Dahi Upma A Nutritious Twist on the Classic South Indian Comfort Food

 Dahi Upma: A Healthy Alternative to the Traditional South Indian Comfort Food

Growing up in my grandparents' kitchen, the aroma of tempering cumin seeds and curry leaves was the Sunday morning alarm for me. She was busy over her well-aged pan, stirring something that resembled magic  light and fluffy semolina swirling around bright vegetables. It was my first taste of upma, and to be frank, it was not love at first bite.

 But it was a completely different scenario when a family member served me an innovative version of it at a family gathering in Chennai. She casually sprinkled a spoon of fresh yogurt right before serving, and this simple dish was anything but ordinary.

 

About Upma Recipe

Upma is a flavorful, tasty, savory and popular South Indian breakfast that is made with cream of wheat or semolina flour called rava or suji, a few lentils, nuts, vegetables, herbs and spices.

 

This traditional dish involves cooking roasted rava in hot boiling water that has been flavored by ghee (or oil), cashews, urad dal (white lentils), chana dal, onion, ginger and additional herbs and spices. Sugar can be added for a mildly sweet and savory dish.

The Origins of My Dahi Upma Addiction

This tangy, creamy take completely reinvigorated my friendship with upma. That yogurt brought in moisture, but more significantly, it brought a new dimension of taste and nourishment to the dish that I was not even aware of lacking. Years later, when convenience and health became a necessity of life of a working person like me, dahi upma became my one-stop solution.

heck out how to prepare this wonderful recipe at home. Let’s digging the recipe. 

Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Servings: 3

 Ingredients:

1 cup Rava [semolina}

¼ cup Curd

2 cups of Water

1 cup Carrot, chopped

Onion, sliced

2 Green Chilli 

1 tsp Ginger, finely chopped

1 spring Curry Leaves

1 spring Coriander Leaves 

1 tsp Mustard seeds 

1 tsp Bengal gram 

1 tsp Urad dal 

Salt to taste

2 tsp Oil

 

Method:

In the first step, take a pan and add Rava to it. Dry roast Rava on a medium flame and cook them untill you get a nice aroma.

Next, heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and cook them untill the seeds splutter. Once done, include Bengal gram and urad dal in the pan and cook them for a while

Now, include onion in the pan and mix them untill smooth and become light brown. After this, add ginger, green chilli and carrot. Saute all the ingredients for a while on a medium flame untill cooked properly

Add curry leaves followed by turmeric and red chilli powder in the pan. Mix all the ingredients properly untill soft 

Now, add water, curd and salt to the pan. Mix them and let them boil 

Then include dry roasted Rava and mix again. Once done, cover the pan with a lid and cook all the ingredients for approximately 2 minutes

Once moisture is out, include coriander leaves and blend all the ingredients. Cover the pan again and cook it for approximately 1-2 minutes and then switch off the flame.

Finally, Curd Upma is ready to serve hot with chutney or pickle.

Expert Tips

Roasting rava: For an even roasting or toasting of rava, you need to stir rava often on a low or medium-low heat of the pan. See for signs of color change and the rava granules looking separate, crisp with a nice toasted aroma.

Roasting rava perfectly and evenly prevents stickiness resulting in a soft fluffy texture.

Adding rava in batches: Always add rava to the hot water in batches. After adding each batch mix the rava evenly with the water. This ensures that your upma will turn smooth and soft. Remember that the water has to be hot.

Fats: Upma recipe can be made with both ghee (clarified butter) or oil. With ghee the suji ka upma tastes better though. You can even drizzle a bit of ghee when serving upma. I also on occasions make upma with coconut oil. You can use oils like sunflower oil or safflower oil or peanut oil or any neutral tasting oil.

Rava and water proportion: For a softer rava upma, you can use the proportion of 1:2.5 or 3 for rava and water respectively. Which means that for 1 cup of fine rava you can add 2.5 to 3 cups water, depending on the texture and quality of rava.

 

Variations: There are many delicious ways to customize upma. You can make Tomato Upma, Vegetable Upma, or even use ragi rava for a healthier twist. In Karnataka, upma is known as Khara Bath and is often served with Kesari Bath as part of a popular breakfast combo called Chow Chow Bath.

 

Serving suggestions: Upma is best served piping hot or warm. Like me, you can top it up with some sev or bhujia with a drizzle of lemon juice. You could also lightly add a bit of ghee on it. You can even serve suji ka upma with coconut chutney or lemon pickle or idli podi.

 

Scaling and storing: You can easily halve or double this recipe. Leftover rava upma can be refrigerated for a couple of days. You can even freeze it. While reheating, sprinkle some water and reheat the upma in a pan.