The Himdhara Journal

Ghee Upma Recipe: Roast the Rava, Boil the Water, Add the Ghee

Rava upma made with ghee, as technique: roasting the sooji, the boiling-water ratio, the tempering and finishing spoon, with ghee per plate in grams and calories.

By · Journal Editor, Himdhara

· 9 min read

A white bowl of beige semolina porridge with diced carrot, a green chilli and a coriander sprig, on a cream cloth

To make ghee upma, dry-roast one cup of rava until it smells toasted, fry mustard seeds, urad dal, green chillies, ginger and curry leaves in ghee, pour in two and a half cups of boiling salted water, stir the roasted rava in slowly, cover for two minutes and finish with a teaspoon of ghee off the heat. The quantities are our starting point; the roast, the boiling water and the stir decide the result.

At a glance

  • FSSAI's standard 2.4.3 defines semolina (suji or rawa) as clean wheat grains milled so that "the bran and germ are wholly/ partially removed", with gluten of not less than 6.0 per cent on a dry basis.
  • USDA FoodData Central's SR Legacy record for unenriched semolina lists 360 kcal per 100 g and weighs one cup at 167 g.
  • At 15 g to the ICMR-NIN tablespoon and USDA's 900 kcal per 100 g for ghee, one tablespoon in a pot made from one cup of rava adds 135 kcal, or 45 kcal to each of three plates.
  • ICMR-NIN's 2024 guidelines say "Limit ghee or butter to just 1 to 2 teaspoons/day or avoid, if possible", counting a teaspoon as 5 g.

What is rava, and is it the same as sooji and semolina?

Yes. Rava, sooji (or suji) and semolina are one product under Indian food law. FSSAI's standard 2.4.3, "Semolina (Suji or Rawa)", defines it as "the product obtained from clean grains of wheat by grinding or milling processes in which the bran and germ are wholly/ partially removed and the remainder is comminuted to a suitable degree of fineness."

It also requires gluten of not less than 6.0 per cent on a dry mass basis and moisture of not more than 14.5 per cent.

Durum is a separate matter. FSSAI keeps a second standard, 2.4.23, for durum wheat semolina, "prepared from grain of durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.)" with the bran and germ "essentially removed". A packet labelled simply suji or rawa comes under the general standard, which says only "clean grains of wheat".

Why do you roast the rava first?

Roasting gives upma its toasted flavour and, in our kitchen, it is the step that keeps the grains separate when they meet the water. Roast the rava in a dry, heavy pan over low to medium heat, stirring all the time, until it smells toasted and runs loose and sandy off the spoon. Stop before it turns brown.

Go by smell, not the clock. We roast in a dry pan and keep the ghee for the tempering, as we do with the dal for ghee pongal. Roasting in ghee works too, but uses more than the table below assumes.

We cannot point to a study on roasted rava. A food chemistry text from Shasta College, on Chemistry LibreTexts, says of hydrocolloids, substances that form a gel with water, cornstarch among them, that they "do not hydrate (or dissolve) instantly, and that hydration is associated with swelling, which easily causes lumping". That is written about sauces, not upma, but the kitchen answer is the same: a thin stream and a moving spoon, so each grain meets the water on its own.

How much water does upma need, and why must it be boiling?

Our starting point is two and a half cups of water for one cup of rava, a ratio of 1 to 2.5 by volume, for upma that is soft and holds its shape. Three cups gives a looser, porridge-like upma. No authority standardises this and recipes differ; adjust the next batch.

The water should be at a rolling boil when the rava goes in. The Shasta College text defines starch gelatinisation as "the process where starch and water are subjected to heat, causing the starch granules to swell. As a result, the water is gradually absorbed in an irreversible manner." Rava is mostly carbohydrate, 72.8 g per 100 g in the USDA record, and boiling water gives every grain that heat the moment it lands.

What follows is our practice, not a tested result. Rava stirred into cold or warm water and then brought to the boil sets into one sticky mass. Rava poured slowly into water at a full boil cooks into separate grains. Salt the water before the rava goes in.

How do you make ghee upma step by step?

Roast the rava, boil the water, build the tempering in ghee, pour in the water, stream in the rava while stirring, cover briefly and finish with ghee. Quantities are our starting point for three plates: one cup of rava, two and a half cups of water and one tablespoon of ghee, two teaspoons in the tempering and one to finish.

  1. Roast the rava. Dry-roast one cup of rava over low to medium heat, stirring, until it smells toasted.
  2. Boil the water. Bring two and a half cups of salted water to the boil in a kettle or second pan.
  3. Heat the ghee. Warm two teaspoons of ghee in the same heavy pan over medium heat.
  4. Seeds and dal. Add a teaspoon of mustard seeds. When they pop, add a teaspoon of urad dal and fry until golden.
  5. Aromatics. Add one or two slit green chillies, a teaspoon of chopped ginger, a sprig of curry leaves and one small chopped onion. Fry until the onion is soft.
  6. Vegetables, if using. Add half a cup of diced carrot and peas and fry for two to three minutes.
  7. Pour in the water. Add the boiling water and bring it back to a rolling boil. Taste for salt.
  8. Stream in the rava. Lower the heat. Pour the rava in a thin stream with one hand while stirring with the other, until all the water is taken up.
  9. Cover. Lid on, lowest heat, two minutes, then switch off.
  10. Finish with ghee. Off the heat, add the last teaspoon of ghee, a squeeze of lemon and chopped coriander. Fluff with a fork and serve hot.

Should the ghee go in the tempering or at the end?

