Rava Upma in Instantpot

Upma is a basic tiffin item of Tamilnadu. While saying this, all South Indians love dosa idli better. Upma is a kind of handy dish only. Dosa maavu can never run out of our houses as if it is kept in some 'Akshaya patram'. Some people make fun of upma as it is commonly made in college hostels. But hubby and me love upma very much. This upma used to come handy during some rare occasions.  I know nowadays we are all blessed with the privilege of cereal or bread, but before this era, our moms used to trust in this humble upma. Still I love upma better than many readymade boxed breakfasts. I remember how amma used to whip out some upma , the minute we landed  after some vacation. 

I started preparing most basic dishes in instantpot in a simplified manner and am recording them for my family and friends. I have done this recipe in 3qt duo IP. You can try in any electric cooker. 

Hope this recipe comes handy !

Upma with sugar and tomato pickle

Ingredients: (for 2 adults)
Rava (semolina) - 1 1/4 cup
water - 2 1/2 cup
(water = number of cups of ravai x 2) 

salt - 1/4 tsp  
onion - 1 (small)
green chilly - 2
ginger - 1 inch
curry leaf - 1 sprig
channa dhal - 1 tbsp
mustard - 1/2 tsp
sesame oil - 3 tbsp.

Method:
Switch on the IP and choose saute mode. 

Add the rava and roast for 3 minutes. (We can skip this by pre-roasting the rava or by buying double roasted rava). 

Dry roast the rava till it smells good (not red, just white only).
Transfer it to a plate .

Chop the onion, curry leaf, ginger, green chilly finely.

Now press cancel.

Press saute. 

Heat 3 tbsp oil in the same wok.

Add mustard seed, channa dhal and let mustard crackle. Add  all the chopped ingredients along with it. Put a pinch of salt to fasten the process. Saute 3 minutes till onion starts to become transparent, 

Press cancel. 

Then change to pressure cook mode in high pressure setting for 3 minutes.

Add the water, Salt and rava.

Close the lid. Put the pressure valve.

Sometimes the pressure safety valve may not rise. Still the rava gets cooked well.

If the pressure valve is on, then wait 5 minutes and release the pressure naturally.

Open the lid , sprinkle some chopped cilantro if needed. 

Rava upma is ready !

Serving suggestions:

Serve as breakfast or dinner along with coconut chutney or sugar.
The above said quantity is for two adults.

Note: 3/4 cup rava for 1 adult. If we are adding some vegetables like carrot, peas, then reduce the rava to 1/2 cup per person.

Ragi upma

Upma / uppuma (uppu + ma meaning salted + flour) is a popular Indian dish . I think upma got its popularity status because of its versatility and omnipresence.  It used to be one of the top  quick to make Indian foods, before the noodles entered our houses via TV.  After the arrival of noodles, it kinda became a status symbol in the 90s.  Kids started preferring noodles and upma started to become a joke for many. Though the twitter world makes a lot of jokes about it, still it remains as one of the favorites for me and my hubby. People who have spent lot of time growing up in hostels in India would confuse the 'mass production upma' with the 'mother-touch homemade upma' and would laugh at it. But upma is a delicious food if it is prepared with love and care, just like any other food in the world 😍

Usually upma is made with sooji (semolina - the hard grains left after milling the flour) or wheat / rice / any carbohydrate and served as breakfast or evening snack or dinner. Ravai is one of the basic less expensive grocery in India. Ravai can be used in preparing dosai, kichidi , kesari a dessert and options are endless. So it would be always included in our monthly grocery list. 

Even though a upma is meant to be a simple dish, some wise people jazz it up with cashews, veggies, ghee and upgrade it to the next level. 

I usually make sooji upma or wheat upma only. Very rarely I make this idiyappam upma nowadays as my hubby likes the sweet idiyappam better than this spicy version. While making ragi idiyappam , I reserve some idiyappam for dinner and will make this dish. But that requires lot of effort. Buying a pack of instant idiyappam is the easiest way.  Before marriage, I used to make this ragi upma for my appa as I tried to include more ragi based foods for him instead of usual carbohydrates.  

I have always used Anil brand ragi vermicelli. This product is easily available in most Indian grocery stores. So try and fall in love with this recipe 😍

Ragi upma with coconut chutney

Anil Ragi semiya 

soak it for only one minute  and drain water immediately 

Steam cook the soaked / drained idiyappam

Prepare tempering while steam cooking is being done

I use the same steaming wok for sauté too

Add lemon juice after switching off 

Ragi umma with spicy coconut chutney

Enjoy this with sugar or chutney 

One of the best umma ever !

Ingredients: (for 2 adults)
Instant dry Ragi idiyappam - 200 gm
water - as per need

Tempering:
Peanut oil - 1 1/2  tbsp
channa dal - 1 tbsp
mustard seed - 1/2 tsp
onion - 1/2 cup 
green chilly - 2
ginger - small piece (1/2 inch)
curry leaf - few
cilantro - few
salt - to taste
carrot - 1
green peas - handful (optional)

lemon - 1/4

grated coconut - 2 tbsp
  
Method: 
Put the instant ragi idiyapam in a bow. Pour room temperature water up to the semiya is covered. 

Let it stand for a minute,  immediately drain water completely using a colander. (See image) . Don't soak it more than 3 minutes. I just rinse it for a minute and beyond that will dissolve the ragi idiayppam. 

Bring a steaming pot to boil with 2 cups of water.

Place the ragi semiya on a idli plate or a steamer plate. (I bought my steaming plate through amazon. com).

Close the lid and steam it for 10 minutes.

Take it out and keep aside. 

In the meantime start preparing the tempering.

