Semolina Upma or Sooji/Suji Upma or Ravva Upma is a famous South Indian Break Fast Recipe and is a favourite among my friends :). I am posting this on my friend’s request. To make it even better, I am going to do a “Upma Week” – (Wheat ravva,Vermicelli, Sago, Flattened rice and Oats), with all grandmother’s tips and tricks on how to make any Upma recipe more delicious.

Ingredients:

• Sooji or Semolina – 1 cup
• Oil or ghee – 4-5 tbsp
• Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
• Chana dal – 1 tbsp
• Urad dal – 1 tbsp
• Cashew nuts – 8
• Curry leaves – 5
• Green chillies – 5 (slit)
• Chopped onions – 1 small (sliced)
• Chopped ginger –  1 tsp
• Salt to taste
• Water – 2 1/2 cups (You can adjust the water content based on your taste. If you want your Upma to be soupy and porridge type, add 3 cups of water. If you want Upma not to be wetty add just 2 cups of water.

How to Prepare Suji/Sooji Upma or Semolina Upma:

1. Roast Suji/Sooji in a  wide pan on allow flame and keep aside.
2. Heat oil in a wok and add mustard seeds. Let them splutter
   

   mustard seeds spluttering in oil

3. First add Chana dal, urad dal – roast them, then add some cashews on a low flame.
   

   Chana dal, urad dal, cashew nute were added.

4. Add chopped Ginger, Slit chillies and sliced onions.
   

   Slit green chillies, Sliced onions and chopped ginger were added

5. Fry them and add water in it and add salt and boil the water well till you saw the bubbles. You can check salt content by tasting the water…the water should be salty(slightly).
   

   water was added and bring it to boil

6. Put the flame in simmer. Do stir the water with a spatula and add sooji slowly.
   

   Finally Sooji was added and mix well vigoursly to avoid lumps

7. Don’t stop stirring while you add sooji to avoid lumps. Once you add all sooji, mix well. Place a lid on it and cook for 5 minutes. Remove the lid and mix well.
   

   Cook well till the suji absorbs water

8. Upma is ready to serve. Serve when it is hot. While eating Upma you can add some lemon juice and mix it.
9. You can serve Ginger pickle, Tomato pickle or Coconut chutney and Sambar along with Upma.
10. This  is the basic version of Upma and for slight variation you can add some vegetables like add carrot cubes, potato cubes, peas after frying the onions, chillies and ginger.
    

    Sooji Upma or Semolina Upma

Tomato Bath/Tomato Upma : Follow the same ingredients and procedure to prepare tomato bath….But you have to add a medium sized Chopped Tomatoes (2) and cook till it becomes soft, after frying the Green chillies, Ginger and Sliced onions….Adding chopped tomatoes to Upma brings tangy taste to it.

TIP: Do not wait till the complete water evaporates. Make sure Upma is still wet when you switch off. Over the next few minutes before you serve, the wetness evaporates and Upma gets the right consistency to be savoured

What about you? Do you like Upma a lot? What recipes do you make? Please share your recipes using comments.