Upma (Indian Semolina Porridge)
Difficulty 3/5 Ingredients 16 Steps 10
Upma is a popular South Indian dish made from semolina. Several variations of the dish exist including the use of different varieties of ground wheat, rice and even bread. A simple upma or uppittu takes just about 10 minutes to prepare. It uses very little oil/butter, making it one of the most popular, healthy and filling breakfasts in South India.
Ingredients
Base
- 1 cup semolina
- 1 cup mixed finely-chopped vegetables such as onion, carrots, lima beans, potatoes, capsicum, tomatoes, peas, etc.
- 2–3 small green chillies, chopped
- ¼-inch piece fresh ginger, chopped
- 1 sprig fresh coriander, finely-chopped
- 2 tbsp freshly-grated coconut
- Salt to taste
- ½ tsp sugar
Seasoning
- 1 tbsp oil/ghee
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp urad bean
- 1 tbsp peanuts
- 1 tbsp cashew halves
- 1 pinch asafoetida
- 4–5 curry leaves
Steps
- Toast semolina lightly in heated saucepan until light brown and roasted-smelling. Pour onto dry plate. Cool.
- Heat ½ tbsp oil/ghee in same pan about 1 min.
- Add seasoning ingredients in order: mustard seeds, cumin, black gram, peanuts, cashews. When mustard seeds crackle, add asafoetida and curry leaves.
- Add chopped ginger, green chillies and onions. Sauté 1 min.
- Add remaining veggies and 1 tbsp coconut. Sauté about 1 min.
- Add 1½ cups water and salt. Bring to boil. Lower to simmer over medium heat. Cover. Cook veggies a few minutes.
- Uncover. Stir in sugar. Lower heat further.
- Fold in roasted, cooled semolina slowly, stirring constantly.
- Cover. Cook a few minutes.
- Garnish with remaining coconut and chopped coriander leaves.
Notes from the original
- Coat the serving spoon with a little bit of the remaining oil/ghee before serving to prevent the dish from sticking to the spoon and give the dish a lustre!
- To save time, try using the pre-roasted semolina from any Indian grocery store.
- Cooking veggies like carrots, lima beans, peas, potatoes, etc. separately in the microwave saves time!
- A general rule of thumb on how much veggies to add is 1:1 ratio of semolina to veggies
- Try making upma with just one vegetable to bring out the taste of each veggie.
- Goes well with coconut chutney and sambhar
Source. Adapted from “Cookbook:Upma (Indian Semolina Porridge)” by Wikibooks contributors, revision of 2026-10-23, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Changes. Steps rewritten into short commands. Introduction shortened. Wiki formatting removed. This adapted recipe is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.