Oats Upma

4.87 from 30 votes

Oats upma is an easy and delicious breakfast recipe perfect for quick mornings. Made with quick-cooking oats and mixed veggies, this healthy vegetable oats upma recipe is ready in just 30 minutes, start to finish.

Prep Time10 mins

Cook Time20 mins

Total Time30 mins

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: South Indian

Diet: Vegan, Vegetarian

Difficulty Level: Easy

Servings:

Calories: 264kcal

Author: Dassana Amit

Ingredients

For roasting oats

1 cup quick cooking oats - 100 grams
½ teaspoon oil - any neutral oil

Other ingredients

¼ cup finely chopped onions - tightly packed
¼ cup finely chopped carrots
¼ cup finely chopped french beans
¼ cup green peas - fresh or frozen
7 to 8 curry leaves
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon chana dal (split and husked bengal gram)
1 teaspoon urad dal (optional)
8 to 10 cashews or roasted peanuts
½ teaspoon ginger - finely chopped
1 or 2 green chilies - chopped
1 to 2 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves (cilantro)
1.25 cups water
2 tablespoons oil - any neutral oil or coconut oil
salt as required

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Roasting oats

Heat oil in a pan. Add 1 cup quick cooking oats.
Stir and roast on a low heat until the oats become crisp.
Keep stirring continuously so that the oats do not get browned from the bottom. No need to brown the oats. You really just want a bit of crispness.
Remove oats in a plate or tray and set aside.

Sautéing onions and veggies

In the same pan, heat the oil. Add mustard seeds. Stir and fry until the mustard seeds crackle.
Then add cumin seeds, chana dal, urad dal (optional) and cashews.
Stir and fry until the chana dal gets browned.
Add tightly packed finely chopped onions. Stir and sauté until the onions turn translucent.
Next add finely chopped ginger, chopped green chillies and curry leaves. Stir and sauté for half a minute.

Making oats upma

Then add finely chopped carrots, finely chopped french beans and green peas, fresh or frozen. Stir and sauté for 2 minutes.
Add water. Cover the pan with its lid.
On a medium heat simmer and cook this mixture until the veggies are almost done. About 8 to 9 minutes.
Then add the roasted oats. Stir lightly. Add salt as required. Stir very well.
Then cover the pan again with its lid and on a low heat, steam for 7 to 8 minutes.
Once done, then add chopped coriander leaves.
Stir and serve oats upma drizzled with some lemon or lime juice.

Serving suggestions

Oats upma is best served hot or warm. Drizzle it with a bit of lemon juice and enjoy with your morning cup of tea. You can also serve it with a side of coconut chutney.
You can also have oats upma as a brunch or an evening snack.

Storage

Oats upma is best had hot or warm. If you have any leftovers, store in an airtight container or jar, in the refrigerator for a day only. Reheat in a microwave oven or steam in a pan or in the Instant pot for a few minutes.

Notes

Veggies: The addition of veggies is optional. But I suggest to include them as they provide great flavor, makes the dish more filling and gives a nutritional boost. You can also customize by adding veggies like carrots, french beans, green peas (fresh or frozen), capsicum (bell pepper), broccoli, baby corn and cabbage. You can also include steamed corn or canned corn kernels.
Oats: You can use any variety of oats like rolled oats or steel-cut oats or instant oats. Do remember to add water according to the type of oats you are using. Both rolled oats and steel-cut oats will take a longer time to cook and need more water.
Oil: Make oats upma in any neutral tasting oil or coconut oil. You can make it with ghee (clarified butter) as well.
Cashews: You can omit cashews entirely or replace them with roasted peanuts.
Spicing: You can skip the green chillies. For a bit of heat and spice, add crushed black pepper or red chili flakes.
Scaling: The recipe can be doubled or tripled easily.

Nutrition