Vegetable upma is a delicious healthy one pot South Indian breakfast recipe made with semolina (rava), fresh veggies, nuts & lentils. It is vegan, vegetarian, easy to make and can be enjoyed with sambhar or chutney.
Packed with goodness of fresh veggies, this rava upma turns out absolutely soft, moist and makes for a perfect filling nutritious breakfast. If you have some chopped veggies in-hand, it takes barely 15-20 minutes to make it.
Upma is a popular South Indian dish and is also known by other names like uppuma or upeet. It is basically a type of savory semolina porridge that is very light on spices. Though it can be made without vegetables but I like to add them to make upma more wholesome and flavour packed.
The veg rava upma recipe shared here is:
- Vegan
- Vegetarian
- Easy to make and one-pot
- Great for breakfast or kids lunch box.
Upma Ingredients:
Rava: Rava is basically a type of coarse flour made by grinding husked wheat. It is also known by other names like suji, sooji, ravva or rawa and is not gluten free. I have used bombay rava variety to make upma.
Vegetables: I have added veggies like green chillies, onion, tomato, peas & carrots. You can even add french beans, capsicum, bell peppers or sweet corn. If you have a bag of frozen mixed vegetables then you can also use them after washing.
Lentils & Nuts: Split chana, urad dal and nuts like cashews or peanuts add a wonderful crunchy texture and nutty aroma to the upma. If you want to make it nut-free, skip adding nuts.
Oil / Ghee: Use any cooking oil like peanut, sesame, coconut or sunflower oil for making upma. Personally I also like to add some ghee in the end for that rich sweet aroma but if you want to keep the recipe vegan (dairy free) skip adding ghee.
Aromatics: The aromatics like mustard seeds, fresh curry leaves and ginger add a lovely earthy aroma to upma. Instead of fresh curry leaves, you can use dried ones too.
The recipe is quite flexible as you can add any vegetables of choice and it is a great option as make ahead breakfast too. You can even prep for it a night before by roasting sooji in advance and storing the chopped veggies in fridge.
How to make upma?
To make upma, we begin by first dry roasting semolina or rawa and keeping it aside. Then we roast aromatics in oil, followed by sautéing vegetables in it. We add roasted rava to these veggies along with water, salt and cook till all water is absorbed. Please note that the rava to water ratio in upma should always be 1:3.
More recipes with semolina (rava):
Ingredients: (For 4-5 servings)
- Rava / Sooji (Semolina)- 1 cup
- Water- 3 cups
- Cooking Oil- 1 + 1/2 tbsp
- Mustard Seeds (Rai)- 1 + 1/2 tsp
- Urad Dal- 1 tsp
- Chana Dal- 1 tsp
- Peanuts / Chopped Cashews- 2 tbsp
- Curry leaves- 6 to 8
- Ginger paste- 2 tsp
- Green chillies (chopped)- 2
- Onion (chopped)- 1 cup
- Tomatoes (chopped)- 1/3 cup
- Carrots (chopped)- 1/3 cup
- Green Peas- 1/3 cup
- Salt- 1 + 1/2 tsp (to taste)
- Ghee- 2 tsp (optional)
- Chopped Coriander- 2 tbsp (for garnishing)
Directions:
Step 1:
Dry roast semolina in a pan for 3-4 minutes on medium-low flame till it begins to release the aroma. Keep stirring in between. (We just want to remove its raw smell but don’t want its colour to change). Once done, transfer it to a bowl or plate and keep aside.
Step 2:
In the same pan, heat oil. Add mustard seeds, curry leaves, cashews / peanuts , chana dal, urad dal and sauté till mustard seeds begin to splutter.
Step 3:
Add onion, green chillies, ginger and cook till onions become translucent.
Step 4:
Add tomatoes, carrots and peas and cook for another 2-3 minutes while stirring.
Step 5:
Add water and salt to veggies. Stir gently and bring water to boil. Add roasted rava while stirring continuously. Cover the pot with a lid, simmer and let it cook for 4-5 minutes till semolina absorbs all the water.
Step 6:
Once there is no water left, open the lid and add 2-3 tsp of ghee to it (optional step). Mix gently. Garnish with chopped coriander or cilantro and serve hot with sambar or chutney.
Serving suggestion: Add above prepared upma to a greased bowl. Press it down and level its top with a spoon or knife. Wait for 2-3 minutes. Gently separate the edges of upma from bowl with help of knife and invert it over a plate. Garnish with cashews or coriander leaves before serving.
The upma can be enjoyed with different South Indian style chutneys like:
Tips:
- The trick to make perfect upma is to keep rava:water ratio to 1:3. For every 1 cup rava use 3 cups water, for 1/2 cup rava use 1+1/2 cups water and so on. You can alter the amount of vegetables, herbs or spices as per your choice but the ratio of upma & water should be maintained.
- To save time while making upma, you can roast suji in advance and store it in airtight container or ziploc bag (better if stored in fridge). Scoop the required amount from it using a clean dry spoon and store rest of it back.
- You can make variation of this upma by adding tomato puree or kashmiri red chilli powder for making reddish upma or add 1/2 tsp turmeric to make yellow coloured upma.
- You can make it without onions too or skip / add any vegetables as per your liking.
Pin for later:
(Note: The recipe has been updated with fresh images and additional tips on 17 Sep’2024.)
If you try this vegetable rawa upma recipe & share pics on social media, then don’t forget to tag on Facebook, Instagram or use #kuchpakrahahai.
(4 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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