Vegetable Rawa Upma Recipe: Step By Step

I hated Upma. As a kid, this lumpy thing was served to me every week and I ate it with great hatred because in our house, no matter how much you hated something, you ate it if it was cooked. Simple enough.

Then one day, I became vegetarian. And I moved to a different city where home cooked meals were something you had recurring dreams of. And all those things I hated deeply became the very things I craved like a mania. Upma was one such thing I really missed. The Upma obsession increased even more because down South, Upma is so awesome! Served with some coconut chutney, it is filling, ghee-laden and most nutritious. And they know how to make their Upma correctly, unlike the gooey mess you get in other parts of the nation. As of today, I love Upma so much that I can eat it everyday for every meal and I am not even kidding here.

Make this. Often. It is tasty, quick and makes for an awesome breakfast.

Name: Vegetable Rawa Upma

Prep Time: 10 mins

Cooking Time: 10 mins

Recipe Source: Archana's Rasoi

Serves: 2 people

You need:

1 cup rawa

1 cup water

3 tbsp ghee

1 tsp cumin seeds / jeera

1 tsp mustard seeds / rai

1/4 tsp methi seeds / fenugreek seeds

1 tbsp urad dal

1 tsp asafoetida / hing

2 green chillies, finely chopped

6-7 curry leaves, finely julienned

1 inch ginger, finely chopped and pounded

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 small carrot, finely cubed

7-8 French bean stalk, finely chopped

1 large tomato, blanched, peeled, chopped

Bunch of coriander leaves

Salt

Here's how you make it:

- Chop up the veggies: carrots, beans, onions, green chilli, curry leaf, ginger. Keep aside.

- Pair up the urad dal and methi seeds. Keep aside.

- Pair up the jeera and mustard seeds.

- Keep the tomatoes ready.

- This is your cupful of rawa.

- Heat a kadhai and when hot, toss the rawa in. Dry roast the rawa for 4-5 minutes or until the rawa becomes light textured, gets a slight blush of colour and is fragrant.

 - Remember that you have to keep stirring and mixing the rawa so it does not catch and stick to the pan. Keep aside when done.

- Heat some ghee in a kadhai.

- Toss in the urad dal and methi seeds and cook until golden brown.

 - Add the cumin seeds, mustard seeds, asafoetida. Stir.

 - Add the veggies we had chopped and kept aside except for the tomatoes.

- Add tomatoes, salt. Stir on high until the tomatoes get a bit melty.

- Now, throw in the rawa. Adjust salt. Mix.

- You will have something like this. Crumbs and lumps. Heat on low.

- Boil a cup of water - remember, you use as much water as you use rawa so if you used a cup of rawa as mentioned, use the same cup full of water. When it boils, put it into the upma crumbs mixture.

- Mix well - you will get this.

- Cover with a lid and let it stay on low heat for 3-5 minutes.

- Open. Add the coriander leaves. Add some more ghee. Mix well.

- Serve hot. With chutney. Or just like that. And be ever so thankful that that God which gave us the common sense to cook our food because Vegetable Rawa Upma cooked > All raw ingredients used to make it.