Tomato Upma is my all-time favourite breakfast. It is an almost oil-free recipe and hence is high up on my list of healthy breakfast recipes. It is a South-Indian breakfast option which my mum learnt from one of our neighbours from Tamil Nadu and she shared this recipe with us.

Since my mum and I both love Upma, this is easily our go-to upma recipes. My husband is not a fan of Upma and says that he finds it dry. But surprisingly, he doesn’t mind this tomato upma recipe which is not at all dry. And you read the recipe to find out why J

PREPARATION TIME: 10 minutes
COOKING TIME:  25-30 minutes
SERVINGS: 2
DIFFICULTY SCALE: Medium

Tomato-Upma

INGREDIENTS: 

  1. Semolina or Sooji – 3/4 cup
  2. Onion – 1, medium
  3. Tomatoes – 3, medium
  4. Carrot – 1
  5. Beans – 10-12
  6. Potato – 1, medium
  7. Peas – 1/3 cup
  8. Curry leaves- 5-6
  9. Green Chilli – 1
  10. Ginger – 3-inch piece
  11. Mustard seeds – 1 teaspoon
  12. Chana/Tuhar Daal (pigeon lentil) – 1 tablespoon
  13. Water – 3 cups
  14. Vegetable oil – 1 tablespoon
  15. Salt – to taste

RECIPE:

  1. Take semolina in a dry wok and roast it on medium heat until it turns light brown.
  2. Remove this roasted semolina in a plate and keep it aside.
  3. Chop potatoes, beans and carrot into small pieces.
  4. Add 3 cups of water in a pan and let it come to boil.
  5. Add the chopped veggies, peas and a tablespoon salt and let the veggies simmer for 15 minutes with a lid on the pan.
  6. Puree the tomatoes and once the veggies are almost boiled, add the tomato puree to the pan and let it simmer for an additional 7-8 minutes.
  7. Add a tablespoon of oil in a wok and add mustard seeds and allow them to splutter.
  8. Add curry leaves, slit green chillies, grated ginger and lentil to it.
  9. Add the semolina once the tempering is ready. Mix well.
  10. Add the tomato-veggie mixture and turn up the heat.
  11. Let semolina soak all the water and fluff up.
  12. Once 95% water is soaked up and the semolina becomes dry, turn off the heat.
  13. Serve hot with any chutney. I like coconut or mint chutney with this tangy upma.