is upma and why is it my new favorite breakfast? The name 'upma' is a combination of the word for salt and the word for wheat Tamil. If you wiki it you'll find that it's usually made of a substance called suji or rava both of which are often made with refined grain. While it would be easy cook your own version with a healthy grain like millet or quinoa substituting, I knew there had to be a way to do it raw!

The key selling point of upma is that it's a quick, easy, and oh so filling breakfast treat you can make and enjoy at the last minute. So I'm not going to get to detailed in the recipe but if you feel so inspired go ahead and add more chopped veggies and spices, maybe even garnish with some soaked walnuts

What You'll Need:
1 cup hemp milk (would not reccommend almond milk for this recipe)
1/4 cup chia seeds
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cumin
2 tsp curry powder
1 pinch hing (Asafoetida)
1 pinch onion powder
2 tsp coconut oil

1 small bell pepper, chopped
2 medium stalks celery, chopped
1 handful cilantro (coriander leaf), chopped
1 handful dulse
1 tsp salt or kelp granules

To prepare, first pour hemp milk and chia seeds into blender. Add spices, coconut oil, let sit. Meanwhile chop your veggies and soak your dulse to make sure there's no little seashells stuck to it. Blend hemp milk, chia seeds, etc into a rough porridge, no need to pulverise it just mix things up a little. Next add your vegetables and salt and pulse a few times. If you wanna get fancy garnish with cilantro, coconut shavings etc, otherwise wait about 5 minutes (if you can!) for the flavours to mix and enjoy!