malayalam
Upma!!! oops…perhaps that one last item that I would ever have ,if there is no other choice.. 🙂
Yes, its true. I used to hate upma , So is many of you I believe!! 😀 But ,upma was my Amma’s first choice for breakfast whenever we had to travel somewhere , before we head out for any wedding function and also when we had not Idli/dosa batter in stock. 😮
Sigh… Although she made soft upma, I never liked the idea of upma until I became a mother myself! The easiest breakfast EVER!! 😀 you can defenitely not blame mother’s for cooking this in morning jiffies.
Now, even if I say upma is the easiest to make, many of you may have an extended opinion to it.. like Upma goes dry , it clumps up while making , rava isnt cooked properly, it got soggy and what not..
This is a basic upma version, but I’m making it in a pressure cooker! 🙂 .( ditch the pan/kadai that you make upma 😛 ) Assure you that, you will never see upma as you have seen till now :-D, because, they literally melt in mouth.. Let’s not waste any time and see how to cook this easy soft upma …
Update: for more quantity , say 3 cup = 5 and 3/4 cup water. You can give a quick stir after adding water and close with the lid without whistle, wait for pressure to release for 2-3 minutes. make sure to ,let it sit for 20 minutes.
Also, dry roast the rava well , to avoid upma becoming soggy.
Soft upma -in pressure cooker (serves 1)
| ingredients | qty | |
| 1 | Rava/sooji/Fine semolina | 1/2 cup (i used a 250 ml cup) |
| 2 | mustard seeds | 1/4 tsp |
| 3 | urud dal | 1/4 tsp |
| 4 | green chilly, ginger | 1-2 , finely chopped, 1/2 ” finely chopped |
| 5 | Onion/savola | 1 small or 1.2 a medium, finely chopped |
| 6 | curry leaves | 2 springs |
| 7 | coconut oil | 2 tbsp |
| 8 | ghee | 1/2 -1 tsp |
| 9 | water | 3/4 cup( 250 ml) + a little extra |
| 10 | vegetables ,optional | carrot /beans/peas -1/4 cup |
Method:
- Heat a pressure cooker , add coconut oil and let it heat.Bring down the flame add mustard seeds, let it pop. followed by urud dal to brown . Add chopped ginger and green chillies and lightly saute that too.
you can add dried red chillies too , but I avoid since I feed this little M as well
2) followed by chopped onions and saute to soften them and let it be golden brown. Add vegetables if using in this stage.
3) Add Rava/semolina and ghee and salt, roast for few minutes( 3-4 minutes in low flame)
3) Once rava is roasted well and its nutty and releases nice aroma ( it will take more than 5 minutes if its non roasted rava) Do remember to keep in low flame doing all these process.
4) Meanwhile ,take out the whistle from the cooker lid ,. Add water and immediently cover the pressure cooker, DO NOT keep the whistle now , bring the flame to high and let the pressure release through the vent (it will take only 1 to 2 minutes ) , immediately place the weight and switch off
5) Open after 10 minutes and fluff using a fork. serve hot.
6) If you like a little mushy upma, add double the water itself ,keeping rest of the things same.
Notes:
- for 1(250ml) cup use 1 and 3/4 cup of water. usually we take double the water , so while pressure cooking you would not require that much, so always take 1/4 cup less than usual.
- Its not mandatory to use measuring cup, use any cup to take rava, but remember to take water also in the above mentioned qty in the same cup
- You can definitely make soft upma in a kadai, but I find this method more easy and effortless. 😀
- You might have noticed each time you make upma, it sometimes come soft, sometimes soggy, sometimes watery ,it always yeilds different texture. But with this method you will never go wrong! 🙂
- Do not avoid adding ghee for roasting the rava, as its the key factor which decides softness, if you are diet conscious ,reduce to half the mentioned qty of ghee
- While doing the entire process, I recommend to keep the flame in low. Bringing the flame up only after you close the cooker.
- If using non roasted rava, make sure to roast it well in ghee,it will take more than 5 minutes.
- You can also add hot water to cook, I have tried both ways. Both gives the same result.
- Place the whistle immediately after pressure releases from vent profusely .
- 1/2 cup ( 250 ml) serves well for one person , 1 cup for two people.
- you can have this with as it is or with kadalacurry/cherupayar curry/pazham/pappadam or any other side dish of your choice .
