Arisi upma or Broken rice upma is a very staple breakfast or dinner in most tamil homes. If you have rice rava handy then its a breeze to make this upma as it gets done in less than 15-20 mins.
Once the upma is ready,allow a standing time of min 20 mins to get the perfect crumbly and grainy texture . We call it Udhur Udhur Upma ,I don't know the exact translation for this in English; as it is a texture to be felt and enjoyed .
Arisi upma is a very filling breakfast and can keep be eaten for brunch as well. Tamil Brahmins have arisi upma on Ekadasi , during Pitru Paksh or even on Amavasya night for dinner when the men folk are not allowed to eat rice at night after performing the Tharpanam .
Having rice rava handy at home,this upma comes to my rescue even as a dinner option when I am pressed for time or run out of options. Serve this upma with coconut chutney,tomato gothsu/ tomato gojju or as is with just a cup of plain curds it tastes heavenly.
I am including the method of making rice rava at home which I normally follow. There are different ways in which you can make rice rava at home.
I am including the method of making rice rava at home which I normally follow. There are different ways in which you can make rice rava at home.
I have included the different methods of making rice rava at home. You may use the regular white rice or even the brown unpolished rice. Pls donot use any aromatic rice variety like basmati, jeera Samba, jasmine rice etc.
Jain version : Skip the ginger and follow the recipe as is
Jain version : Skip the ginger and follow the recipe as is
How to make rice rava /akki thari / kurunai at home?
Rice rava is known as Arisi kurunai in Tamil and Akki Tharri in Kannada. Kurunai and Tharri means coarsely broken bits of any grain (wheat , millets,rice etc)
Method 1
- Pulse the required quantity of raw rice in a mixer grinder . The texture should be slightly coarse and granular as compared to the regular upma rava .
Method 2
- Wash and drain the required quantity of rice in a colander and leave it for half an hour .
- The water will drain completely and the rice would have soaked well . If you touch the rice with your palm it shouldn't be wet and must easily fall off your palm when you shake . This means the rice is well soaked and ready to be pulsed in the blender .
- Add it to the blender and pulse until you get a coarse and grainy texture .
Method 3
(Updated in Oct 2024)
- Soak and drain the rice as in Method 2.
- For 1 cup of rice, dry roast 2 tsp thoor dhall, 3 to 4 dry red chillies ,1tsp pepper ,1tsp jeera and curry leaves until the dhall turns golden brown. Let this cool.
- Pulse this roasted ingredients along with the drained and soaked rice till you get the coarse rava texture.
(This 3rd method of making rice rava ,I recently learnt through a reel on Instagram and I must say the taste of arisi upma was too good . The color wasn't pure white like how arisi upma normally looks,but taste was outstanding)
Now ,let us see how to make arisi upma using home made rice rava . The entire post has undergone a cosmetic change in terms of adding clear and better pictures along with some tips and tricks to get a perfect Arisi upma . Hope all my readers find it useful.
Preparation Time - 20 mins
Cooking Time - 15 mins
Standing Time - 15-20 mins
Complexity - medium
Ingredients
1 cup rice rava
3 cups water
2 green chillies finely chopped
2 dry red chillies
(skip if your rice rava already has red chillies)
1 tsp finely chopped ginger
Handful of curry leaves
2 to 3 tbsp coconut oil / regular cooking oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp udad dhall
1 tsp channa dhall
1/4 cup fresh grated coconut
Method
Prerequisite
Using thick bottom pan is very important as we will be doing slow cooking and don't want the upma to get burnt . Pressure cooker vessel is ideal for making this upma or a huge bronze pot(vengala paanai)
** I have used rice rava made using method 3 for making arisi upma in the pictures that you are seeing on the post now.
- Heat oil in the pan and crackle the mustard seeds , channa dhall and udad dhall till it turns brown.
- Fry the green chillies , curry leaves, ginger along with asafoetida.
- Add in the 3 cups of water will required about of salt and let it come to a rolling boil.
- Carefully add the rice rava and keep stirring constantly to avoid lumps . (Or)
- Roast the rice rava lightly and add 3 cups of boiling water and salt into the pan ,this will prevent lumps.
- Add the grated coconut, mix everything well ,reduce the flame to low ,close with a lid and continue cooking on low flame for 10 mins.
- Open after 10 mins ,give it a good mix ,close again and cook for another 5 mins on low.
- You can see that the rice rava has absorbed all the water and the upma looks fluffy and well done .
- Turn off the stove and let it sit for 10 mins before serving.
- You can add some ghee on top while serving.
- I paired the arisi upma with milagu kuzhambu from lunch ,coconut chutney and thick home made curd. You can also pair it with tomato gojju or just plain curd .
(Check the video link above to get a first hand demonstration of making arisi upma and do subscribe to my channel if you feel like )
