Uppuma is a very popular breakfast/snack food in many parts of India. The most common variety is made with semolina but other varieties with sago etc are also made.
A rather unusual but easy to make uppuma is Bread Uppuma with left over bread slices.
After reading my blog post Crumpets, my friend Raju who lives in the USA commented – “I have been eating Crumpets from 1970 when I first landed in Toronto. Crumpet was a standard available in all grocery stores. the attraction was it felt and to a large extend tasted like a thick “UTTAPPAM”. Though it was commonly eaten at tea time, as you know , we South Indian Aiyer folks always improvise, so the following were the tastiest outcomes!!!
1) Nicely toasted, buttered with lots of ” Thangam Vadu mango pickle Gravy” !!!!
2) Set of nicely toasted , buttered crumpets with Spicy Potato PODIMASS… best sandwich !!!
3) The ultimate crumpet dish is ” CRUMPET UPPUMMA”!!!!. This is the favorite dish with all my Canadian and American friends!!! They have given up eating crumpets with Jam and butter!!! it is simple to make crumpet uppumma… like the regular uppumma, sauté onions, green chilies, ginger and mustard seeds and instead of adding Cream of wheat, cut crumpets into 1 inch square pieces and mix them with the sauted onions and slowly cook them for 10 to 15 minutes in low flame to get some crisp . No water at all. You will go to heaven!!!
The British way back in 1656 in Chennai ate the Uttappam with “JAM & BUTTER” and now in 2021 the south indian Ayers in London eat Crumpets as crumpet Uppumma!!.
Its all Localization!!!”
Just goes to show how innovative people can be! Raju who has never commented on my blog posts, was even inspired to when it came to one on a food item!
Having got into the spirit of things, Raju took the inspiration to another level. He got some crumpets
Seasoned some onion, green chillies, etc for the upma,
Diced the crumpets into manageable cubes,
Tossed the whole lot togther and ended up with Crumpet Upma.
He then sent the images and a write up about his creation via WhatsApp as the images could not be posted on the comments section of my blog.
When the mood takes me again, as I am sure that it will soon, I shall venture forth into getting some more crumpets and make some Crumpet Uppuma too.
Raju and I have been friends for over 55 years and went to Business School together. I have been very close to his family in India and his younger brother Suresh too is a homebaker having learnt the art during the lockdown here. He too has created the crumpet uppuma after having first learnt to bake crumpets at home.
The three of us have become cooks. What a waste of our education into fields far removed from this wonderful occupation!