This Vermicelli Upma (or Seviyan Upma), is a traditional and popular South Indian breakfast recipe made with vermicelli (semiyan), vegetables, and a few spices in an Instant pot or stovetop pot. This semiya upma is an easy one-pot healthy recipe that you can cook quickly in under 15 minutes in the pressure cooker.
Vermicelli is known by various local names in India. It is known as Shavige in Kannada, Semiya, or Sevalu In Telugu, and Seviyan in North India.
Vermicelli Upma is a Kids friendly recipe. It can be served for breakfast or packed in the lunch box for both kids and adults.
Kids love it because they think it's pasta or noodles. Vermicelli is made from either rice or wheat. I usually use wheat semiya of either Bambino or MTR Brand.
Today I am showing how to make Vermicelli Upma in Instant Pot Pressure Cooker. I prefer to use Bambino vermicelli to make this upma.
The ratio of vermicelli and water is 1:1.25 in the Instant pot but may depend on the quality and type of vermicelli used.
You can make many variations of upma by replacing vermicelli (semiya) with other ingredients like Bread Upma, Rava Upma, Poha, Sabudana Upma, Broken Wheat/Dalia upma, Quinoa Upma, Cauliflower rice upma, Oats upma.
Nowadays, ready-roasted vermicelli is also available in the market, making cooking faster and quicker.
Which Vermicelli can I use for this recipe?
There's a huge variety of vermicelli varieties available in the market, e.g., made from rice, semolina, or wheat flour.
I have used Indian vermicelli made up of wheat flour which is roasted and readily available in Indian grocery stores or on amazon. This is also used to make Vermicelli Kheer.
Ingredients for Semiya Upma Recipe
First, let's gather all the ingredients required for making Semiya Upma recipe.
- Vermicelli: I used the roasted vermicelli variety. It is available in any Indian grocery store. If you don't find the pre-roasted one, then you can easily roast it at your home.
- Mustard seeds, cumin, urad dal, and chana dal: are part of any South Indian tempering. You can increase the quantity if you desire.
- Green chilies: I have used Thai green chilies.
- Ginger: Use fresh minced or grated ginger.
- Curry Leaves: are added for flavoring, so dont skip it.
- Turmeric Powder: Optional. It's added for the color and its health benefits.
- Vegetables: I have used onions, carrots, capsicum, sweet corn, and peas. You can also swap for other vegetables like broccoli, and potato.
- Oil: You can use any cooking oil.
- Water: For making in Instant Pot, add 1 ¼ cups of water for 1 cup of vermicelli.
- Lemon juice: freshly squeezed lemon/lime juice gives the best flavor.
- Coriander leaves: for garnish.
How to make Vermicelli Upma in Instant Pot
If you are using unroasted vermicelli, dry roast the vermicelli in the Instant pot itself until it turns light golden brown on Saute mode. I have used store-bought roasted bambino vermicelli for this recipe, so I did not roast it.
In SAUTE mode on Instant Pot, Heat oil (or ghee). Add mustard seeds, jeera, urad dal, chana dal, and saute until dal changes into light golden brown.
Then add green chilies, ginger, curry leaves, hing, and saute for a few seconds.
Add chopped onion and saute until onion becomes light brown.
Add mixed vegetables, roasted vermicelli, turmeric powder, water, salt, and mix well.
Close the lid securely, and turn the vent to "SEALING". Select the PRESSURE COOK/MANUAL (High Pressure) setting and set the cooking time to 1 minute.
When the instant pot beeps, allow the pressure to release naturally for 5 minutes, then release any remaining pressure before removing the lid.
Lastly, remove the steel insert from the instant pot. Squeeze some lemon juice and garnish with fresh coriander leaves, and gently fluff the vermicelli with a fork.
Serve Vermicelli Upma with coconut chutney.
Stovetop Pot Method
- Dry roast vermicelli in a pan on medium-low flame until it turns light golden brown. I have used roasted bambino vermicelli for this recipe.
- Heat oil in a Kadai, add mustard seeds, jeera seeds, and let them splutter.
- Add urad dal, green chillies, curry leaves, hing, and turmeric powder. Saute until the dal changes into light golden brown.
- Add chopped onion and cook until the onion becomes light brown.
- Add chopped mixed vegetables and saute till the vegetables get half cooked. It takes around 2 minutes.
- Add water, salt and bring it to a boil. Check for the salt at this stage.
- Add the roasted vermicelli and mix well.
- Cover the lid and cook until the water gets completely absorbed by the vermicelli on medium-low flame.
- Garnish with coriander leaves and lime juice, and serve hot.
How to Serve Vegetable Vermicelli Upma?
