Oats Upma & Winner of Blog Anniversary Giveaway!

I had been meaning to make upma with oats sooner. After having about 9 upmas in my bounty (read as My Menu) including the not so common Barley Upma, making Oats Upma should be easy, right? Yeah, You would think. I have 2 persons to convince. Firstly, me. Aren't oats supposed to be gooey when cooked, how can I make them to be less gooey in the consistency of upma. Secondly, my 1.5 yr old son. Kavin is ok with experimenting anything new, BUT it has to be tasty. I also have to remember that he is not a fan of oatmeal. DH does not want to do anything with oats, so I have not included him in the "persons to convince" list.
There started my venture of making Oats Upma for a Saturday morning breakfast and I would say it was pretty successful with two happy tummies.

Ingredients:
Serves - 2
Rolled oats / Old fashined oats - 1 cup (160 ml cup)
Onion - chopped - 1/2 cup
Carrots - 1 - finely chopped
Green Beans - 6 - finely chopped
Green chillies - 2
Water - 2 cups (see notes)
Salt - to taste (see notes below)
Oil - 2 tsp
Tempering - optional
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Urad dhal - 1/2 tsp
Chana dhal - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - a few

Method:
Dry roast the rolled oats until it is warm to touch. Remove to a plate to cool. Heat oil in a wide pan and add the ingredients for tempering, if using. Add the chillies and onions. Saute until the onions are cooked through and add the chopped vegetables and salt to taste. Add about 1/2 cup of water and cover and cook until the vegetables are fully cooked. Add the remaining water and allow it to boil. When it boils add the oats and mix. Cover and cook until most of the water is absorbed and the oats is fully cooked. Stir occasionally to avoid sticking to the pan. If the oats is cooked but there is still some water left in the pan, remove the cover and cook until all the water evaporates. Serve with coconut chutney, pickle or with some sugar sprinkled over.
Notes:
If using quick cooking oats using equal parts of water since they cook faster than rolled oats. Also, while adding salt make sure that you add the right amount of salt. In other upmas, like rava upma we have to add more salt in the water to have it bit salty, so that it evens out when rava is added. Not the case here.
Linking these up to Vardhini's Dish It Out - Light Dinners; New U - 2014;

Now the interesting part. I celebrated my blog's three year anniversary with an event and a giveaway. I received 33 total entries and I used random.org to select the winner. The lucky winner is Sharanya of Just not the cakes. Congratulations Sharanya! I have sent you an email and please respond with your address. You will be receiving a copy of Dakshin - Vegetarian Cuisine from South India by Chandra Padmanaban.
Thank you everyone for the enthusiasm and support!