What is Rawa?
Upma Recipe Rawa Upma Rava is finely or partially ground wheat. It is not dry but has a fine grained texture. Rava is also called Cream of Wheat, Farina or Semolina flour in English.
Use finely ground rava for upma. You can also use the type of rava sold in Indian markets as Bombay rava.
About Upma Recipe
Upma is a delicious, savoury and flavourful popular South Indian breakfast dish made from wheat or semolina (also called rava or sooji), pulses, nuts, vegetables, herbs and spices.
This traditional dish is made with ghee (or oil), cashews, urad dal (white lentils), onions, ginger and other herbs and spices. The addition of sugar makes the dish slightly sweet and flavourful.
This warm breakfast dish can be made vegetarian by using oil instead of ghee. Hot, flavourful and tasty, this upma is absolutely delicious. Do you want to get away from boring porridge and try something new? Never a fail!
Rava is the main ingredient in the Upma recipe. Also known as “Semolina” or “Sooji” in Hindi and “Cream of Wheat” or “Semolina” in English, it is simply granulated wheat. Hence this breakfast dish is called Suji ka Upma in North India.
What is really unique about the Upma recipe is the fried and roasted ingredients used for the tempering. These ingredients vary by recipe, but generally include sweet, salty and nutty flavours.
Upma is a traditional breakfast dish served in restaurants across South India, including Maharashtra. It is also a common breakfast dish in South Indian homes. In fact, in the home where I grew up, Upma was often eaten as a breakfast or evening snack.
how to make upma Recipe
1. To make the upma recipe, first prepare the ingredients. Take 1 cup of rava (fine grains) and keep it aside. Next, prepare the spices, lentils, nuts, spices and herbs. Here is what you need:
• ⅓ cup chopped onions
• 1 tsp chopped green chilies
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• 2 tbsp coriander leaves (dhania)
• 8-10 curry leaves
• 10-12 cashews
2. First, heat a frying pan or kadhai. Add 1 cup semolina or cream of wheat (fine grains).
• 1 tsp chana dal (peeled and rinsed gram lentils)
• 1 tsp urad dal (black lentils peeled and chopped into pieces).
3. Start roasting the rava. Keep stirring occasionally while frying the rava.
4. The rava or semolina seeds should start to become fragrant, dry, crackled and crispy. Do not burn the anthill.
5. When the rava starts to become fragrant and dry and crispy, turn off the flame and remove the fried rava in a plate and keep it aside.
Roast the spices, nuts and masalas
6. Heat 2 tbsp ghee or oil in a frying pan. You can use any mild-flavoured oil like sunflower oil, peanut oil or safflower oil.
7. Lower the heat. Add 1 tsp mustard seeds. If you hear the crackling sound of mustard seeds, it means there is a rattling sound.now add the following ingredients:
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp chana dal (peeled and split)
• 1 tsp urad dal (peeled and chopped)
8. Roast the chana dal and urad dal by stirring continuously till they turn light brown. Immediately add 10-12 cashews and start roasting on low to medium flame.
9. By the time the cashews turn golden brown, the dal should also turn golden brown.Next add ⅓ cup finely chopped onions.Saute on low to medium flame till the onions become soft and translucent.
10. Now add 1 tsp chopped green chilies, 1 tsp chopped ginger and 8-10 curry leaves.You can also add 1 dried red chili (cut in half and remove the seeds) at this stage. Mix well and roast for a few seconds.
Boil the water
11. Now add 2.5 cups of water to this mixture.Add salt if required. Mix well and check the taste of the water. It should be slightly salty, but not too salty.If the dish is low on salt, you can sprinkle it on top while eating.
12. Now add 1 teaspoon of sugar to it.Sugar is optional so you can skip it. We want our upma to be slightly sweet so we add sugar to it. Stir again. Heat the water on medium-high flame and bring it to a boil.
Make Rava Upma
13. When the water boils, reduce the flame. – Now divide the rava into 4-5 parts with a spoon and mix it Mix the roasted rava well in the water immediately after adding the first rava.
14. Now add the next rava. Mix well again and stir the rava evenly in the water.Add the rava and stir till the last batch. Stir frequently to mix well. The rava seeds absorb water and swell and cook.
15. Cover the rava upma and steam it on low flame for 2-3 minutes.After this, turn off the flame. The photo below shows that the rava is cooked well and the semolina upma is ready.
16. Lastly, add about 2 tablespoons of chopped coriander leaves (dhania). You can also add more coriander leaves if you wish.Mix again.Serve the upma hot with lemon slices, lemon curd and coconut chutney.
serving
While serving, you can spread half to one teaspoon of ghee on it. You can also garnish it with coriander leaves if you wish.
Also, sprinkle sev (fried peanut vermicelli) on the upma while serving. Though this is not the traditional way of serving upma, this Mumbai style is preferred at home. You can also serve it with idli powder.
Presentation suggestion
Upma is best served hot or warm. You can also add some sev or buhiya and lemon juice like I did. You can also serve semolina upma with coconut chutney, lemon curd and idli powder.
How to make Vegetable Upma?
Steam the vegetables separately and add water and add rava.
Or after frying onions add vegetables (grated carrot, green peas, grated potato, finely chopped rajma, chopped green chilli) and fry till light golden.
Add water and follow the recipe. You can also garnish the upma with grated coconut.
How to make Ragi Rava Upma?
Roast rava flour and ragi flour separately. Follow this recipe. After the water boils, add the rava and ragu to it.
Depending on the amount of ragu and rava you add, you may have to increase the amount of water. – Roast the ragu well. Raw ragi can cause stomach pain.
