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    Home » gluten free

    Quinoa Upma Recipe – Quinoa with Spices, Carrots and Peas

    Published: Jul 5, 2016 · Modified: Jan 30, 2018 by Richa 28 Comments

    Jump to Recipe   Print Recipe

    Quinoa Upma Recipe. Indian Savory Breakfast or Side with Quinoa with mustard seeds, toasted cashews, carrots and peas. Vegan Gluten-free Soy-free Recipe. Pin this post.

    Jump to Recipe   

    Quinoa Upma Recipe. Indian Savory Breakfast or Side with Quinoa with mustard seeds, toasted cashews, carrots and peas. Vegan Gluten-free Soy-free Recipe | VeganRicha.com

    Upma is a savory breakfast with veggies, spices and quick cooking forms of grains such as coarse semolina (hot wheat cereal), rice cereal, or rice flakes. Upma is usually served as breakfast or snack. With whole grains, it also can be served as a side like a pilaf. 

    Today’s Upma recipe uses Quinoa.  Temper the spices in hot oil, cook the onions and toast the cashews, add other veggies, add washed quinoa, water and salt and cook until done. You can also use cooked quinoa or millet and mix in the cooked and spiced veggies. Upma is can be made dryer if served as a side or wetter to serve on its own. Add a dash of lemon or dress it with a chutney or ketchup if it feels too dry.

    To make it with semolina or rava, roast the rava with the veggies for 7 to 8 minutes and add 2 cups hot water instead of room temperature water.

    Quinoa Upma Recipe. Indian Savory Breakfast or Side with Quinoa with mustard seeds, toasted cashews, carrots and peas. Vegan Gluten-free Soy-free Recipe | VeganRicha.com


    More quinoa recipes

    • Lentil Quinoa Meatloaf Burgers GF option
    • Quinoa Cauliflower Biryani GF
    • Chickpea quinoa Lentil spinach Stew GF
    • South Indian Quinoa with pumpkin and tamarind GF
    • Quinoa Black Bean Casserole with cheddar cream sauce.

    Reading this week:

    The documentary “Gods in Shackles” throws light on the cruelty meted out against temple elephants in Southern India.
    216 elephants have died this year already. the elephants being connected to religious organizations, this is an incredibly hard problem to solve in terms or rescue and legal justice. Here is more coverage about the elephants. 

    How Meat is destroying the planet in 7 Charts.

    Quinoa Upma Recipe. Indian Savory Breakfast or Side with Quinoa with mustard seeds, toasted cashews, carrots and peas. Vegan Gluten-free Soy-free Recipe | VeganRicha.com

    Quinoa Upma Recipe. Indian Savory Breakfast or Side with Quinoa with mustard seeds, toasted cashews, carrots and peas. Vegan Gluten-free Soy-free Recipe | VeganRicha.com #vegan #glutenfree #veganricha
    Print Recipe
    5 from 5 votes

    Quinoa Upma Recipe

    Quinoa Upma Recipe. Indian Savory Breakfast or Side with Quinoa with mustard seeds, toasted cashews, carrots and peas. Vegan Gluten-free Soy-free Recipe.
    Prep Time10 mins
    Cook Time35 mins
    Total Time45 mins
    Course: Breakfast
    Cuisine: Indian
    Servings: 4
    Calories: 225kcal
    Author: Vegan Richa

    Ingredients

    • 1 cup (170 g) uncooked quinoa
    • 1 tsp organic canola or safflower oil
    • 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) mustard seeds
    • 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) urad dal split black gram or use mung dal (petite yellow lentils)
    • 1 green chili chopped remove seeds to adjust spice if needed
    • a generous pinch of asafeotida hing optional (omit to make gluten-free or use certified gf asafetida)
    • 10 curry leaves fresh or frozen
    • 1/2 cup (7 g) finely chopped red onion
    • 2 Tbsp chopped cashews
    • 1/2 inch (0.5 inch) ginger minced 1 tsp grated
    • 1/2 cup (64 g) chopped carrots
    • 1/2 cup (72.5 g) peas fresh or frozen (thawed)
    • 1/2 to 3/4 tsp salt
    • 2 cups (500 ml) water
    • cilantro and lemon juice for garnish

    Instructions

    • Wash the quinoa several times, drain and keep aside.
    • In a medium skillet, add oil and heat at medium. When the oil is hot, add mustard seeds and urad dal and let them sputter or sizzle for 15 seconds.
    • Add chili, asafeotida and curry leaves and cook for half a minute.
    • Add onions and cashews and cook for 4 to 5 minutes or until translucent.
    • Add ginger, carrots, and cook for 2 minutes.
    • Add quinoa and roast for 2 minutes with the veggies.
    • Add salt, water, peas, cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low-medium, cover and cook for 15 minutes. Let the quinoa sit covered for 5 minutes. then uncover, fluff and serve. Garnish with cilantro and generous lemon juice. Serve as a side, or as breakfast with hot masala chai.

