Recipe Cooked, Photographed and Written by Praveena
PrepTime:5 mins CookTime:10 mins Cuisine:Indian
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Rice flour / Biyyam Pindi Upma , is one of the Upma recipes otherwise translated as Savoury Porridge is the cheapest, simplest comfort food of any common man in India.
Read along to know more about this easy peasy recipe and do try it too! 🙂 🙂
Table of Contents:
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- About, ‘Rice Flour Savoury Porridge / Biyyam Pindi Upma’:
- Possible Alterations for the recipe, ‘Rice Flour Savoury Porridge / Challa Pindi Upma’:
- How to serve ‘Rice Flour Upma / Biyyappindi Upma’:
- Other recipes from my blog:
- Step Wise Pics Procedure for ‘Rice Flour Upma / Rice Flour Savoury Porridge / Andhra Uppudu Pindi’:
- Prep Work:
- Cooking:
- Tips & Storage:
- Result:
- Ingredients, Accessories on ‘AMAZON’ to ‘SHOP’:
- Recipe Card & Print:

About, ‘Rice Flour Savoury Porridge / Biyyam Pindi Upma’:
There are many varieties of Upma, while this is one of them made with Biyyam pindi / Rice Flour and few other pantry ingredients.
Its made as morning breakfast, for brunch with other items, or for dinner, for lunch boxes, or any other occasion as a supplement.
It takes hardly 10-15 mins to make this superb simple dish. And is called as ‘Uppudu Pindi’ in South Indian Andhra state.
If you are new to this recipe, give a go and you will just love for its simplicity. This is a low calorie food, so adding this to my Weight Loss Food / Low Carb Recipes collection.

Possible Alterations for the recipe, ‘Rice Flour Savoury Porridge / Challa Pindi Upma’:
Vegan options: For making buttermilk, you might use Plant based/vegan yogurt instead of Whole Milk yogurt. Check the ‘SHOP’ section, below for the Vegan Yogurt option.
To add nuts: Yes, you can nuts like cashews, chopped almonds along with the other tempering ingredients.
Ingredients for Tempering: Don’t try to avoid the tempering, as its the main source of flavour for the entire dish. You can add at least one or two available ‘ingredients for tempering’. Most importantly, try to add mustard seeds and cumin seeds.
To avoid using Buttermilk: You might try using plain water, but I prefer using buttermilk as its gave the dish the pure white colour.
Using sour curd: This would be the best option for this recipe. It gives that tart taste for the entire upma. Which tastes good actually.

How to serve ‘Rice Flour Upma / Biyyappindi Upma’:
First best option is, to have it as it is without any condiment or accompaniment. Its just awesome on its own.
As shown in the pic below, we had this Upma with a condiment, South Indian style Mango Pickle, (recipe link⇒ Andhra Pesara Avakaya / Raw Mango & Moong Dal Pickle ).
Other condiments that go well with this dish are:
- Instant Coconut White Chutney / Kobbari Pachchadi
- Peanut Chutney / Palli Pachchadi
- Mint Leaves Spice Powder / Pudina Karam Podi
- Moringa / Drumstick Leaves Spice Powder / Munagaku Podi

Other recipes from my blog:
Before starting to cook, please see the Tips mentioned at the end.
Chutney recipes collection⇒ Chutney / Pachchadi / Dip
Breakfast recipes Collection⇒ Breakfast / Tiffin
Salad recipes collection⇒ Salads & Soups
Related Posts:


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Ingredients:
- Rice Flour / – 1 large cup/bowl
- Buttermilk – 3 large cups/bowls
- Ginger – 1 tiny piece
- Salt – 1½ teaspoon
- Cooking Oil – 3 tablespoons
- Dry Red Chillies – 2
- Green Chillies – 4
- Curry Leaves – 5 to 6
- Onion – 1 large
Ingredients for Tempering :
- Urad dal / Minapappu / Split Black gram – 1 teaspoon
- Mustard seeds / Aavalu – ¼ teaspoon
- Chana dal / Split Yellow gram dal – ½ teaspoon
- Jeera / Cumin Seeds – ½ teaspoon
- Turmeric powder – ¼ teaspoon
- Sesame seeds – ½ teaspoon
Special Ingredients:
- Curd / Buttermilk
- Curry Leaves
- Ginger

Step Wise Pics Procedure for ‘Rice Flour Upma / Rice Flour Savoury Porridge / Andhra Uppudu Pindi’:
Prep Work:
- Cut the green chillies length wise, chop the onions, tomatoes and ginger piece.
- TO MAKE BUTTERMILK: Buttermilk is the liquid form of thick curd/yogurt. You can easily make it, by adding 3 cups of water to 1 cup of curd/yogurt. Just whisk them gently until it forms a liquid consistency.
Cooking:
Put a medium sized pan on stove top under medium flame. Add the oil and heat it.
Add all the items under ‘Ingredients for tempering’. Sauté them until they turn golden brown.

