sevai upma

INGREDIENTS:
cooking rice vermicelli:
•180 grams rice sevai
•4.5 to 5 cups water for cooking rice vermicelli
tempering:
•1 tsp mustard seeds
•1 or 2 green chilies, chopped
•½ inch ginger, finely chopped, about 1 tsp finely chopped ginger
•1 medium onion, finely chopped
•8 to 10 curry leaves
•12 to 15 cashews, halved
•4 to 5 tbsp grated coconut
•2 tbsp coconut oil
•2 to 3 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
•1 small to medium lime
•salt as required
INSTRUCTIONS:
1.on a high flame bring 5 cups water to a boil in a pan.
2.take 1.75 cups rice sevai/rice vermicelli. add to the boiling water.
3.stir gently and cook the sevai on a medium to high flame.
cooking the rice sevai:
1.cook the vermicelli according to the package instructions or until they are cooked well.
2.it took me around 10 minutes for the sevai to cook on a medium flame.
3.drain the sevai in a strainer. keep the cooked sevai aside.
tempering & preparing the upma:
1.in another pan, heat 2 tbsp coconut oil. you can also use any other oil instead of coconut oil. add mustard
2.seeds and let them crackle.
3.when the mustard seeds are almost done with the crackling, add 12 to 15 cashews. cashews can be kept whole or halved.
4.saute till the cashew get a bit golden.
5.add 1 tsp finely chopped ginger, ½ tsp green chilies. stir and saute for 5 to 10 seconds.
6.then add finely chopped onion and 10 to 12 curry leaves.
7.saute till the onions become translucent. don't brown them.
8.add the cooked rice sevai and stir very well with the rest of the sauteed ingredients.
9.season with salt. stir and add 4 to 5 tbsp fresh grated coconut.
10.stir again and serve rice sevai hot plain or with coconut chutney. do drizzle some lemon juice while serving. also garnish with chopped coriander leaves
11.you can also add lemon juice towards the end and give a final stir. add lemon juice as per your taste.