Jowar upma | Jonna upma | Jowar recipes
Updated: August 2, 2022, By Swasthi
Jowar upma recipe – Healthy whole grain upma with mixed vegetables. Jonnalu, jola, cholam are the other south Indian names to sorghum or jowar. Broken jowar or the jowar rava is available in the super markets and can be used to make upma, pulao or porridge. The recipe i am sharing here uses whole jowar to make upma. Using whole grains has many benefits over the processed rava like hygiene, more nutrition, free from additives.
Most kinds of rava /semolina sold contain additives or are treated with certain kinds of gases to prevent infestations and extend the shelf life. About 60 to 80 % of the nutrients are lost with in 3 to 5 days of grinding the grains to flour or rava. So consuming whole grains is always a better choice.
I have grown up eating jowar roti almost daily since ragi and jowar are staple grains in our region. Making jowar roti regularly is not possible for me now since we are not accessible to fresh flour or a flour mill. So i try to include them whole. I make jowar dosa more often as it is very easy. This jowar upma is another one which i make though not very often, for the evening snack and sometimes for lunch.
If you are trying to include jowar in your diet for the health benefits it provides, do try this upma. It is very easy, delicious and keeps your energy levels good for hours. It is suitable for those trying to lose weight, diabetics, gestational diabetics and even to kids as it contains a good amount of calcium and magnesium along with copper and iron.
Photo Guide
How to make jowar upma – whole grain upma
1. Wash jowar several times until water runs clear. You may need to rub them in between your palms. Add fresh water and soak for 8 to 12 hours. If soaking for over 8 hours, change the water after 6 to 8 hours. Soaking breaks the hard to digest fibers and increases the bio availability of nutrients.
2. Drain up the water completely. Add fresh water and turmeric. Pressure cook for 3 whistles. 2 whistles on a medium flame and 1 whistle on a low flame.
3. When the pressure goes off, fluff them up. With the amount of water i mentioned in the recipe card, there was no water left after pressure cooking. If it is left, then continue to cook and evaporate the left over water. Set this aside. Even after thoroughly cooking, they will be chewy but easy for digestion.
4. Heat oil in a pan. Saute cumin and mustard. When they splutter, add urad dal and fry until golden.
5. Add onions, chili and ginger.Saute until the onions turn soft.
6. Add chopped veggies. I used potatoes, beans, peas and capsicum. You can add whatever you like.
7. Cover and cook on a low heat until the veggies are soft cooked. If needed sprinkle little water and cook.
8. Add salt and turmeric. Mix.
9. Add the cooked jowar and coconut. You can skip coconut. But it adds taste and flavor.
10. Saute for 1 to 2 mins. Add lemon juice and coriander leaves.
Serve hot. It can be served alone or with papad or yogurt.
If you are keen to try healthy whole grain recipes, you can take a look at these collections
Ragi recipes
Oats recipes
Quinoa upma
Quinoa salad
Jowar upma recipe below
Jowar upma recipe | Jonna upma | Jowar recipes
For best results follow the step-by-step photos above the recipe card
Ingredients (US cup = 240ml )
- ¾ cup jowar
- 1 cup water to pressure cook
- oil as needed
- ½ to ¾ tsp cumin / jeera
- ½ to ¾ tsp mustard
- 1 to 1 ½ tsp urad dal
- 1 pinch hing
- 1 onion , small , sliced
- 2 to 3 green chilies , slit
- 1 tsp ginger , chopped (optional)
- ¾ cup mixed veggies , chopped finely
- salt as needed
- turmeric as needed
- ¼ cup fresh grated coconut as desired
Instructions
- Wash and soak jowar for at least 8 hours. Drain and add 1 cup water and pressure cook for 2 whistles on medium flame with little turmeric. 1 more whistle on a low flame.
- When the pressure settles down, fluff up.
- Heat a pan with oil, allow cumin and mustard to crackle. Add urad dal, saute until golden.
- Fry chilies, onions and ginger.
- When the onions turn soft, add mixed veggies and saute for 2 mins.
- Cover and cook until soft done. If needed sprinkle some water and cook.
- Add salt and turmeric. Stir.
- Add cooked jowar, coconut and mix.
- Stir well and saute for 2 mins.
- Add lemon juice and coriander leaves.
