Usili Upma Recipe | Rice with Moong dal Upma

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Usili Upma is one of the traditional upma made using rice, moong dal and mild spices. It's perfect for the morning breakfast or even for dinner. For Usili Upma the rice should not be cooked mushy but just like pulao consistency. We can cook this in the pressure cooker and cook at least one whistle less than what we keep for rice. This can best served with Tomato Onion Chutney .

Table of Contents

Few Tips to make perfect Usili Upma

Dry fry moong dal & rice well. Use low flame so that it does not get charred.
Use coconut oil for cooking to get a nice flavor.
Don't over cook in the pressure cooker. As i mentioned, cook at least one whistle less than what we keep for rice.
For Sona Masoori / Basmati Rice - Use 1.5 portion of water for 1 portion of Rice+Dal.
Allow the upma to cool completely before you mix them. Otherwise the upma may get mushy.

Few Variations which you may be interested in

Instead of the whole rice, you can also use broken rice.
Add finely chopped onion / small onion to enhance the taste and flavor.You can add them immediately after tempering mix them well and add rice & dal for cooking.
If you like the taste of pepper, you can add a teaspoon of black pepper while tempering.
Same way also add Jeera while tempering.
You can adjust the rice & dal ratio as well (e.g. 1 portion of rice and 1 portion of dal)

If you like this Usili Upma, then you can also try other Traditional Upma Recipes

Arisi Upma Recipe – Arisi Upma, a very simple and traditional, breakfast or evening tiffin. Its a common breakfast in most of the Tamil Brahmin houses. Arisi Upma is made using Raw rice, toor dal, pepper along with tempering ingredients.
Upma Kozhukattai - A twist from the normal Rice Upma. Very scrumptious and tasty upma with broken raw rice along with Indian spices. A very simple to make breakfast dish. Serve Upma Kozhukattai with Coconut Chutney and enjoy the dish.
Puli Upma - Puuli Upma | Tamarind Upma | Pulima Upma is a traditional breakfast or evening tiffin variety. Rice is prepared into Rava and then cooked in tangy tamarind extract and served with papad.

Recipe Card for Usili Upma Recipe | Rice with Moong dal Upma:

INSTRUCTIONS WITH STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS:

DRY ROASTING

Heat a pan. Add moong dal and dry roast in the low flame till you get a nice aroma. When the dal starts to change the color, then remove the dal from flame and set aside.

In the same pan, add the rice. Dry roast the rice till the rice starts to change color slightly. Set this fried rice aside.

TEMPERING

Heat oil in a pressure cooker. Add mustard seeds and allow the seeds to crackle. To the pressure cooker, add split urad dal and split bengal gram dal. Sauté the dal till the dal turns light brown. Next, tear the red chili and add it. Also, add curry leaves and hing. Give everything a good mix.

Now, add the dry roasted moong dal and rice. Stir well so it gets mixed with the tempering.

COOKING UPMA

Add 3¾ cup of water to the pressure cooker. Add salt. Stir well. (Note - 1 portion of Rice + Moongdal = 1.5 portion water)

Close the pressure cooker and secure the whistle. Allow the usili upma to get pressure cooked for 2-3 whistles. (always cook 1 whistle less than what you usually cook for rice). Allow the pressure to naturally release. Open the pressure cooker and gently give a mix without breaking the rice. Finally add 2-3 tablespoon of grated coconut and give it a nice mix