Bread Oggarane | Bread Upma

It often makes me think, how was life before my kid? Though, he is just six, I feel he is with me forever. I have enjoyed my share of childhood days, teenage days, newly-wed days, but now life completely revolves around my kid. All mothers out there agree with me & all other women will realize this as soon as they have their own kid! I enjoy being a mother, but sometimes the kid in me wants to do what I love to do. On one such day, I made my childhood favorite "bread oggarane" for lunch & relished it thoroughly.

Preparation Time: 5 mins
Cooking Time: 10 mins
Serves: 1-2

Ingredients:

• Whole wheat bread slices: 6-8 nos
• Onion: 1 medium sized, finely chopped
• Green chillies: 3 nos, sliced
• Cooking oil: 1 tbsp
• Mustard seeds: 1/2 tsp
• Curry leaves: 4-6 nos, torn
• Cashew nuts: 1 tbsp, coarsely crushed
• Tomato ketchup: 1 tbsp
• Salt: As needed

Method:
Chop the bread slices into 1 cm cubes. Refer notes below.
Heat oil in a broad wok. When oil is hot, throw in the mustard seeds & cashew nuts.
When nuts turn golden brown, add in the green chilies & curry leaves.
When curry leaves wilt, throw in the finely chopped onion & saute.
Cook the onions till they are soft & translucent. No need to brown the onions.
Add the chopped bread pieces, salt, tomato ketchup & mix them thoroughly.
Increase the heat to medium-high & toss until the bread pieces slightly change the color.
Remove from heat & serve immediately.

Notes:

• I normally do not trim the edges of the bread. Feel free to trim the edges, if needed.
• This is a very basic bread upma recipe. You could add veggies like bell peppers, green peas, cooked potato to make it healthier.