Vegetable Upma

Upma is a South Indian Breakfast dish made with roasted semolina / Rava / Sooji.  Upma is comfort food for my kids. If I serve them vegetable upma all 7 days for breakfast they will be happy to eat it. They love it so much. It is loaded with their favourite vegetables , creamy and melt in mouth texture.

I used carrots, potato and green peas in the upma. You can use your favourite veggies. For making creamy upma, the ratio of water to semolina is very important. If you don't add enough water, upma will be like thick mass and dry. To make upma with creamy texture, follow the water quantity as per the recipe.

Sometimes I make upma and roll them into balls or in the shape of laddu and serve it to my kids. When I was a kid, I used to eat upma with sugar on the side. I used to sprinkle sugar over the top and eat. My kids eat upma without any sides. If you are serving it for adults, you can serve it with spicy coconut chutney or tomato chutney.

Ingredients

• 1/2 Cup Fine Rava / Semolina + 1/4 Teaspoon Oil
• 2 Cups Water
• 1 Cup vegetables chopped / diced to equal size for even cooking ( I used carrots, potatoes and green peas)
• 1 Small sized onion chopped finely
• 1 Tablespoon Vegetable Oil
• 1/2 Teaspoon Mustard Seeds
• 1 Teaspoon Urad Dal
• 1 Tablespoon Channa Dal
• 2 Red Chillies ( I did not use red chilli since my kids don't eat spicy upma)
• Salt to taste
• 1 Teaspoon Ghee / Clarified Butter

Directions

1. In a wok or pan , heat 1/4 Teaspoon oil and roast semolina on low flame for 5 minutes. Stir frequently to make sure it is getting roasted evenly. Roast until the semolina starts changing color. Do not brown the rava/ semolina. Switch off the flame just when it starts changing color. Set aside
2. In a pan, heat 1 tablespoon oil. When the oil is hot, add mustard seeds. When they splutter, add urad dal , channa dal and fry until the dals are light golden
3. Add onions and fry until they are soft
4. Add all the vegetables along with salt and fry for 2 minutes
5. Then add 1/2 cup water and let the vegetables get cooked until they are half way cooked through. We like our vegetables little al dente or crunchy. So I cooked for 3 to 4 minutes
6. Add 1 and 1/2 cups of water and bring it to boil. When the water starts boiling, add ghee and check for salt. Add more salt if required
7. Now , add rava in a slow stream into the boiling water and stir constantly while u are adding rava. This is done to ensure that there are no lumps. If you don't stir constantly while adding rava, you will end up having lumps and lumps of semolina in the upma.
8. Keep stirring until the rava absorbs all water and it is like a smooth paste
9. Swtich off the flame and close the pan with a tight lid
10. Open the lid after 5 minutes and give the upma a nice stir and garnish with chopped cilantro leaves
11. Serve hot with sugar or chutney