It’s amazing. I pride myself for being a quintessential Indian. Born in Cuddapah, brought up in Calcutta, schooled in Hyderabad, colleged in Madras and Bangalore, worked in Bangalore, Bombay, Chennai, New Delhi and many parts of the world. Speak English, Hindi, Telugu, Bengali, Tamil, French etc. with varying degrees of proficiency. Physically I vary in looks from that of a Bengali Babu to a Marwari Seth and have rarely been identified as a Telugu Brahmin by anyone at a first meeting.

And my favorite way to start my day is usually some toast and some egg and a steaming hot cup of coffee. Continental Breakfast as they call it.

But recently my tastes have begun to change. While my palate shifted to the typical andhra meal some time back and I began to look forward to my pickles and spicy powders, my saambars, rasams, papads and so on, I resolutely hung on to my breakfast preferences. This also made practical sense because preparation was a whole lot easier.

But even more recently I suspect that I am mutating back to my origins.

I am getting up often and craving items like Idlis, Dosas and that King of South Indian Breakfasts – Upma.

My family has been very cooperative and the instructions to the cook have been suitably southernised. We do have the bread and egg breakfasts often but more and more, we are shifting southwards. Idlis and Dosas are making more regular appearances. Upmas are being experimented with. And though my wife has been ignoring my request for a personal favorite – Chow Chow Baath – at least the upmas are becoming more adventurous.

Upma as you know is a wholesome meal. It is made of everything from Sooji  to Semiya (Vermicelli) to whole wheat bread and so on. It has a healthy dash of vegetables and an even more healthy dollop of ghee and is a sumptuous meal by itself. It lends itself to packing and serves as a better tiffin dabba meal than dosas which tend to become limp and insipid.

Every cook has her own brand of upma. And so even if you ate Upmas through the week, you may find that the variety is enough to keep the table interesting. And you will discover variations like Tomato Baath, Poha, Aloo Poha, Bread Upma, Noodle Upma and so on.

This morning however the wife rustled up an old favorite which I had actually forgotten about. Taught to my mother by a dear friend, and taught to my wife by my mother, this is an amazing dish which due to my belief in simplicity I just call the Semia-Sooji Upma…

The unique mix of the vermicelli and the semolina(sooji) gave to the upma a unique texture and a pleasantly different taste. I sneaked in some spicy tomato pickle and the meal was mouth watering.

Upma in a Pesarattu or a dosa has become popular as MLA Pesarattu and I wonder why it got that name. What is it about our legislators that makes them look like harmless pesarattus wrapped around some simple upma?

But that’s another story!

Until then if you have some suggestions about how to make a yummy upma, do let me know…cheers.