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a wok.

Add mustard seed. let it start to crackle. Then add the channa dhal. Wait till it gets pink. Then add chopped onion, curry leaf, cilantro, ginger, green chilly. As the onion starts to get soft, add chopped carrot, peas and stir for a minute. Add required salt.

Add the cooked ragi idiyappam.

Stir well. Add the shredded coconut.

Squeeze the lemon (taste and add the required amount).

Cover tightly with a lid. 
Switch off. 

Ragi semiya upma is ready!

Serving suggestions:
Serve as breakfast or snack or dinner along with a spicy coconut chutney or sugar.

Quinoa upma

Quinoa is another good grain I started cooking in recent years. Generally quinoa can be made into a salad. It blends with many Indian recipes easily and here is my Uppuma (upma or kichidi) with Quinoa. Quinoa comes in a rainbow of colors, I picked up this red quinoa as it looked more pretty in that aisle:) Other than that all tastes almost the same. But red quinoa has more crunchy texture. We can use any variety for this upma recipe.

Quinoa upma with vegetables

Ingredients: (for 2 adults)
Quinoa - 1/2 cup
water - 1 1/2 cup
Tempering:
olive oil - 1 1/2  tbsp
channa dal - 1 tbsp
mustard seed - 1/2 tsp
onion - 2 tbsp 
green chilly - 2
ginger - small piece (1/2 inch)
curry leaf - few
cilantro - few
salt - to taste
carrot - 1
green peas - handful
  
Method: 
Wash the quinoa thrice in running water with gentle rubbing with our palm (as per directions). This is done to remove bitterness.

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a wok.
Add mustard seed. let it splutter. Then add the channa dhal. Wait till it gets red. Then add chopped onion, curry leaf, cilantro, ginger, green chilly. As the onion starts to get soft, add chopped carrot, peas and stir for a minute.
Pour water + Salt and let it come to a boil.
Then reduce flame and add quinoa.
Cover tightly with a lid. Reduce flame to minimum.
Cook for 15 minutes or little more to get the quinoa completely cooked.  Then stir well.
Switch off. Quinoa upma is ready!

Serving suggestions:
Serve as dinner along with pickle or sugar.

Wheat uppuma

Wheat upma is one of the easiest and simplest fulfilling Indian food. I am sure many of us know how to do it. I am sharing my simple recipe, which is my hubby dear's one of the favorites.
Cracked wheat (kothumai ravai) is available in almost all Indian grocery stores nowadays. But before they show up in the store isles, we used to buy whole wheat and break them into ravai (coarse flour) and fine whole wheat flour every month. Mom used to schedule this whole process at home and would dry the whole-wheat under direct Sunlight for a day, then send it to a grinding mill , get them done, would cool them off and store the flours in airtight vessels. Nowadays the whole process is reduced to a sachet sold in a nearby stores and we all are happily buying them too:)  So lets make this simple and delicious upma quick and nice !

Plain wheat rava upma with methi leaf chutney.

Wheat rava

Ingredients: (for 2 servings)
Wheat rava (cracked wheat)- 1 cup
water - 2 1/2  cup
red onion - 1
green chilly - 3
ginger - 1 inch
salt - to taste
curry leaf - few
cilantro - few
channa dal - 1 tbsp
mustard seed - 1/2 tsp
shredded coconut - 2 tbsp (optional)
oil - 1 tbsp

Method:
Dry roast the wheat rava for a few minutes till it smells nice. Take it out and keep aside.
Heat oil in a kadai.
Add mustard and let it start cracking.
Then add channa dal and fry for a few seconds.
Put the finely chopped onion, green chilly, curry leaves, chopped ginger and saute till onion gets cooked (golden color).
Add water, salt and bring to a boil.
Put the roasted wheat ravai, reduce flame and cook covered till rava gets all the water.
Check if it is cooked and stir till the upma looses the moisture.
Add chopped cilantro, shredded coconut. Mix well and switch off.
Cracked wheat upma is ready!

Serving suggestion:
Serve as breakfast or dinner along with chutney or sugar.
It tastes great with any spicy chutney like methi leaf chutney or cilantro chutney.

Rava Upma

I don't think many of us need a recipe to make uppuma which is the very basic tiffin item of Indians. But for me making it without lumps was a great challenge till I learned the technique from Packiam aunty in my dad's house. Ingredients: Rava (semolina) - 1 1/2 cup water - 2 1/4 cup {water = (number of cups of ravai x 2) - (3/4 cup)} salt - 1/4 tsp (1/8 tsp per cup of rava) onion - 1 (small) green chilly - 2 ginger - 1 inch curry leaf - 1 sprig channa dhal - 1 tbsp mustard - 1/2 tsp Shredded coconut - 2 tbsp (optional) sesame oil - 2 to 3 tsp. Method: Heat a wok. Dry roast the rava till it smells good / starts to become coarse like sand. Transfer it to a plate . Chop the onion, curry leaf, ginger, green chilly finely. Heat 2 tbsp oil in the same wok. Add mustard seed. let it splutter. Then add the channa dhal and fry all the chopped ingredients along with it. As the onion starts to become transparent, add the water + Salt and let it come to a boil. Then reduce flame and sprinkle the rava in equal spacing , just like shower. Don't stir. (Stirring will result in lumps) Immediately cover with a lid. Reduce flame to minimum. After 3 minutes in low flame , open the lid and start to stir using a spatula. we can see the uppuma get cooked well and starts leaving the edges. Put off fire. Add shredded coconut , if desired. Now we get a very dry uppuma without any lumps. Serving suggestions: Serve as breakfast or dinner along with coconut chutney or sugar. The above said quantity served two adults.