Vegetable Upma Recipe – Healthy South Indian Breakfast

Vegetable Upma recipe with easy-to-follow instructions. Rava upma is a simple Indian breakfast dish made with semolina, spices, roasted nuts and lentils. Many like to add vegetables to it to make it wholesome and that’s how I like it too. This recipe is going to be a staple in your home if you make it! By using rice rava or polenta, it also can turn gluten-free!

What is Upma?

Upma is a fragrant, savoury South Indian breakfast made from rava/sooji or cream of wheat aka semolina. You can also make this with rice lava or polenta to make it gluten-free. It is dry roasted rava in water that has been flavored by mustard seeds, curry leaves, chana dal (husked chickpeas), cashews, peanuts, urad dal (lentils), onion, ginger, green chilli peppers and garnished with herbs. It tastes savoury and nutty and is also nutritious!

To make it more wholesome, we can also add vegetables, the way I did. Usually, you can add carrots and peas, finely chopped potatoes, finely chopped green beans, chopped bell pepper, etc.

Tips and Tricks to make amazing Vegetable Upma

• Roasting rava: Toast/roast your rava by stirring often on a low or medium-low heat in a pan. Keep a look out for a change of colour accompanied by a toasted aroma, but be careful not to burn it.
• Oil/vegan ghee: Vegetable upma can be made with coconut oil or vegan ghee (if you have access to it). If you have neither, you can also use any cooking oil.
• Rava to water ratio: For a softer rava upma, you can use the proportion of 1:2.5 or 3 for rava and water respectively. Which means that for 1 cup of fine rava you can add 2 cups water.
• Addition of rava to water: Add the toasted rava to the hot water in installments. Stir in the rava to the water, then add the next batch. This ensures even mixing, texture of the upma.
• Serving suggestions: Serve it hot or warm. I love serving mine with a generous garnish of coriander leaves and some of this Indian snack called sev. You can also serve vegetable upma with coconut chutney, Indian pickle or chutney podi.
• Storing Vegetable Upma: Make the quantity you need by doubling, tripling or halving the ingredient quantity. Refrigerate leftover vegetable upma for 2-3 days. You can also freeze it in a freeze-safe container.

Let me know if you try this easy Vegetable Upma recipe and I would love to see what you paired it up with. Tag @beextravegant on Instagram.

Try other breakfast/snack items from the blog:

• Khaman dhokla recipe
• Paniyaram recipe- shallow fried, spiced rice and lentil balls
• Vegan Yoghurt Toast – Spicy
• Tofu masala sandwich
• Baked Aloo Tikki – Crispy and Healthy