Restaurant Style Upma Recipe (Rava Upma)

4.86 from 14 votes

Restaurant Style Upma Recipe (Rava Upma) is a Indian breakfast made with roasted semolina and few spices.

Course Breakfast, Snack

Cuisine Indian, Karnataka, South Indian

Keyword karnataka style, rava upma, restaurant style, sooji upma recipe, upma recipe, uppitu recipe

Diet Vegetarian

Method Stovetop

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 15

Total Time 20

Servings

Calories 132kcal

Author Bhavana Patil

Start by roasting the sooji along with one teaspoon of cumin (jeera) until it's fragrant on a medium-low flame in a pan.
Do not burn or brown the sooji from the bottom, so be careful. Remove it into a clean, dry bowl or plate.
**Note: You can do this step of roasting sooji in advance and save time for busy mornings.
Add oil to a heavy bottom pan, add mustard seeds, chana dal, urad dal, and cashew nuts, and saute for 1 minute until they change color.
Next, add chopped ginger, green chilies, asafetida, and curry leaves. Saute another 20 secs.
Next add water, milk and let the water come to a boil. Do not add salt directly at this stage; milk will curdle.
Once the water & milk comes to a boil, add salt, and start adding the (roasted sooji + jeera) a little at a time. Stir continuously after each addition in one direction with a spatula to avoid lumps.
Then cover the pan with the lid and set the heat to low. Let it remain like that for 2-3 mins until the moisture gets absorbed. Turn off the heat.
Remove lid, add lemon juice, coriander leaves, and two tablespoons of ghee. Ghee is optional but recommended. Mix well.
Serve hot with coconut chutney, pickle, and sambar.

Roast rava on low heat: Do not burn the Rava while roasting it. Keep the flame on medium-low and mix it constantly until it is fragrant. Adding cumin or jeera while roasting rava enhances the flavor. But you can completely avoid jeera if you don’t like it.
Prepping Upma rava ahead of time: You can roast upma Rava beforehand and store it in an airtight container. This saves a lot of time during the busy morning or days.
Use the right ratio of rava to water: Sooji to water ratio is another important aspect of getting restaurant style upma. So use 3 cups of water for 1 cup of sooji - this results in a soft and creamy consistency. I have tried 2, 2.5 cups, but I think 3 cups work best. If you like even thin or watery consistency upma, use 4 cups of water for 1 cup of sooji.
Milk: I have added 2 ½ cups of water and ½ cup of milk to this recipe. Milk is optional, but it definitely adds to the flavor.
Don't skimp on oil and ghee: Please do not reduce or skip the quantity of oil and ghee. You cannot achieve the restaurant-style soft texture.
Adding rava to the water: Do not add all the rava to the water in one go. Add the roasted Rava a little at a time, stirring after each addition to avoid lumps.
Curry Leaves: Do not skip curry leaves. The more, the better.

Upma Varieties: You can make many variations of upma, like Bread Upma, Vermicelli Upma, Poha, Sabudana Upma, Broken Wheat/Dalia upma, and oats upma by replacing sooji with other ingredients.
Masala Upma: Masala upma is a variation of Rava upma, also known as kharabath, in most tiffin centers in Karnataka. We generally use vangibath powder along with red chili powder for this.
Vegetable Upma: You can also add vegetables of your choice, like onion, green peas, carrots, green beans, capsicum, and corn, to make a healthy vegetable upma recipe.
Bansi Rava Variety: You can make this recipe using bansi rava (yellow-colored sooji), but I highly recommend using Bombay rava sooji (coarse variety).
Fresh Coconut: A few people also add grated coconut before serving.

Note: Nutrition values are my best estimates. If you rely on them for your diet, use your preferred nutrition calculator.