Simple, practical, and full of everyday flavour, Tomato Upma is a vegetarian Andhra breakfast made with simple everyday ingredients in about 20 minutes. The recipe lays out the ingredients and each cooking step clearly, so you can adjust seasoning, texture, and serving size for your own kitchen.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 5 minutes
  • Cook time: 15 minutes
  • Total time: 20 minutes
  • Yield: 1
  • Category: Breakfast
  • Cuisine: Andhra

Ingredients

  • ½ cup semolina ((rava/ suji))
  • 1 ¼ cup water
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1 to 1½ tablespoons ghee (or oil)
  • ½ teaspoon cumin seeds ((jeera))
  • ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
  • 1 teaspoon chana dal ((bengal gram))
  • 1 teaspoon urad dal ((skinned black gram))
  • 10 cashews (, Split or as needed)
  • 1 to 2 green chilies (slit)
  • 1 sprig curry leaves
  • 1 Pinch hing
  • 1 onion (, medium, sliced)
  • 2 pinches turmeric (prefer organic)
  • ¾ cup tomatoes (, chopped, ripe, (preferably deseeded))
  • 2 tablespoons Coriander leaves (, finely chopped (optional))

Method

Preparation

  1. Dry roast rava on a medium heat until it turns crunchy & aromatic. Stir constantly to prevent burning.
  2. While it toasts, Wash, deseed and chop tomatoes. Slice onions and green chilies.
  3. Transfer the rava to a bowl.

Making tomato upma

  1. Heat the same pan with oil or ghee.
  2. Add cumin, mustard, dal and cashews. Saute all together until the lentils become golden.
  3. Then add onions, curry leaves and green chilies. Saute for 2 to 3 mins. Sprinkle hing.
  4. Add chopped tomatoes, turmeric and salt. Saute for 2 mins. Cook covered on a medium heat until they turn mushy. Open the lid and saute on a medium high heat until all of the raw flavor vanishes from tomatoes.
  5. Pour water and bring it to a boil. Taste the water and adjust the salt. The water must be slightly salty.
  6. When the water comes to a boil, turn the fire to medium. Slowly pour the rava in a stream stirring with the other hand using a ladle. Stir well to check there are no lumps.
  7. Cook covered on a medium heat until the water is absorbed.
  8. Stir well. Add some more ghee (optional) & chopped coriander leaves.
  9. Serve tomato upma hot or warm.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.