    Notes

    Make this with cooked quinoa:
    Use 2.5 cups of cooked quinoa and add to the pan at step 7 with salt, peas and a splash of water. Mix well. Cover and cook for 2 minutes to heat up. Let sit for 5 minutes before serving.
    Add currants or other dried fruit along with cashews.
    Nutritional information based on one serving

    Nutrition

    Nutrition Facts
    Quinoa Upma Recipe
    Amount Per Serving
    Calories 225 Calories from Fat 54
    % Daily Value*
    Fat 6g9%
    Sodium 494mg21%
    Potassium 367mg10%
    Carbohydrates 34g11%
    Fiber 5g21%
    Sugar 2g2%
    Protein 8g16%
    Vitamin A 2905IU58%
    Vitamin C 61mg74%
    Calcium 44mg4%
    Iron 2.6mg14%
    * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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    ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ If you Love the Recipe, Please consider rating it using stars in comments! It helps readers and helps more people find the recipe online! I love hearing from you all! ⭐⭐⭐⭐

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

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    1. Morag

      September 18, 2020 at 12:43 am

      Would dried curry leaves work in place of fresh or frozen? Thanks!

      Reply
      • Vegan Richa Support

        September 19, 2020 at 7:13 pm

        you could, it will just have a slightly different flavour

        Reply
    2. MJ Walls

      August 31, 2020 at 2:55 pm

      This sound great. Can I sub curry powder for curry leaves?

      Reply
      • Vegan Richa Support

        September 02, 2020 at 12:14 am

        it’s possible. but they have very different flavours. If you have basil, lime zest, or lemon balm that would be the best. lime zest generally works best (perhaps combined with basil to evoke both herbal and citrus notes), at a ratio of one lime’s zest per eight curry leaves. or even a couple of Bay leaves.

        Reply
    3. Bhavna

      July 18, 2020 at 7:29 pm

      Thank you so much for this recipe Richa. It’s my new comfort food.

      Reply
      • Vegan Richa Support

        July 19, 2020 at 1:21 pm

        I’m so glad, yay!

        Reply
    4. Ashvin

      July 07, 2019 at 6:07 pm

      5 stars
      Made it yesterday. It was really good. Thanks so much Richa.

      Reply
      • Richa

        July 07, 2019 at 9:26 pm

        thanks!

        Reply
    5. Usha

      June 08, 2019 at 11:36 am

      I am not a big fan of quinoa. I was going to trash my cooked quinoa when I found your recipe. This recipe turned out SO YUMMY!! I switched up the veggies slightly – I used onion, green beans, asparagus and cabbage. I cut all veggies finely and sautéed them. IT WAS AMAZING! Thank you for this inspiring recipe..

      Reply
      • Richa

        June 08, 2019 at 11:44 am

        awesome! Thanks!

        Reply
    6. Guillaume

      March 18, 2019 at 8:23 pm

      5 stars
      My wife didn’t like quinoa that much but it changed with this recipe, thanks to you!
      If anybody is reading this comment, go and try this as soon as possible : simple, tasty and quick to prepare!

      I always forget to comment here but many of your recipes are now favourites in my family so thank you again!

      Reply
      • Richa

        March 18, 2019 at 9:31 pm

        awesome! thats my goal, to get everyone to like some plant foods in various ways!

        Reply
    7. Liz

      April 15, 2018 at 2:16 am

      5 stars
      Delicious and versatile!

      Reply
    8. Jim Kam

      December 04, 2016 at 7:27 am

      Woke up early this morning and was looking at some random stuff via my iPad. Happily I landed on this site and saw this recipie. It reminded me of when my grandmother would make rava upma . Looking around I found that I had all the ingredients except cilantro (go figure we always have some) and carrots, but I did have some broccoli/carrot slaw so that was a find substitute.

      Anyway, it worked out so well that I have ordered your cookbook via Amazon. Thank you for what you do Ms. Richa

      Reply
      • Richa

        December 04, 2016 at 11:24 am

        Awesome!

        Reply
    9. surekha sadana

      August 15, 2016 at 7:36 am

      5 stars
      yes i liked the recipe, even my family loved it too, its yummy and nutritious.
      Thanks dear for spreading happiness and health

      Reply
    10. vg

      July 31, 2016 at 4:54 pm

      yum

      Reply
    11. IR

      July 07, 2016 at 8:26 pm

      What a great version of upma!
      I feel terrible elephants are treated without care or respect…Thank you for mentioning it on your blog

      Reply
    12. Corrine

      July 07, 2016 at 6:51 am

      Great recipe. Just found your blog as I am trying to eat more healthily. I will be making this one.

      Reply
    13. vivek garg

      July 06, 2016 at 8:45 pm

      5 stars
      yumm

      Reply
      • Richa

        July 06, 2016 at 8:56 pm

        thanks!

        Reply
    14. Cassie

      July 06, 2016 at 5:27 pm

      I’ve never tried upma before, nor have I ever even heard of it! But it sounds absolutely delicious! I would love to make this recipe!

      Reply
    15. Izzy Bruning

      July 06, 2016 at 11:29 am

      Oh this looks so good!!!
      Izzy | https://plantbasedizzy.wordpress.com/

      Reply
    16. Sarah | Well and Full

      July 06, 2016 at 7:21 am

      Reading about those poor elephants made me so sad 🙁 I don’t know how people can be so cruel to animals. But thank you for spreading awareness about this issue.

      Reply
      • Richa

        July 06, 2016 at 9:04 am

        Its incredibly heartbreaking, esp since there aren’t even easy solutions tot he problem and actions to take to help them.

        Reply
    17. Virginie

      July 06, 2016 at 1:28 am

      Thanks a lot for this receipe. Hello from France

      Reply
    18. Sally

      July 05, 2016 at 6:29 pm

      I love all your recipes and am so happy that you blog! Thank you ????

      Reply
      • Richa

        July 06, 2016 at 2:09 pm

        Thank you Sally. I am so happy you like them all! 🙂

        Reply

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