Kozhama Upma is made with raw rice flour and is mixed with tamarind water to make a dough and then cooked in oil. This upma is very flavorful and pretty filling.
Even before I start writing this post, I have to admit that upma's are my least favorite food to eat. I still make them as they are quick to make and works great for a weeknight dinner.
My upma's are usually loaded with vegetables like this Semiya upma / Vermicelli upma, which I make quite often for lunch boxes or it is made with whole-grain like this Broken Wheat Upma.
Not that I don't make other varieties, but they are something that is less often made in my house. Few other upma's that you might want to check when we are talking about them; Arisi Upma - one of my most favorite of the lot, Aval Upma - made on the most lazy days, and this idli Upma - when my household is overloaded with idli's.
What is Kozhama Upma?
Kozhama Upma is made with raw rice flour which is mixed in with tamarind water to be made into a dough and then cooked in oil. My husband loved this upma when he was growing up and has often asked me to make it.
I kept avoiding making this upma as it has no vegetables in it and it does take up quite a bit of oil to cook (and also because I don't like Upma....). Now that my MIL is here, my husband asked her to make it for lunch one day when it was just the three of us.
So here is my MIL's recipe for the upma which I captured while she was making it. The upma is quite flavorful (if you don't mind the oil) and is pretty filling. We particularly enjoyed the crispy crust that it forms when cooking.
There is another version of something similar made with raw rice flour called Mor Koozhu or Mor Kali, which I will make soon and update. Mor koozhu is made with sour buttermilk and this Kozhma upma is made with tamarind. Also, the mor koozhu is cooked more to be in the gooey texture which the kids enjoy and this Kozhama upma is cooked until it is all separated out and resembles bread crumbs.
This week my theme for Blogging Marathon is Vegetarian lunch / dinner recipes and this is my first one in that theme. You can serve this upma with some coconut chutney or eat it with sugar like my husband does.
Preparation time - 10 minutes
Cooking time - 20 minutes
difficulty level - easy
Ingredients to make Kozhama Upma - Serves 3
- Rice flour - 1 cup
- Tamarind - a piece as big as a lemon (soaked in about ¾ cup of hot water)
- Oil - 3 to 4 tbsp
- Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
- Urad dal / Ullutham paruppu - 2 tsp
- Curry leaves - few
- Chili powder - 1 to 2 teaspoon (depending on your spice level)
- Asafetida - ¼ tsp
- Salt - to taste
Procedure -
- Add the rice flour, chili powder, asafetida, and salt to a bowl and mix it well to combine.
- Soak the tamarind in hot water for about 10 minutes and then extract the juice. Add this juice to the flour mixture and combine them well until it forms a crumbly dough. The dough should hold up when made into a ball and then crumble when broken.
- In a wide pan (non-stick or something heavy-bottomed), add the oil. Add the mustard seeds and let them splutter. Now add the urad dal and the curry leaves and let it fry for about 10 seconds.
- Crumble the dough mixture and add it to the pan. Mix well and cook over low to medium flame. Make sure you cover the pan when cooking so the flour cooks well. Stir every now and then to avoid burning in the bottom of the pan. If the mixture is sticking too much in the bottom of the pan, then you might need to add a little more oil.
- Cook for about 15 to 20 minutes or until the upma has browned up a bit and starts forming crust in the bottom.
- Serve warm with chutney or sugar!
If you made this recipe and liked it, give a star rating on the recipe card or let me know in the comments below. You could also share it with me on Instagram using #MyCookingJourney and tagging me @sandhya.ramakrishnan. You could follow me and my recipes on Facebook |Instagram | Pinterest | twitter
Recipe
Kozhama Upma – Rice Flour Upma With Tamarind
Equipment
- bowl
- pan
- spatula
Ingredients
- 1 cup Rice flour
- a piece as big as a lemon Tamarind Soaked in about ¾ cup of hot water
- 3-4 tablespoon Oil
- 1 teaspoon Mustard seeds
- 2 teaspoon Urad dal / Ullutham paruppu
- few Curry leaves
- 1-2 teaspoon Chili powder Depending on your spice level
- ¼ teaspoon Asafetida
- to taste Salt
Instructions
- Add the rice flour, chili powder, asafoetida, and salt to a bowl and mix it well to combine.
- Soak the tamarind in hot water for about 10 minutes and then extract the juice. Add this juice to the flour mixture and combine them well until it forms a crumbly dough. The dough should hold up when made into a ball and then crumble when broken.
- In a wide pan (non-stick or something heavy-bottomed), add the oil. Add the mustard seeds and let them splutter. Now add the urad dal and the curry leaves and let it fry for about 10 seconds.
- Crumble the dough mixture and add it to the pan. Mix well and cook over low to medium flame. Make sure you cover the pan when cooking so the flour cooks well. Stir every now and then to avoid burning in the bottom of the pan. If the mixture is sticking too much in the bottom of the pan, then you might need to add a little more oil.
- Cook for about 15 to 20 minutes or until the upma has browned up a bit and starts forming crust in the bottom.
- Serve warm with chutney or sugar!
Sundari says
I live in Dubai and I am not finding samba wheat rava broken here in most of the stores. Whereas the easily available one is Bulgur which I get in different varieties. By any chance, do you have some idea as where it would be available here?
Sandhya Ramakrishnan says
Sundari, you can use bulgur for upma and such recipes. I am not sure of how they mark in Dubai, but here in US, Indian stored carry Samba godhumail rava. you can try looking for broken wheat.
Lux says
Yes I made this kozhama and came out well..🙏
Sandhya Ramakrishnan says
Thanks a lot for your feedback! Glad you liked it.
sushma says
Wow nice dish, new to me. Bookmarked.
sushma says
Wow nice dish, new to me. Bookmarked
harini says
That is a pretty new one and I can see that it definitely had origins a looong time back!!
Priya Srinivasan says
Never heard of this sandhya!! Looks yum, i thought something similar to morekali. Very tempting, Bookmarking to try
Sandhiya says
Very unique umpa recipe, totally new to me and thanks for sharing.It's like the combination of upma and puttu.
Sandhya Ramakrishnan says
Thanks Sandhiya!
Veena Krishnakumar says
My mil loves this upma. Showed her the pic and she wants it for the breakfast 🙂
Sandhya Ramakrishnan says
I think that this was one of the favorite tiffin a generation before us.
Priya Suresh says
Such an interesting upma, am hearing for the first time, thanks for sharing Sandhya, now i want to give a try.
Sandhya Ramakrishnan says
Thanks Priya!
kalyani says
I love upma in most forms, and this is a new addition . We make similar upma with tamarind but with Idli Rava, this is almost like a "Rava Usli" :p (and yes, I dont like adding too much oil in Usli in this sautéing method)
Sandhya Ramakrishnan says
Oil is the bummer in recipes like this, but that's what makes it taste good as well.
Srivalli Jetti says
Surely looks tempting Sandhya..I won't mind making it right now..there was a time when Upma wan't much on the table. Even now it is not made often, but I love it now..:)btw I am not able to pronounce the name correctly..hehehe..wondering how our friends will fair..haha..
Sandhya Ramakrishnan says
Ha ha Valli! The name is pretty tongue twisting. Let's see what others have to say.
Pavani says
This is a very interesting upma with rice flour Sandhya. Addition of tamarind sounds delicious.
Sandhya Ramakrishnan says
Thanks Pavani!
srividhya says
We call this as puli upma.. my fav.. I make sure roast them enough so as to get the black crust. 😉
Sandhya Ramakrishnan says
I have taste puli upma as well, but never made it myself. Will try sometime.