Upma Tamale

January  6 2013, Sunday Lunch

WHAT:
For Upma:

• Upma rava flour(2 cups) 
• ginger garlic paste (1/2 tb spn)
• mustard seeds ( 1 tea spn)
• moong daal (1/2 tb spn)
• oil (3-4 tb spn)
• Ghee (2-3 tb spn)
• cashew, raisins
• carrot ( half,  shredded)
• cilantro (about 3/4 cup finally chooped)
• water (3.5 cups)
• salt

For stuffing and tamale:

• Onion (1 large, sliced)
• red capsicum (chopped in small pieces)
• corn ( or any other veg. you have on hand)
• chili garlic paste (1 tb spn)
• sugar ( 1 tea spn)
• salt
• corn husks
• pomegranate seeds (optional)

HOW:
Making Upma and Stuffing:

• put 5-6 dry corn husks in warm water for about 30 minutes so they are re-hydrated and easy to work with
• add some oil in skillet and add sliced onion and them caramelize on low temperature you can add little salt and sugar once you see brown color to fasten the process.
• after onion is caramelized, add corn and red capsicum and cook for 3-4 minutes then add salt if needed and keep it aside.
• simultaneously you can cook upma.  For upma, first add ghee in skillet and after it is warm, add rava flour and mix well with ghee. Stir constantly until flour is cooked and fragrant ( make sure it is not burnt or brown). Keep aside.
• in empty skillet, add some oil and once heated add some mustard seeds and let it sputter. After that add moong daal and cook until slightly red. 
• Then you can add cashew and raisins and cook for 1-2 more minutes or until cashews have brown color. Then add ginger, garlic paste and cook for 3 more minutes.
• Then you can add water, carrots and cilantro and cook for few minutes until water is warm. 
• Add rava to warm water slowly and make sure to constantly whisk it when adding to water so that no lumps form. once all rava is in water, keep cooking for 4-5 more minutes. 
• add salt if needed. and let it cool little bit.

Assembling Tamales:

• Take one large husk and make a thin layer of upma first. Spread small amount of chili garlic paste on top of upma layer.
• Then add some stuffing on top and roll the husk in a way so the the stuffing is inside upma roll. You can see how to roll and close tamales in http://www.chow.com/galleries/76/how-to-form-a-tamale#!1161/how-to-form-a-tamale
• keep making as many as you need.
• steam all tamales together for 15-20 minutes. As everything is already cooked, steaming is just to make sure all flavors are properly integrated and not really for cooking.
• Enjoy!!