🍲 Upma (Rava Upma / Suji Upma)

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Prep Time: 15 minutes
 Cook Time: 15 minutes
 Total Time: 30 minutes

Upma is a traditional South Indian breakfast dish made with roasted semolina (rava/suji) cooked with tempered spices, lentils, curry leaves, onions, and green chillies. It is usually served with coconut chutney, lemon slices, or lemon pickle.

🧂 Ingredients

For roasting rava

  • 1 cup fine rava (sooji / semolina / cream of wheat)

Other ingredients

  • 2 tbsp ghee or oil

  • 1 tsp mustard seeds

  • ½ tsp cumin seeds

  • 1 tsp chana dal

  • 1 tsp urad dal

  • 10–12 cashews (optional)

  • ⅓ cup or 1 medium onion, finely chopped

  • 1 green chilli, chopped

  • 1 inch ginger, finely chopped

  • 1 sprig curry leaves (10–12 leaves)

  • 2.5 cups water

  • Salt to taste

  • ½–1 tsp sugar (optional)

  • 2–3 tbsp chopped coriander leaves

👩‍🍳 Instructions

1. Preparation

  • Finely chop onion, green chilli, ginger, and coriander leaves.

  • Keep all ingredients ready.

2. Roasting rava

  • Heat a pan and add rava.

  • Roast on low–medium heat, stirring continuously.

  • Rava should become aromatic, dry, and slightly crisp (do not brown).

  • Transfer to a plate and keep aside.

3. Frying & sautéing

  • Heat ghee/oil in a pan.

  • Add mustard seeds and let them crackle.

  • Add cumin seeds, chana dal, and urad dal. Fry till light golden.

  • Add cashews and fry till golden.

  • Add onions and sauté till translucent.

  • Add green chilli, ginger, and curry leaves. Sauté a few seconds.
     (Optional: add 1 dried red chilli.)

4. Boiling water

  • Add water, salt, and sugar. Mix well.

  • Taste the water — it should be slightly salty.

  • Bring to a rolling boil.

5. Making upma

  • Lower flame.

  • Add roasted rava in 4–5 batches, stirring continuously.

  • Mix each batch well before adding the next to avoid lumps.

  • Cover and cook on low heat for 2–3 minutes.

  • Switch off flame and add coriander leaves. Mix well.

🍽️ Serve with

  • Coconut chutney

  • Lemon slices or lemon pickle

  • Sev or bhujia with a drizzle of lemon juice

📝 Notes

  • Roasting rava: Must be evenly roasted for non-sticky texture.

  • Water ratio:

    • Soft upma → 1 cup rava : 2.5–3 cups water

  • Avoid lumps:

    • Add rava in batches and stir continuously.

  • Ghee vs oil:

    • Ghee gives better flavor. You can drizzle a little while serving.

  • Storage:

    • Refrigerate up to 2 days or freeze.

    • Reheat with a sprinkle of water.

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