Both, in our method. Most goes into the tempering, where it fries the spices and becomes the base the water is poured into. One teaspoon is stirred through at the end, off the heat, where it barely cooks and, to our taste, shows most.

The split follows our guide to when to add ghee in a tadka and in everyday cooking: early when it is the cooking medium, late when you want to taste it. In pongal the tempering is poured over the cooked dish at the last moment; in upma the tempering is made first and the dish is cooked in it. For that finishing spoon, our A2 bilona ghee is made by Himdhara from curd churned on a wooden bilona and clarified slowly over a wood fire.

How much ghee should go into upma?

One tablespoon for a pot made from one cup of rava is our starting point, which puts 5 g of ghee on each of three plates. One teaspoon is enough to fry the spices if you are keeping fat low. Two tablespoons makes a richer upma and puts the top of ICMR-NIN's 1 to 2 teaspoons a day on each plate.

USDA FoodData Central's SR Legacy record for unenriched semolina lists 360 kcal per 100 g, or 3.6 kcal per gram, and weighs one cup at 167 g, so a cup of rava carries 167 × 3.6 = 601.2 kcal, about 200 kcal a plate when it serves three. The same record lists 1.05 g of fat per 100 g, so the cup itself brings only 167 × 0.0105 = 1.75 g of fat. USDA's record for ghee gives 900 kcal and 60 g of saturated fat per 100 g, or 9 kcal and 0.6 g per gram. ICMR-NIN's household measures count a teaspoon as 5 g and a tablespoon as 15 g.

Ghee per cup of rava Grams (ICMR-NIN spoons) Ghee calories in the pot (grams × 9) Ghee per plate, serving 3 Rava plus ghee per plate ICMR-NIN teaspoons per plate (grams ÷ 5)
1 teaspoon 5 g 5 × 9 = 45 kcal 1.67 g; 15 kcal; 1.0 g saturated fat 200.4 + 15 = about 215 kcal 1.67 ÷ 5 = 0.33
1 tablespoon 15 g 15 × 9 = 135 kcal 5 g; 45 kcal; 3.0 g saturated fat 200.4 + 45 = about 245 kcal 5 ÷ 5 = 1
2 tablespoons 30 g 30 × 9 = 270 kcal 10 g; 90 kcal; 6.0 g saturated fat 200.4 + 90 = about 290 kcal 10 ÷ 5 = 2

The per-plate figures count the rava and the ghee only; onion, vegetables, cashews and any oil are extra. The ICMR-NIN guidelines say: "Limit ghee or butter to just 1 to 2 teaspoons/day or avoid, if possible." One tablespoon in the pot puts one of those teaspoons on each plate; two tablespoons puts two, the whole day's figure in one meal. They also call saturated fat use high "when more than 10g/day of visible saturated fats (for a 2000 Kcal diet/ day) is consumed in the form of ghee, butter" or through heavy use of palm or coconut oil. At 0.6 g per gram, the two-tablespoon plate carries 6 g from ghee alone.

Our guide to ghee spoon measures in grams explains why a tablespoon weighs 15 g in one reference and 12.8 g in another. If a doctor or dietitian has set your fat intake, follow their advice rather than our table.

The short version

Rava, sooji and semolina are one product under FSSAI's standard 2.4.3. Roast a cup of it in a dry pan until it smells toasted, not brown. Build the tempering in two teaspoons of ghee, pour in two and a half cups of boiling salted water, stream the rava in while stirring, cover for two minutes and finish with a teaspoon of ghee off the heat. One tablespoon of ghee for the pot is 135 kcal, or 45 kcal and one ICMR-NIN teaspoon on each of three plates.

Sources

Further reading behind the figures above. Himdhara's own numbers — yields, batch results — come from our production records and the batch reports on the lab reports page.

Frequently asked questions

Can I make upma without roasting the rava first?

You can, and the upma will still cook. In our kitchen, unroasted rava is more likely to clump when it meets the water and tastes flatter, so we roast it in a dry pan until it smells toasted. If you are short of time, roast a larger batch once, cool it and keep it in an airtight jar.

What is the ratio of water to rava for upma?

Our starting point is two and a half cups of water for one cup of rava, which is 1 to 2.5 by volume, for upma that is soft but holds its shape on the spoon. Three cups gives a looser, porridge-like result. No standards body sets this ratio, and coarse and fine rava take up water differently, so adjust the next batch rather than mid-cook.

How many calories are in a plate of ghee upma?

Counting only the rava and the ghee, about 245 kcal a plate when one cup of rava and one tablespoon of ghee serve three. USDA FoodData Central lists semolina at 360 kcal per 100 g and a cup at 167 g, so a cup is 601 kcal, about 200 a plate; a 15 g tablespoon of ghee at 900 kcal per 100 g adds 135 kcal to the pot, 45 a plate. Vegetables, cashews and any oil are extra.

Is upma rava made from durum wheat?

Not necessarily. FSSAI's general standard for semolina (suji or rawa) says it is made from clean grains of wheat, without naming a species, and keeps a separate standard for durum wheat semolina made from Triticum durum. A packet labelled simply suji or rawa comes under the general standard. Either kind makes upma; the technique is the same.

Can I use oil for the tempering and add ghee only at the end?

Yes. Fry the mustard seeds, dal, chillies and curry leaves in a teaspoon of oil, and stir one teaspoon of ghee through the finished upma off the heat, where its flavour shows most. ICMR-NIN counts oil, ghee and butter together as visible fat, so the swap changes the kind of fat, not the total. If a doctor or dietitian has set your fat intake, follow their figure.