What is Upma?

Upma is one of the most popular indian breakfast dishes. It is mainly popular among the Maharashtrian and South Indian communities in India.

It is made by dry roasting the semolina and adding vegetables, water and spices to make it into a thick porridge.

To make our upma a little different from how it is normally cooked, and to give it that peculiar taste, we have added sambhar masala to it. You can feel free to omit the sambhar masala, if you so choose.

Adding a generous sprinkle of peanuts and cashew nuts towards the end, gives the dish a soft and nutty texture. To get a tangy flavour, always add lemon juice at the very end.

Upma is a vegetarian dish. If you want to make it vegan, substitute the ghee for any vegetable cooking oil.

The ingredients and the step by step instructions on how to make Upma are given below.

Ingredients

2 tbsp ghee

½ tsp mustard seeds

a handful of curry leaves

1 red chili

1 medium onion, chopped fine

1 cup semolina (sooji)

1 medium carrot, grated

½ cup peas

1 tomato, pureed

2½ cups water

salt, to taste

½ tsp sambhar masala

¼ cup peanuts, roughly chopped

¼ cup cashew nuts

2 tbsp lemon juice

Method

This is a list of ingredients.

To a pan, add the ghee.

Melt the ghee and add the mustard seeds.

Next, add the curry leaves.

Then, add the dry red chilies.

Saute for a minute till the mustard seeds pop and then add the onions.

Cook the onions till they turn golden brown.

Add the semolina.

And mix it in thoroughly.

Add the carrots.

Then, add the peas.

Add the tomatoes.

Then, add the water.

Mix it in thoroughly and add the salt.

Next, add the sambhar masala.

And give it a good mix.

Top it off with peanuts.

Then with the cashew nuts.

And finally, add the lemon juice.

Let it cook for a couple of minutes and take it off the heat.

This is how it looks like when done.

Sprinkle with peanuts, cashew nuts and red chilies on top.

Serve fresh.