This is a South Indian-style rava upma recipe packed with vegetables. An easy, wholesome vegetarian breakfast.
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
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What is ‘Upma’?
Upma is an Indian word for ‘savoury porridge.’ It is made with various vegetables, whole grains, or vermicelli. There are wide varieties of upma in Indian cuisine.
- Plain Upma – with only aromatics such as ginger, curry leaves, onions, and green chillies
- Masala Upma – with onion, tomatoes, and a dash of sambar powder or other masalas.
- Tomato Upma – adding tomatoes gives the upma a tangy spin (Jain-friendly).
- Vegetable Upma – with the addition of carrots, peas, beans etc.
- Semiya Upma – adding roasted semiya (vermicelli) instead of semolina for a change in textures.
Rava Upma is a wholesome, vegetarian South Indian breakfast ready in under 30 minutes. It is loaded with carrots, green peas, beans, and onion.
Adding seasonal vegetables adds great taste to the upma and increases its fibre content. The addition of peanuts and cashews boosts the protein value of the upma.
Instant Upma Premix
It is easy to make an ‘instant upma premix’ at home.
- Dry roast semolina till light golden. Transfer to a bowl to cool down.
- Heat a teaspoon of ghee/coconut oil, and add black mustard seeds; once they splutter, add ginger, green chillies, cashews, chana dal, urad dal, and curry leaves. Fry for 1 – 2 minutes.
- Add salt to taste, mix well, and add it to the roasted rava (suji). Mix nicely and allow to cool down.
- Store this instant upma premix in the freezer for a couple of months.
When in a hurry, boil two parts of water, add one part of the upma premix, and stir continuously; once suji (rava) is cooked and thick, serve rava upma.
How To Make Rava Upma
Step 1) First, dry roast semolina over medium heat in a heavy bottom pan for 5 – 6 minutes. Stir continuously at regular intervals while roasting. Transfer to a plate and set aside till required. If you are using readymade roasted semolina, then skip this step.
Step 2) Heat oil in the wok or kadhai over medium flame. Add mustard seeds, urad dal, chana dal, peanuts, curry leaves, asafoetida, and fry for 1 – 2 minutes. The colours of lentils and peanuts will change to light brown.
Step 3) Next, add sliced cashews, grated ginger, green chilli, and fry for 1 – 2 minutes or till cashews turn light golden. Add the chopped onion and fry for 3 – 5 minutes or till the onion starts turning translucent.
Step 4) Add peas, salt, and crushed pepper, and stir to combine. Next, add water, stir to combine, and increase the flame to high. Let the water start boiling. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
Step 5) Slowly add the roasted semolina with a steady flow and stir continuously from the other hand in a circular motion to avoid lumps. Keep stirring until the semolina absorbs all the water.
Cover the wok with a lid and cook over low heat for 3 – 5 minutes.
Step 6) After 3 – 5 minutes, turn off the heat. Open the lid and fluff the upma using a fork. Drizzle a teaspoon of ghee and garnish with chopped coriander.
Serving Suggestion
In South India, the rava upma is served with side dishes such as coconut chutney, green chutney, or vegetable sambar.
You can serve suji upma as a breakfast or teatime snack. It is a fantastic dish for a kid’s lunchbox as well.
My Tried and True Tips
- Be mindful of the water to be added to the upma. I follow a ratio of ½ cup rava to 1 ½ cup water.
- Add semolina only after the water comes to a boil. Stir constantly in a circular motion while adding the semolina to avoid forming lumps.
- After the addition of semolina, cook the upma covered on low heat. Once cooked, give it a resting time of 5 minutes and then fluff it up using a fork before serving.
- For a creamier rava upma, substitute half the quantity of water with milk or curd.
- If you want the upma to be richer, you can roast the semolina in ghee and garnish it with ghee-roasted cashew nuts.
- For a vegan rava upma, use coconut oil or any other plant-based oil (that doesn’t have a distinct flavour) instead of ghee.
More South Indian Breakfast Recipes
- Rava Idli
- Medu Vada
- Millet Pongal
- Instant Rava Paniyaram
- Karnataka Maddur Vada
- Karnataka Style Khara Bhath
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Rava Upma Recipe
- Heavy Bottom Kadhai
Ingredients
- ½ Cup rava/suji (semolina)
- 3 tablespoon cooking oil or ghee (clarified butter)
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds (rai)
- 1 teaspoon jeera (cumin seeds)
- 6 – 8 curry leaves
- ½ teaspoon white urad dal
- ½ teaspoon chana dal (Bengal Gram)
- a pinch of asafoetida (hing)
- 2 tablespoon peanuts (moongphalli)
- 6 – 8 cashew-nuts (kaju), sliced
- 1 tablespoon grated ginger
- 1 Cup fine chopped onion
- ¼ Cup green peas
- 1 green chilli, fine chopped
- Salt to taste
- 1 teaspoon whole peppercorns (sabut kalimirch), crushed
- 1 ½ Cup Water
- 1 tablespoon chopped coriander
Instructions
- For making upma, first dry roast semolina over medium heat in a heavy bottom pan for 5 – 6 minutes. Stir continuously at regular intervals while roasting. Transfer to a plate and set aside till required. If you are using readymade roasted semolina then skip this step.
- Heat oil in the wok or kadhai over medium flame. Add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, urad dal, chana dal, peanuts, curry leaves, asafoetida and fry for 1 – 2 minutes. The colors of lentils and peanuts will change to light brown.
- Next, add sliced cashews, grated ginger, green chili and fry for 1 – 2 minutes or till cashews turn light golden in color.
- Add the chopped onion and fry for 3 – 5 minutes or till onion start turning translucent.
- Add peas, salt, crushed pepper and stir to combine. Next, add water, stir to combine and increase the flame to high. Let the water start boiling. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
- Slowly add the roasted semolina with a steady flow and stir continuously from the other hand in a circular motion to avoid any lumps. Keep stirring until semolina absorbs all the water. Cover the wok with a lid and cook over low heat for 3 – 5 minutes.
- After 3 – 5 minutes, turn off the heat. Open the lid and fluff the upma using a fork. Drizzle a teaspoon of ghee and garnish with chopped coriander.
- Serve rava upma warm with coconut chutney or sambar.
Recipe Notes:
- Add semolina only after the water comes to a boil. Stir constantly in a circular motion while adding the semolina to avoid the formation of lumps.
- After the addition of semolina, cook the upma covered on low heat. Once cooked, give it a resting time of 5 mins and then fluff it up using a fork before serving.
- For a creamier Upma, half the quantity of water can be substituted with milk or curd.
- If you want the upma to be richer you can roast the semolina in ghee, and garnish it with ghee-roasted cashew nuts.
- Upma can also be made vegan by using coconut oil or any other plant-based oil (that doesn’t have a distinct flavor) instead of ghee.
hellena says
this looks so good. i have to try this recipe but i will not add the green chillie
Hina Gujral says
Green Chilli is added only for the spicy flavor. You can totally skip it. The upma will taste equally good.
Jayalakshmi says
Looking v delicious and v easy steps to prepare too
Hina Gujral says
I am happy you like it.
Sheetal pant joshi says
Its a ideal recipe for my kiddos box .thanks for sharing ????
Hina Gujral says
I am so happy that you took time out and shared your feedback. Thanks!
Shruthi says
Your consistency is so correct! Turns out the same every single time 🙂
Hina Gujral says
It is such valuable feedback. Thanks!