Rava Upma is a vegetarian South Indian breakfast porridge prepared with semolina and fresh vegetables. It is a thick, savory porridge, that can be made under 30 minutes – wholesome, nourishing, and fulfilling.
Upma is an Indian word for ‘savory porridge.’ It can be prepared with any combination of vegetables, whole-grain or vermicelli. Adding seasonal vegetables such as onions, tomatoes, carrots, beans, peas or even sweet corn lends a great taste to the traditional South Indian rava upma.
Even though suji upma has the addition of ginger, green chili, and curry leaves, you can choose what goes into the upma based on personal liking. You can pack in a lot of vegetables (almost the same quantity as the semolina) to increase the fiber content of the upma. The addition of peanuts and cashews can even boost your protein intake. One can also use good fat such as coconut oil or ghee to prepare the upma.
Variations Of Rava (Suji) Upma:
Plain Upma – with only aromatics such as ginger, curry leaves, onions, and green chilies
Masala Upma – with onion and tomatoes and a bit of sambar powder or any other kind of masala
Vegetable Upma – with addition of carrots, peas, beans etc.
Tomato Upma – adding tomatoes and leaving out the onions to give the upma a tangy spin (Jain-friendly)
Semiya Upma – adding roasted semiya (vermicelli) instead of semolina for a change in textures.
What To Serve With Vegetable Upma?
Tips To Make Perfect South Indian Style Rava Upma
Be mindful of the water to be added in the upma. Too much or too little water may yield a mushy or a dry upma
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 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.
Rava Upma Meal Prep:
Apart from chopping vegetables and onion for upma in advance, one can store upma premix as well. For this “instant upma mix,” all you need to do is dry roast semolina and add a tempering of ginger, green chilies, cashews, chana dal, urad dal and curry leaves with spluttered mustard seeds. Add salt to taste, mix well, and let it cool. This can be stored in the freezer for a couple of months. When in a hurry, all you need to do, boil two parts water, add one part of the upma premix while stirring and serve immediately.
Step-By-Step Vegetable Upma Recipe:
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, 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 starts 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.
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Rava Upma Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 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
- 1/2 teaspoon white urad dal
- 1/2 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
- 1/4 Cup green peas
- 1 green chilli, fine chopped
- Salt to taste
- 1 teaspoon whole peppercorns (sabut kalimirch), crushed
- 1 1/2 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:
Nutrition
Watch Instant Rava Idli Recipe Video:
6 comments
this looks so good. i have to try this recipe but i will not add the green chillie
Green Chilli is added only for the spicy flavor. You can totally skip it. The upma will taste equally good.
Looking v delicious and v easy steps to prepare too
I am happy you like it.
Its a ideal recipe for my kiddos box .thanks for sharing 😍
I am so happy that you took time out and shared your feedback. Thanks!