Now, add the red chillies, curry leaves and green chillies to the sautéed items in the pan.
After a minute, add all the ginger and onion pieces. Stir fry the onions and let them become transparent.

In the meanwhile, take the rice flour/ biyyappindi into a bowl. Add the buttermilk to the same bowl.
Thoroughly whisk both without any lumps.

Put the flame to LOWEST possible, slowly add the liquid mix to the pan with left hand.
Keep gently stirring continuously with the other hand.

Add the chopped coriander leaves, keep stirring and stirring gently until everything gets into a thick mass, as shown in the pic.
This takes 3 to 5 mins. At this stage switch the flame off.

After 4-5 mins remove the lid, turn the flame off and serve the Upma. Done!!

Tips & Storage:
- Vegans can use curd / yogurt of plant based milk.
- Don’t try to avoid the tempering, as its the main source of flavour for the entire dish.
- Ratio of Rice Flour and Buttermilk is 1:3.
- Adjust the salt and spice as per your taste.
- You need to be careful that lumps are not formed, while adding the liquid mix. To avoid lumps, keep stirring continuously.
- Storage: The shelf life of this item is 1 day at room temperature. But it can stored in fridge, warmed and served. Stays fresh in fridge up to 2-3 days.
- It can be eaten warm or cold.
Result:
- The taste of this dish is absolutely simple but yet delicious.
- As shown in the pic below, we had this Upma with a condiment, South Indian style Mango Pickle, (recipe link⇒ Andhra Pesara Avakaya / Raw Mango & Moong Dal Pickle ).

Ingredients, Accessories on ‘AMAZON’ to ‘SHOP’:
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Recipe Card & Print:

Rice Flour Savoury Porridge / Biyyam Pindi Upma / Rice Flour Upma Recipe
Equipment
- 1 Wide Mixing Bowl
- 1 Sauce Pan / Vessel (for stove-top method)
Ingredients
- 1 cup Rice Flour / Biyyam Pindi
- 3 cups Buttermilk / Majjiga
- 1 inch piece Ginger / Allam
- 1½ teaspoon Salt (or as per taste)
- 3 tablespoons Cooking Oil
- 2 count Dry Red Chillies
- 4 count Green Chillies
- 5 to 6 count Curry Leaves
- 1 large Onion
Ingredients for Tempering:
- 1 teaspoon Urad dal / Minapappu / Split Black gram
- ¼ teaspoon Mustard seeds / Aavalu
- ½ teaspoon Chana dal / Split Yellow gram dal
- ½ teaspoon Jeera / Cumin Seeds
- ¼ teaspoon Turmeric powder
- ½ teaspoon Sesame seeds
Instructions
PREP WORK:
- Cut the green chillies length wise, chop the onions, tomatoes and ginger piece.
- TO MAKE BUTTERMILK: Buttermilk is the liquid form of thick curd/yogurt. You can easily make it, by adding 3 cups of water to 1 cup of curd/yogurt. Just whisk them gently until it forms a liquid consistency.
COOKING:
- Put a medium sized pan on stove top under medium flame. Add the oil and heat it. Add all the items under 'Ingredients for tempering'. Sauté them until they turn golden brown.
- Now, add the red chillies, curry leaves and green chillies to the sautéed items in the pan. After a minute, add all the ginger and onion pieces. Stir fry the onions and let them become transparent.
- In the meanwhile, take the rice flour/ biyyappindi into a bowl. Add the buttermilk to the same bowl. Thoroughly whisk both without any lumps.
- Put the flame to LOWEST possible, slowly add the liquid mix to the pan with left hand. Keep gently stirring continuously with the other hand.
- Add the chopped coriander leaves, keep stirring and stirring gently until everything gets into a thick mass, as shown in the pic above. This takes 3 to 5 mins. At this stage switch the flame off.
Notes
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Good combination & very healthy, nutritious, liked it, definitely I will try. Thanks for sharing ( Shibasram )
Thank you so much for your comment! Pls let me know how you liked the taste! 🙂
I was looking for a gluten free upma recipe, as I love south Indian cuisine and ever since I found out I was gluten free I couldn’t find any spots in my area which had gluten free upma! But your recipe has changed that around, thank you so much for sharing. Turned out great 😊
Hi Upasana, this made me happy to hear, and nice of you to let me know. Most welcome. 🙂 🙂