Puffed rice (Murmura) Upma/Oggarne recipe

Puffed rice is made from rice, commonly used as a breakfast cereal or snack foods and served as a popular street food in India in the form of Bhel puri. This recipe is a twist to the puffed rice (murmura) with south Indian touch.

Puffed rice upma is known with different names according to regions in India. It is called as borugula upma/uggani in telugu, mandakki oggarne in kannada, pori upma in tamil and murmura upma in hindi. It is a south Indian breakfast, snack or brunch food.

This is something different than our usual upma, pasta or burger; this is low calorie dish. You can add veggies like peas, carrot and make it little filling and nutritious. It is our family favorite, so I make it at least twice a month.

Step by step puffed rice/murmura upma recipe:

1. Rinse the puffed rice in a big pail or bowl with lot of water. Leave it in water for around 5 minutes. In this recipe I have used thick variety of murmura.  (If you are using airy variety, just dunk them in water and squeeze up the water immediately else they turn mushy.)
   
2. Squeeze away the water from the puffed rice with both your palms. After squeezing they should be just moist and no excess water. Keep it aside.
   
3. Heat a pan with 2 tbsp. oil. Add ¼ tsp mustard, ¼ tsp. cumin, ½ tsp urad dal and 6-8 curry leaves.
   
4. When they turn golden, add ½ cup finely chopped onion and fry until translucent.
   
5. Then add in green chili paste and mix.
   
6. Add in 1 cup chopped tomatoes and salt. Cook till the tomatoes turn mushy and then fry till the oil begins to leave the sides of the pan.
   
7. Add ¼ tsp turmeric power and ¼ tsp red chili powder.
   
8. Add the puffed rice and mix well. Cover the pan just for 2 minutes so that everything gets heated up.
   
9. Add coarsely ground dalia (roasted gram) and mix well.
   
10. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.
    

Puffed rice/murmura upma recipe below:

Murmura upma /oggarne Prep time Cook time Total  15 min 15 min  30 min Murmura upma- A street food of north Karnataka made with puffed rice. AUTHOR: Monali RECIPE TYPE: Breakfast CUISINE: South Indian, Karnataka SERVES: 3 INGREDIENTS (measuring cup used, 1 cup=237 ml) 6 cups Murmura/Puffed rice 2 tbsp. Oil ¼ tsp mustard seeds ¼ tsp cumin seeds ½ tsp urad dal 6-8 curry leaves, roughly torn ½ cup finely chopped Onion 1-2 green chilies, finely chopped or grind 1 cup finely chopped Tomato ¼ tsp turmeric powder ¼ tsp red chili powder Salt to taste 1½ tbsp. dalia (roasted chana dal), coarsely ground 2 tbsp. chopped coriander leaves  DIRECTION Rinse the puffed rice in a big pail or bowl with lot of water. Leave it in water for around 5 minutes. If you are using airy variety, jusk dunk them in water and squeeze up the water immediately else they turn mushy. Squeeze away the water from the puffed rice with both your palms. After squeezing they should be just moist and no excess water. Heat a pan with oil, add mustard, cumin, urad dal and curry leaves. When they turn golden, add finely chopped onion and fry until translucent. Then add in green chili paste and mix. Add in chopped tomatoes and salt. Cook till the tomatoes turn mushy and then fry till the oil begins to leave the sides of the pan. Add turmeric power and red chili powder. Add the puffed rice and mix well. The pot can be covered just for 2 minutes and heated up. Add coarsely ground dalia (roasted gram) and coriander and mix well.  NOTES Tamarind paste is usually used but somehow I don’t like the color of tamarind in this recipe, So I use lemon juice that give the taste and adjusting sourness is easy. If using tamarind, soak it in hot water and extract a thick paste and filter it. Pour this to the seasoning, let it bubble a bit and once it thickens a bit, then add puffed rice. You can also add in peanuts to this recipe. You can add it right before adding onions. If using other veggies, add them after frying tomatoes and cover and cook for 2-3 minutes.