A simple breakfast or snack recipe from my childhood…..I give you a stale bread makeover, or in this case the corners from the “chamcha in sandwich” where I had leftover bread corners. 

Leftover crusts or not, a Bread Upma recipe is great to have in hand when you need to make a quick teatime, late night, brunch what-have you- snack.  I love making this for myself on the weekends especially when the rest of the family is feasting on eggs and parathas for breakfast.

The recipe is one that I grew up eating, it was how I recall seeing my masi (maternal aunt) make it as a quick snack, I would squat beside her maybe all of six years old maybe, chatting and watching as she prepared this snack.  

I really do not have a recipe for this, I just prepare it from the memory of a six-year-old, probably modified over time to suit my taste, and am very sure the authentic South Indian bread upma is probably not prepared similarly, but my Masi, unlike her sisters, was less interested in cooking, and no doubt ingredients were probably left out of laziness. 

Not sure how and why she made this, but I suspect it had something to do with leftovers back then too.  This simple Bread Upma is sautéed with lots of onions and green chilies, cooking the onions on a low to medium heat until they are crisp but gummy at the same time,  the oil gets seasoned with the hot peppers and turmeric, and the warm bloom of the cumin, and when you add the bread croutons to the scented oil, they absorb the oil and turn crisp and crusty, and the onion and chili masala cling to every piece. 

To me it is the Indian version of the Thanksgiving stuffing! 

Ingredients:

• 6-7 slices of white bread
• 3 tbsp. Olive oil
• 1 tbsp.  whole cumin seeds
• 2-5 hot Thai Green Chilies
• 1 large red onion – finely chopped.
• 1/4 tsp. turmeric powder
• Salt to taste

Method:

1. Cut or tear the bread into small bite sized pieces.
2. In wide pan or wok oil on medium heat, add cumin and when it blooms, add chopped onions, and chilis. 
3. Sauté ingredients for 5-6 minutes until the onion softens and starts turning slightly brown.
4. Add turmeric, and salt and stir to season the masala. 
5. Add the bread cubes into the onion-chili masala and stir until the onion masala completely coats the bread cubes.  
6. Continue stirring until all the pieces are well coated in the flavored oil and start to crisp up slightly. 
   

Serve hot with a cup of chai!