Serve it hot for breakfast or snack with peanut chutney powder, coconut chutney along with Masala Chai or Filter coffee.
Storage Instructions
Refrigerator: Semiya upma is best enjoyed immediately. Leftovers keep well in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. I do not recommend freezing it.
Reheat: Reheat it in the microwave or stovetop skillet till warm.
Variations
- Use Roasted Vermicelli: Always use roasted vermicelli, raw vermicelli will make the upma mushy.
- Other Vegetables: You can use vegetables of your choice like broccoli, mushroom, and potato.
- Kids: For kids lunchbox, you can replace oil with ghee, which makes it a healthier choice. Also, you can reduce the number of green chilies.
- Nuts: You can also add roasted peanuts (groundnuts) or cashews to make it more healthy and crunchier.
- Quantity: You can double or triple the recipe with the same pressure cooking time.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you have unroasted vermicelli or seviyan in your pantry, you need to roast in little oil for 3-4 minutes or until it gets light brown.
I used store-bought roasted Bambino Vermicelli to make this seviyan upma, but you can use any other brand too.
Yes vermicelli upma is vegan.
I have used asafoetida. To make it gluten-free, use gluten-free asafoetida or skip it.
More Breakfast Ideas
Other Instant Pot Recipes
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Vermicelli Upma (Semiya Upma)
Equipment
Ingredients
Measuring cup used 1 cup = 250 ml
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- ½ teaspoon jeera (cumin) seeds
- ½ teaspoon spilt urad dal
- 1 teaspoon chana dal (optional)
- 2 green chillies finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon ginger minced
- 1 stalk curry leaves
- a pinch hing (asafetida) skip for gluten-free
- 1 small onion finely chopped
- 1 cup mix veggies (carrot, beans, peas, capsicum, sweet corn)
- 1 cup Bambino vermicelli (semiya) roasted
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder (haldi)
- 1 ¼ cups water (2 cups water for stovetop pot version)
- salt to taste
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 tablespoon coriander (cilantro) for garnish
Instructions
Instant Pot Method:
- If you are using unroasted vermicelli, dry roast the vermicelli in the instant pot itself until it turns light golden brown on Saute mode. I have used store-bought roasted bambino vermicelli for this recipe, so I did not roast.
- In SAUTE mode, Heat oil (or ghee). Add mustard seeds, jeera, urad dal, chana dal, and saute until dal changes into light golden brown.
- Then add green chilies, ginger, curry leaves, hing, and saute for a few seconds.
- Add chopped onion and saute until onion becomes light brown.
- Add mixed vegetables, roasted vermicelli, turmeric powder, water, salt, and mix well.
- Close the lid securely, and turn the vent to "SEALING". Select the PRESSURE COOK/MANUAL (High Pressure) setting and set the cooking time to 1 minute.
- When the instant pot beeps, allow the pressure to release naturally for 5 minutes, then release any remaining pressure before removing the lid.
- Remove the steel insert from the instant pot, add lemon juice and garnish with fresh coriander leaves, and gently fluff the vermicelli with a fork.
- Serve Vermicelli Upma with coconut chutney.
Stovetop Method
- Dry roast vermicelli in a pan on medium-low flame until it turns light golden brown. I have used roasted bambino vermicelli for this recipe.
- Heat oil in a Kadai, add mustard seeds, jeera seeds, and let them splutter.
- Add urad dal, green chillies, curry leaves, hing, and turmeric powder. Saute until the dal changes into light golden brown.
- Add chopped onion and cook until the onion becomes light brown.
- Add chopped mixed vegetables and saute till the vegetables get half cooked. It takes around 2 minutes.
- Add water, salt and bring it to a boil. Check for the salt at this stage.
- Add the roasted vermicelli and mix well.
- Cover the lid and cook until the water gets completely absorbed by the vermicelli on medium-low flame.
- Garnish with coriander leaves and lime juice, and serve hot.
Video
Notes
Variations
- Use Roasted Vermicelli: Always use roasted vermicelli, raw vermicelli will make the upma mushy.
- Other Vegetables: You can use vegetables of your choice like broccoli, mushroom, and potato.
- Kids: For kids lunchbox, you can replace oil with ghee, which makes it a healthier choice. Also, you can reduce the number of green chilies.
- Nuts: You can also add roasted peanuts (groundnuts) or cashews to make it more healthy and crunchier.
- Quantity: You can double or triple the recipe with the same pressure cooking time.
Ramya says
Tried this for breakfast, came out really good and very quick. Will make this often. Thanks so much for the recipe ?
bhavana says
Thanks ramya for letting me know ,glad it helped you.