Bread Upma | Bread Fry

I'm not sure there is anything more heavenly then that warm freshly baked BREAD.. 

Fresh bread tastes amazing with just about everything, doesn't it? 

Eat it like the ITALIANS with some olive oil, balsamic vinegar and pepper. 

Or like rest of the world with BUTTER. 

JAM, anyone?

But what about stale bread. Remember buying that loaf of bread two days ago? It tasted AMAZING, right? But lying there on the counter for 2 days, it just doesn't taste that good anymore. That wonderful scent is gone, that CRUSTY crust, just went soft and that soft moist CRUMB did the exact opposite thing - it went hard. Now WHAT????

Bakers keep inventing and re-inventing the humble bread. And home cooks like us keep inventing some more in our own little kitchens especially with leftovers. This Bread Upma or Bread Fry is credited to some home cook like us (I think). 

This Bread Upma is the simplest and quickest way to jazz up stale bread. Heat some oil, toss in some onions, tomatoes and add the bread. Now you can be all methodical and use a knife to cut the bread or you can be all rustic and use your hands to break the bread into smaller pieces.

I added green peas since I had them. I've added corn sometimes. Add anything that cooks quickly. After all, we don't want to spend all that time in cooking vegetables - QUICK Breakfast, remember?

I've also included step by step instructions for this easy peasy Bread Upma.

Bread Upma

Leftover bread is broken into smaller pieces and fried with onions and tomatoes to make a delicious breakfast.

Recipe Type:  Breakfast
Cuisine:          Indian
Prep Time:     10 minutes
Cook time:     20 minutes
Yield:              2 Servings

Ingredients:

4-5 Bread slices
1 small Onion
1 small Tomato
¼ cup Green Peas(Optional)
5-6 Curry Leaves
2-3 Green Chillies
A handful of fresh Coriander leaves
2 tsp Oil
½ tsp Cumin seeds
1 tsp Turmeric powder
½ tsp Sugar
Salt

Method:

Break the bread into small bite sized pieces. Alternatively, cut it into bite sized pieces.
Chop the onion and tomato finely
Slit the green chillies
Heat oil in a pan and add the cumin seeds
Once the cumin seeds splutter/ slightly brown, add the curry leaves, chopped onion and green chillies
Fry until the onions are done
Add the green peas and fry until done. Fresh green peas are generally done after frying for 2-3 mins. In case you have peas that take longer to cook, boil them separately and add to the onions and stir fry for 1 min.
Add the chopped tomato and cook for 1-2 mins
Add turmeric powder and salt
Add the bread pieces and mix well
Add the sugar and chopped coriander leaves