How to make healthy Dalia (or Broken Wheat Upma) for breakfast – Step by step recipe with photos.
Dalia Upma or Broken Wheat Upma or Dalia Poha or Dalia Uppittu (Kannada) or Godhi Upma (Tamil) – whatever you want to call it it is a very healthy breakfast option for those who are looking at low-carb, high-fiber Indian breakfast options.
Dalia Upma – North Indian or South Indian breakfast?
Dalia is more used in Northern regions of India while the Southern Indian regions going after Rice and Millet based dishes. So what we have here is a true ‘fusion’ breakfast – Dalia with the southern signature of Upma.Upma is a quintessential South Indian dish, and is mostly served during breakfast – Upma is made from Sooji Rava (Semolina). Light and easy to make, Upma is now adopted in various forms across India as a healthy breakfast recipe. A close ‘cousin’ of Upma is the Poha – which also is Northern India’s favorite comfort breakfast.
Other names of Upma:
Uppittu (Kannada)
Upma / Uppuma (Tamil)
Health benefits of Dalia or cracked wheat
When it comes to healthy breakfast dishes, we seem to think that the choice should be cereal or corn flakes not realizing that traditional Indian breakfast dishes such as Poha, Upma, Idli etc are very healthy and filling too. A lot nutritionists and health professionals also advise to eat food that is locally produced and not hybrid cereals that are either imported or modified varieties grown in the country.
Broken wheat or Dalia (or cracked wheat as it is known outside India) is a high-fiber, high-calcium and high-protein grain that can be easily used for making a variety of dishes and integrates well into Indian cooking styles. What we have here is a simple but flavorful Upma recipe made from Dalia and tempered with Chana Dal and mustard seeds.
How does Dalia Upma taste?
The taste is mildly spicy and isn’t overpowering with a masala flavor. What you’ll get is the tastes and textures of the Cracked wheat along with the textures of the veggies and the tempering. If you;d like to bring in more flavors, serve this with Chutneys or just top the Upma with ketchup or some hot sauce. In this particular Dalia Upma recipe, we have used carrots, peas, onions, and tomatoes to provide that the bulk to the dish. If you want to make this for lunch, you can add more bulk to the dish by choosing Gobi or cauliflower. The dal and the mustard seeds in the dish are typical tempering ingredients in an Upma – here too, they provide crunchiness and texture that blends perfectly well with the soft broken wheat.
What side-dish to serve with Dalia Upma?
Dalia Upma can be enjoyed by itself and doesn’t require any side-dishes. But if you want recommendations, we suggest Coconut chutney (like how it served with Rava Upma), any pickle or even Tomato ketchup. You can also top the Upma with sugar crystals.
Check out other Upma recipes posted on our site:
or checkout other Indian rice recipes or Roti recipes
Links to other Broken Upma recipes:
- Dalia Upma (Hindi) by Nisha Madhulika
- Broken Wheat Upma by Hebbars Kitchen
- Cracked Wheat Upma by Healthy Veg recipes
- Know more about Cracked wheat here, in Baker Pedia.
Over to you. If you’d like to kickstart your day with a light, healthy breakfast then Dalia Upma is for you. Try this at home and let us know how it turned out.
Find step-by-step recipe below with photos for Dalia Upma.
Dalia Upma | Broken Wheat Upma | Cracked Wheat Upma Recipe
Equipment
- non-stick kadai
Ingredients
- 1 cup broken wheat
- 1 tablespoon mustard seeds
- 1 teaspoon channa dal
- 2 nos onion sliced vertically
- 1 nos tomoto chopped finely
- 2 nos green chilli sliced vertically
- 2 nos carrot cut into small pieces
- 1 cup peas
- 2 cups water
- 1 tablespoon curry leaves
- 2 tablespoon oil
- 1 tablespoon coriander leaves for garnishing
- 1 pinch salt as per requirement
How to make:
- Heat the oil in the kadai. Add mustard seeds. Wait for it to get sputter. Then add channa dal and allow to get brown. Then add onion and green chillies.
- Saute for a minute. Then add curry leaves.
- Once the onion turns slight brown, add tomatoes to it. Saute it for 3-4 minutes.
- Add carrots and peas in kadai.
- Add the required salt in kadai. Saute for 5-6 minutes.
- Add water, for 1 cup of broken wheat add 2 cups of water.
- Allow the water to boil.
- Once water starts boiling, add broken wheat and mix it. Cover the pan and keep the flame on medium low.
- wait till the broken wheat cooked and water absorbed. Once it cokked, turn off the stove.
- Garnish with coriander leaves.
- Serve hot with chutney or with ketchup.
