Rice Upma Recipe | How To Make Arisi Upma

Quick, savoury, and flavoursome, our Rice Upma recipe, or Arisi Upma as it’s known in Tamil, is a breakfast and tiffin dish which will add variety to your menu and can be made in a jiffy - a real quick fix. This easy rice upma is as (if not more) delicious than its popular cousin, the Ravai Upma.

We think this is the best rice upma recipe, one that is ideal for those who work and prefer home-cooked meals that require little preparation and time. This dish eaten on its own or with a generous helping of coconut chutney takes care of hunger pangs like none other.
 

How to make Rice Upma| Rice Upma ingredients

To make the delicious rice upma, you will need raw ponni rice (or any other variety of medium-grained rice) along with split pigeon peas (toor or arhar dal). For spicing up this arisi upma recipe, black peppercorns, cumin seeds, ginger, green chillies, and black mustard seeds are used. We add black gram (urad dal), curry leaves, freshly grated coconut, and onion to provide texture, crunch, and additional flavour to the rice upma recipe. Additionally you will need oil, sea salt, and ghee. What you get at the end of the preparation is a steaming-hot savoury dish with a thick porridge-like consistency packed with Indian flavours. The recipe is gluten-free and a hit with vegans (omit the ghee).
 

Rice upma or arisi upma is popular in the state of Tamil Nadu and the term arisi means rice in Tamil. While our preparation is a rice upma recipe Tamil style, a similar dish is also prepared in parts of Karnataka where it is called akki tari uppittu.
 

Do’s and Don’ts to make the best Rice Upma:

When you prepare the tempering, make sure the oil does not reach it’s smoke point before you add the spices. Also, once the spices are added, be quick, else you will risk burning the tempering which will render the rice upma bitter. It is the tempering which plays a big role in giving rice upma its unique taste and once you master it you can prepare a good upma anytime you wish.
 

Stop cooking the upma before it dries out completely as it will continue to dry out and thicken once off the heat.

Healthy Upma:

To make this rice upma healthier you can opt to add chopped vegetables of your choice to the dish. You can also make this recipe without onions and dals if you want to have it on a fasting day. Another variation is to make this dish in coconut oil if you like the aroma of the oil.
 

This recipe is also ideal to work ahead - by grinding the rice and the split pigeon peas or toor dal in advance, and storing the mixture in an airtight container in the refrigerator. This will reduce prep time and cook time down to just a few minutes.
 

For detailed instructions on how to make our arisi upma recipe, watch our step by step instructional video.
 

Serving Suggestions for Easy Rice Upma:

You can eat rice upma on its own or serve it with any chutney of your choice and piping hot sambar and a side of filter coffee for the perfect breakfast. We love this with coconut chutney. You can have the rice upma for breakfast, of course, or even make a superb lunch meal out of it.
 

Additionally, pour some ghee over this upma before serving it. It can be garnished with fresh grated coconut.
 

Also, try making our tomato upma using a similar recipe minus the rice and toor dal and using rava or sooji instead. Non-traditional upma can be made with vermicelli and even leftover bread.
 

If you liked this recipe, you may also want to try our:

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Kavanarisi | Black Rice Breakfast Recipe
Andhra Gunpowder with Chana Dal Recipe
Granola Recipe

Or see all our South Indian Recipes right here!