Rava Upma

One of the simplest & humblest south Indian breakfast ever! Hot rava upma with an array of chutneys, spicy sambar, couple of medhu vadai and a cup of hot & strong filter coffee to finish.. pure bliss.. the day can't start any better, could it?!

Thanks to rava upma, for it has opened up the venue to a wider variety of "upma" recipes, which includes semiya upma, bread upma, oats upma, broken wheat upma etc. Needless to say, every one of them is tasty & good in its own way. Rava kichadi is a classic extension of rava upma, a more gooey type with added nutritional value from vegetables like carrot, beans, peas etc.

When it comes to upma, you can always find two extremes, upma lovers & upma haters. I don't know about you, but I have a great weakness for hot, fluffy upma. Lot of times, when we go to restaurants, I have ended up ordering a plate of this simple rava upma even when there is a long list of menu for selection.

This recipe comes together with just 2 major ingredients, salt ("uppu" in Tamil) & sooji ("ma"avu in Tamil), and that's why the name uppuma, or more colloquially upma! So, you have to salt this dish just right for the maximum flavors of sooji to shine through! 

Basic Info

Complexity - Simple
Prep time - 5 mins
Cook time - 15 mins
Serves - 3-4

Ingredients
Coarse Sooji / Rava / Semolina - 1 cup
Water - 2 cups
Onion - 1 no (chopped)
Green chillies - 4 nos (slit vertically)
Curry leaves - 5-6 nos
Oil - 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 3/4 tsp
Whole Urad dal - 1 tsp
Channa dal - 1 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp (adjust to your taste)

Method

Dry roast sooji/rava on medium flame until fragrant.

Heat oil in a medium sized pan and splutter mustard seeds. Fry urad dal, channa dal until golden brown. Add green chillies & curry leaves and saute for few seconds until fragrant. Add onion and saute until translucent. 

Add salt & water and bring it to a rolling boil. On medium heat, add roasted rava gradually and stir so that there are no lumps.

Once the upma thickens and the rava is completely cooked, remove from heat and keep it covered.

Let it cool and fluff it up with a fork. Serve with chutney/pickle of your choice.