Recipe Cooked, Photographed and Written by Praveena
PrepTime:5 mins CookTime:7 mins Cuisine:Indian
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Upma is my go-to breakfast recipe which I love to make and even my family loves to eat heartily. Its very much underrated breakfast option in India (South India), but its the most frequently made one too.
And coming to me, if I have very little time to prepare brunch or dinner, I quickly make this.
The best part is even with very basic ingredients, it turns out amazing and happily fills the tummy. 🙂 Did I tell you that its completely Vegan and on the other side it is not Gluten free.
Sorry for those who follow such diet. This simple recipe is low in calories, so adding this to my Weight Loss Food / Low Carb Recipes.

Table of Contents:
- What is ‘UPMA’:
- How to serve, ‘Rava Upma / Vegan Semolina Savoury Porridge’:
- Other recipes from my blog:
- Step wise pics Procedure for ‘Rava Upma / Healthy Semolina Savoury Porridge / Sooji Upma Recipe’:
- Prep Work:
- Cooking:
- Tips:
- Result:
- Ingredients on ‘AMAZON’ to ‘SHOP’:
- Recipe Card & Print:

What is ‘UPMA’:
Upma otherwise translated as Savoury Porridge is the cheapest, simplest comfort food of any common man in India.
There are many varieties of Upma, while this is the basic one, among them made with Upma Rava / Bombay Rava / Semolina .
Its made as morning breakfast, for brunch with other items, or for dinner, or for lunch boxes, or any other occasion as a supplement.
It takes hardly 10-15 mins to make this superb simple dish.

How to serve, ‘Rava Upma / Vegan Semolina Savoury Porridge’:
It can be served with any curry or chutney or curd or any pickle or just as it is.
My kids love to have it with a bowl of chilled plain yogurt. Tastes good in any way.
We had it with Peanut Chutney / Palli Pachchadi. If you are new to this, Rava upma / Semolina Porridge recipe, give a go and you will just love for its simplicity. 🙂

Other recipes from my blog:
Before starting to cook, don’t forget to see the Tips mentioned in the end.
Chutney recipes here⇒ Chutney / Pachchadi / Dip
Breakfast recipes collection here⇒ Breakfast / Tiffin
Breakfast Platters here⇒ Breakfast Platters
Weight Loss recipes collection⇒ Weight Loss Food / Low Carb Recipes
Related Posts:
- Biyyam pindi Upma / Rice Flour Savoury Porridge
- Couscous Upma / Savoury Meal
- Instant Jonna Attu / Jowar Dosa / Sorgham Crepe
- Tomato Chutney / Tomato Pachchadi
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Ingredients:
- Upma Rava / Sooji / Bombay Rava / Semolina – 1 cup
- Hot water – 3 cups
- Onion – 1 (medium size)
- Ginger – 1 inch piece
- Salt – 1½ teaspoon
- Cooking Oil – 4 tablespoons
- Dry Red Chillies – 2
- Green Chillies – 2 (small size)
- Curry Leaves – 5 to 6
- Fresh Coriander (chopped) – 1 teaspoon (optional)
Ingredients for Tempering :
- Cashew Nuts – 1 fistful
- Mustard seeds / Aavalu – ¼ teaspoon
- Jeera / Cumin Seeds -½ teaspoon
- Chana dal / Split Yellow gram dal – 1 teaspoon (optional)
- Urad dal / Minapappu / Split Black gram – 1 teaspoon (optional)
Special Ingredients:
- Hot water
- Curry Leaves
- Cashew Nuts

Step wise pics Procedure for ‘Rava Upma / Healthy Semolina Savoury Porridge / Sooji Upma Recipe’:
Prep Work:
- Cut the green chillies length wise, finely chop the onion and ginger.
- Get the water boiled and set aside before starting to cook the upma.
- Optional step: Before doing the tempering, Take the rava / semolina, into the pan. Dry roast for 2-3 mins, by stirring continuously, until you get a pleasant aroma. Transfer this into a separate plate.
Cooking:









Tips:
- Don’t try to avoid the tempering, as its the main source of flavour for the entire dish.
- You can increase the quantity of cashew nuts or remove completely.
- Adjust the salt and spice as per your taste.
- Instead of using hot water, you can add normal water too, but it takes 3-4 min extra time to heat, form bubbles.
- You need to be careful that lumps are not formed, while adding the semolina and mixing.
- You can reduce or increase the water quantity to get your desired consistency. But what I mentioned is the apt ratio for this Upma.
- Storage: The shelf life of this, Rava upma / Semolina Savoury porridge, is 1 day at room temperature. But it can stored in fridge, warmed and served. Stays fresh in fridge up to 2-3 days.
Result:
- The taste of this dish is absolutely simple with cashew nuts dominating, as we wanted it to. 🙂
- We had this Upma / Savoury Porridge with Peanut Chutney / Palli Pachchadi just to balance it with spicy chutneys.

Ingredients, Accessories on ‘AMAZON’ to ‘SHOP’:
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Recipe Card & Print:

Rava Upma / Indian Semolina Savoury Porridge
Equipment
- Sauce Pan / Vessel (suitable for stove-top)
Ingredients
- 1 cup Upma Rava / Sooji / Bombay Rava / Semolina
- 3 cups Hot water
- 1 count Onion (medium size)
- 1 inch Ginger
- 1½ teaspoons Salt (or as per taste)
- 3 tablespoons Cooking Oil
- 2 count Dry Red Chillies
- 2 count Green Chillies (small size)
- 5 to 6 count Curry Leaves
- 1 twig Fresh Coriander leaves (optional)
Ingredients for Tempering:
- 1 fistful Cashew Nuts
- ¼ teaspoon Mustard seeds / Aavalu
- ½ teaspoon Jeera / Cumin Seeds
- 1 teaspoon Chana dal / Split Yellow gram dal (optional)
- 1 teaspoon Urad dal / Minapappu / Split Black gram (optional)
Instructions
PREP WORK:
- Cut the green chillies length wise, finely chop the onion and ginger. Get the water boiled and set aside before starting to cook the upma.Optional step: Take the rava / semolina, into the pan. Dry roast for 2-3 mins, by stirring continuously, until you get a pleasant aroma. Transfer this into a separate plate.
COOKING:
- Put a medium sized pan on stove top under medium flame.
- Next, add the oil and heat it. Add all the 'Ingredients for tempering'. Sauté them until they turn golden brown.
- Now, add the red chillies, curry leaves and green chillies to the sauteed items in the pan.
- After a minute, add all the onion pieces, fry until they become transparent.
- Add the water slowly to the pan and add salt too. Give a stir & wait until the water forms bubbles.
- At this stage, reduce the flame to the lowest. Slowly pour the rava / semolina into the hot boiling water with left hand. And continuously gently stir with the right hand. Until, everything is thoroughly mixed.
- Cover the pan with lid for the rava / semolina to be cooked perfectly and to get the flavours.
- After 2-3 mins remove the lid, turn the flame off. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves (optional) and serve. Done!!
Notes
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