Tomato upma is a delicious and nutritious dish made with semolina (sooji) and tomatoes. It’s a popular South Indian breakfast option that is both easy to make and incredibly flavorful. The tangy taste of tomatoes adds a unique twist to the traditional upma recipe, making it a favorite among many. Serve hot with some chutney, sambar or yogurt for a perfect start to your day.
Tomato Upma
4
servings10
minutes20
minutesStart your day with a delicious and tangy South Indian breakfast option – tomato upma! Made with semolina and tomatoes, it’s easy to make and full of flavor. Serve hot with chutney or yogurt for a perfect morning meal.
Ingredients
Bombay Rawa – 1 cup
Tomato – 2 Nos
Onion – 1
Green Chillies – 2
Fresh ginger – a small piece
Red Chilli Powder – 1/2 teaspoon or as per taste
Turmeric Powder – a pinch
Oil – 2 to 3 tablespoons
Mustard – ½ teaspoon
Bengal gram dhal – 1 teaspoon
Urad dhal – 1 teaspoon
Curry leaves – few
Cashew Nuts – few (optional)
Salt – 1 teaspoon or as per taste
Directions
- Finely chop the onion, ginger, and tomatoes. Slit the green chilies lengthwise.
- In a frying pan (kadai), heat a tablespoon of oil and fry the rawa until it changes color. Remove and set aside.
- In the same pan, add the remaining oil. Once hot, add mustard seeds and wait for them to pop. Then add cashew nuts and dals, frying until they turn light brown. Add the chopped onion, chilies, ginger, and curry leaves, frying until the onions are translucent.
- Next, add the tomato pieces and fry until well mashed. Stir in turmeric powder, red chili powder, and salt. Mix thoroughly.
- Pour in three cups of water and bring to a boil. As it boils, gradually add the fried rawa, stirring continuously until it absorbs all the water and forms a ball.
- Serve with coconut chutney or sambar.
In Bangalore there is a famous dish on most of the menu card in hotels with the name Chow Chow Bath…actually chow chow means chayote…but this dish is not made or related with chow chow… The serving plate consists a scoop of rawa upma/uppittu and a scoop of rawa kesari/kesari bath. This combination is called as chow chow bath. Sooji fine/small rawa – 1 cupSugar – 2 cupsWater – 3 cupsFood colour(Orange) – a dash/pinchGhee -3 – 4 tbspOil – 1 tbspCashew & Raisins – few pieces eachCardamom powder – a pinch Dry roast sooji in a kadai till light brown/pink….keep aside…heat 2 tbsp of ghee in a kadai and fry cashew and raisins…when they turn light brown…remove and keep aside….in the same kadai with ghee add 3 cups of water and food colour….allow the water to boil and bubble up well…once it does then reduce flame and add roasted rawa slowly and stirring constantly … so they do not form any lumps…cook for 4 – 5 minutes and then add sugar…it will turn watery, but will thicken after few minutes….add remaining ghee and a tbsp of oil ( using oil in kesari is optional…the ghee will thicken the rawa kesari after sometime…adding oil will just loosen its texture and avoid the sticking part)…..cook for another 3 – 4 minutes and finally add cardamom powder and fried cashew/raisins.
Excellent
Hi mam
I am a great fan of your recipes..i made upma today..it was really tasty…
thank you
Thank you Ann Paul for your kind feed back.
Hai Kamalakka,
I found your site yesterday only and I just tried this Upma. It really tastes well..!! Am very happy that everyday from now onwards I can cook new, simple, delicious recipes with your help. My husband is so happy that I started experimenting with new dishes.
Thanks a lot Kamalakka…. !!
And my prayers and best wishes are with you always…
Love,
Anu
Hi Anu,
Welcome to my site. Happy to note that you are trying my recipes. Hope it will be of some help to you in your cooking.
Hi Kamala,
Can you please give me a good recipe for soya nuggets as my son loves it. Your recipes are very good. Thanks for your lovely website.
Hi Annie,
I have not yet tried soya nugget. Once I try and find tasty, then I will post it.
Excellent recipe!
kamala mam…………………
this reciepe is realy taste…..i love it thank u a lot
Hi Kamala madam, I do not know your age, that is why I address you mam. Daily I go through your recipe even though I cook well. I tried some of your recipe and all came out very well. Good job keep it up and post new recipes. congrats!
Hi Geetha Gopal,
Thank you for writing. I am a grand mother of two and quite old. You can check about me at “About Us” in my website.
Hi Kamala
Thanks again for another authentic recipe. I made it this morning for breakfast with slight modifications. I added 1 tsp of sugar to the boiling water as i find that it enhances the taste. I also have a problem with putting in the semolina in the boiling water as I tend to get some lumps, so I add the semolina prior to putting the water, mix it well and then in a separate pot I have the boiling water which I pour over it and quickly mix it well. This way I overcome the lumps problem.
The proportion of water to semolina is just right. Thank you for that, as earlier I got my water proportions wrong.
Hi Tasneem,
Thank you for sharing your method of cooking. Yes. When we prepare rawa upma/kichadi in large quantity, I follow your method. Even for preparing Kesari, I follow the above method.
Hai kamala
Ur recipes r very delicious i hav tried few came out very wel ,can u pls giv me some panneer recipes
hai madam
thank you for all the recepies.pl can u clarify which javvarisi should be used for javvarisi upma?
thank you.
For upma, the big variety javvarisi is good.
Oh…how nice..I tried..taste yummy..live it..thank u mam….
Thank you Selva Uma for your kind feed back.
Hi Kamala, I recently discovered your food blog. I tried making tomato puma which tasted awesome. Thank you for providing us with heavenly recipes. I look forward to try many others.
Sorry ! Had Typing mistake upma and not puma 😉