Upma Recipe | Traditional Rava (Semolinai) Upma recipe | Sooji Upma

Ready in 20 minutes

Serves 2-4 people

Ingredients

• 1 cup - Rava(Semolina/Sooji) - roasted
• 2 cups - Water
• 1 medium Onion - chopped
• 2-3 tbsp - Homemade Ghee (clarified butter)
• 1 tbsp - Fresh coriander - chopped
• ½ cup - Fresh  veggies (green, yellow, red or  orange sweet peppers) - chopped
• ¼ cup - Green peas
• ½ tsp - Turmeric
• ½ tsp - Salt (or salt to taste)
• ½ tsp - Brown mustard seeds
• ½ tsp - Cumin seeds
• ½ tsp - Asafoetida (Hing) (Optional)
• 1-2 - Green chilies - chopped (Optional)
• 5-6 - Curry leaves (Optional)

Pre-preparation

• Roast Rava (Sooji) on low-medium flame for 10-15mins until it turns light brown (roasted)

Preparation

1. Heat Ghee in a pan
2. For tempering (tadka) - Add brown mustard seeds, Hing, curry leaves, turmeric, chilies and saute for approx.one min (let the mustard seeds pop)
3. Add chopped onion and salt - saute till onions turn translucent
4. Add all the freshly chopped vegetables, and peas- cover your pan so that they get cooked faster
5. After veggies are almost cooked, increase the flame & add rava (sooji) & stir
6. Add water & stir well until all the ingredients are mixed well
7. When it starts bubbling, turn down the flame to low-medium & add some coriander & stir well
8. At this point, your Upma will start being thick and a bit dry - turn off flame and cover it
9. Your hot and fresh Upma is ready - serve it hot on a plate and garnish with the leftover coriander

Tips

• Adding salt to onion makes them cook faster.
• Always cook onion first, if you add other ingredients to onion then it will take longer to cook.
• Avoid overcooking of vegetables to get the best benefits.
• Overheating will cause the veggies to lose essential vitamins & minerals.
• Freshly chop your veggies and avoid pre-cut veggies from store.
• Remove seeds from chillies to cut the spice
• Use Ghee for better flavour

Quick health gyaan:

• Ghee is a good fat and should be included in all your meals. It helps in nourishing our cells as it contain Butyrate i.e. SCFA (Short-chain-fatty-acids) and rich in fat soluble like Vitamin A, D, and E
• Rava (Sooji) being balanced food is rich in Iron, potassium and protein. Good for diabetes and fat loss.
• Tempering (tadka) adds flavour to the dish but all the phytonutrients present in cumin seeds, hing, turmeric, curry leaves are not only vital for our body but also have medicinal properties and also, helps in digestion.