Before You Start
Upma is one of the breakfasts South Indian families make most often: roasted semolina (rava) cooked briefly in hot, salted, seasoned water until it puffs up soft and light, with the grains still apart and no sticky clump. Two decisions govern the result, the water-to-semolina proportion and the order of work. The semolina must be roasted dry before it meets liquid, and the water must be boiling, measured exactly, and already in the pan when the semolina is added, never the reverse, or lumps form that no stirring can fully fix.
Today it is eaten everywhere in India, as an everyday staple in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala and as a quick breakfast or tiffin far beyond the south, but the technique, and the expectation of a light, un-gummy texture, come from South Indian kitchens, where upma gets the same daily seriousness as idli or dosa.
Where It Comes From
Upma comes out of South Indian home cooking and appears, in different forms, in each of the four big southern states. Rava upma is the best-known version nationally, whereas Karnataka's uppittu and the Andhra preparations sometimes differ in the tempering and in how much lentil, such as chana dal and urad dal, goes into it. Writers on South Indian food observe that semolina became easy to buy as a by-product of the industrial flour mills that milled wheat in the colonial period, and that this helped rava dishes such as upma and rava dosa spread and settle into standard forms across the region in the 19th and 20th centuries, although cooking with semolina in other forms is older than that supply. Upma has become one of the commonest breakfasts across India, on offer at homes, canteens and restaurants well outside the south.
How to Make It
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Prep
Roast the semolina without oil
Set a wide, heavy pan over medium-low heat and tip in the semolina with no fat, stirring all the time for 5 to 7 minutes. It's ready when slightly paler, with a toasty, nutty aroma, and feels dry and a little looser as the spoon passes through. Slide it onto a plate and leave it aside; this stage is what prevents a gluey upma.
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Prep
Get the water hot
While you work on the tempering, bring the water close to a boil in a separate pot or kettle. Hot water ready at the right moment matters as much as the roasting, because cold water meeting the hot tempering makes the semolina clump before it can take up liquid evenly.
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Cook
Temper the seasonings
Warm the oil or ghee in the pan you roasted in. Add mustard seeds and wait for them to pop, then add urad dal, chana dal and cashews and fry for roughly a minute, until the dal takes on a light gold and the cashews are toasted. Follow with the curry leaves, the chillies, red or green, and the asafoetida.
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Cook
Soften the onion and vegetables
Put in the onion and ginger and cook about 3 minutes, until the onion is soft and see-through. Add carrot and peas if you are using them and cook 2 more minutes, only until they start to soften, as they will finish cooking while the upma steams.
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Cook
Pour in the water and salt
Pour in the hot water and the salt and bring them to a hard rolling boil. The water must be properly boiling, not just hot, when the semolina goes in, or the grains will hydrate unevenly.
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Cook
Rain in the semolina slowly
Reduce the heat slightly. With one hand, pour the roasted semolina in a slow, steady trickle while the other hand stirs briskly and without stopping. Lumps appear at this point if you rush, so be unhurried despite the hot, bubbling pan. With all the semolina in, the mixture will resemble a thick, slightly lumpy porridge.
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Cook
Cover and let it steam
Cover the pan and cook on low heat for 3 to 4 minutes, until the liquid has been absorbed and the semolina has swollen and turned fluffy. Lift the lid, fluff with a fork or spatula to separate the grains, and cook uncovered a final minute to drive off moisture left on the surface.
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Serve
Add lemon and serve hot
Take the pan off the heat and mix in lemon juice and coriander. Serve straight away, while hot and light; upma tightens up and loses some of its airiness as it cools, so it is best eaten from the pan and not held.
Swaps That Work
Vermicelli (semiya) can replace semolina in a related dish, vermicelli upma, with the same tempering and nearly the same quantity of water, though roasted vermicelli needs less cooking once the water is added. Almost any firm vegetable works at the tempering stage; beans, capsicum and tomato are regional favourites. Ghee instead of oil gives a richer, more traditional flavour, especially in the final tempering.
Turning the Heat Up or Down
Upma is generally a mild and comforting dish, and the chillies in the tempering decide nearly all of its heat. For a gentler bowl, use one dried red chilli and fish it out before serving, or omit chillies and let the ginger give warmth. For more fire, split two or three green chillies lengthwise, or add a pinch of red chilli powder with the salt.
Where Cooks Go Wrong
Skipping the dry roast, or rushing it, is the most common error and has the greatest bearing on whether upma comes out fluffy or gluey. Adding the semolina too fast, or without constant stirring, makes hard lumps that stay however long you cook. Wrong water is a third: too little leaves the upma dry and underdone at the centre, while too much makes it soft and porridge-like when it should be light and separate. A cup of semolina to two and a half cups of water is a dependable starting point, to be nudged slightly for different brands.
Keeping and Warming Up Leftovers
To keep: Kept in a sealed container in the refrigerator, upma lasts up to 2 days, but it stiffens and loses some fluffiness as it cools and stands. Most South Indian cooks make it fresh on the day and do not plan to store it, since reheated upma is clearly denser than a new batch.
To warm up: Warm it in a covered pan over low heat with a splash of water or milk stirred in to loosen it, until hot through and the grains separate again somewhat. A microwave also works, with the bowl covered by a damp paper towel and heated in short bursts, though the result will still be heavier than when fresh.
Safe Handling
Upma is a dry, fully cooked semolina dish that includes no raw dairy or eggs, so the risk from food safety is low. If it holds vegetables such as peas or carrot, cool the finished dish within about two hours and chill it promptly rather than leaving it out for long, which is basic handling for any cooked grain with vegetables.
Where to Read More
- Colleen Taylor Sen, "Feasts and Fasts: A History of Food in India" (Reaktion Books) — on the spread of semolina-based dishes following the growth of industrial wheat milling in colonial India.