NUTRITION INFO (estimation only)
© Swasthi’s Recipes
About Swasthi
I’m Swasthi Shreekanth, the recipe developer, food photographer & food writer behind Swasthi’s Recipes. My aim is to help you cook great Indian food with my time-tested recipes. After 2 decades of experience in practical Indian cooking I started this blog to help people cook better & more often at home. Whether you are a novice or an experienced cook I am sure Swasthi’s Recipes will assist you to enhance your cooking skills. More about me
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Comments
Hi,
Your receipes are super good. If i need any new recipes, undoubtedly i check yours only. Your recipes are awesome. This is my first rating on your recipes despite of my several.usage. sorry for that and Thank you
Hi Swasthi,
Can i soak jowar in the afternoon and pressure cooker at night so that i can store in fridge to make upma next day morning??? Will it become more chewy even after cooking in the next morning ??
Hi Manisha,
Yes you can do that. But I felt storing cooked jowar turned them dry from inside so I had to cook for 10 minutes while making the upma. May be because my jowar were old. I am not sure. Try with a small batch.
Hi Swasthi,
Do you have a stovetop version of this recipe please?
I bought some Jowar from my local Halal Grocery without really knowing what to do with it and this recipe sounds really good. I just don’t have a pressure cooker.
Hi Paul,
You can simply soak them overnight and cook in a pot. Then temper following this recipe. There are different kinds of jowar. Some take as long as 60 minutes on the stovetop, to cook in a pot. You may need about 3 to 4 cups per cup of jowar, depending on the age and kind. Hope this helps.
Hi swathi for 1 cup of Jowar how much water to put n 2ndly y is my jowar taking long to b soft as want to sprout
Hi Maria,
Actually they won’t soften until cooked. Soak them in 4 cups of water
Boiled jowar will it be soft and not like rubber or can we crash raw jowar then pressure cook it.recepe is yummy.
Hi Rita,
No it won’t turn like rubber but will be chewy.
Yes you can soak the jowar and drain completely. Add to blender and crush but the texture won’t be the same it will be like upma/khichdi, wet.
Look for jowar rava online. You can soak and use it directly in many dishes.
Hi Swasthi…Does cooking Jowar in pressure cooker reduce its nutritional value?
Can one boil it after soaking instead of pressure cooking.
If yes, then for how much time to boil to make it edible?
Hi Rohit
No! You can boil them in a pot but the texture won’t be good & it takes a lot of time. If the grains are old (old crop/harvest) they take much longer. Whole grains are best cooked under pressure & there is no nutrition loss.
Hi Swasthi,
Is it ok for a 3 year old to eat jowar dishes during summers
Hi Flavia,
Yes I did serve jowar to my toddlers even during summer. Especially this recipe is good as jowar is soaked well. As always people eating jowar and ragi need to consume more water.
It is wonderful to know how our traditional jowar is utilised for making interesting recipes ,retaining the nutritional values.Expecting more such type of delicious recipes from milets.
Very useful..
Hello Swasthi, Thanks for this wonderful recipe. Me and my husband loved it. I have a question- does it tastes good for the lunch box? I wanted to include this in my kids diet and they don’t get to heat the food in microwave in school. Any tips would be much helpful.
Thanks again for the wonderful recipes. Keep up the good work.
-Sailaja.
Hi Sailaja,
You are welcome. Glad you both loved it. For the lunch box it gets a bit chewy and kids may not finish in time. Instead of the whole jowar, sometimes I pulse them in the mixer to get broken wheat like texture. Then rinse and soak it. This one turns a bit softer & not chewy. Just try this way and check if they like it. Thanks for trying.
Hi, I have a doubt I. E. Jowar is heat to body or not.. People are telling that jowar is heat to body.. Not good for planning for pregnancy.. Is it true..
Hi Sarika,
Jowar is a neutral grain that does not generate heat in the body like wheat or millets. I have eaten jowar during both my pregnancies, even prior & after. I have never even heard about avoiding it while planning or during pregnancy. But jowar is very dehydrating so we usually eat jowar roti with lots of fresh cucumber, onions & kosambari. Then finish up with buttermilk. You have to drink lots of water to digest jowar as it may constipate. Hope this helps. Just go ahead and consume 3 to 4 times a week
Thank you for replying to me.. Daily can I have 1 jowar roti with curry in afternoon. It doesn’t harm know..
Yes sure, you can eat even 2. During my first pregnancy 3rd trimester I was advised by my gynac to eat jowar roti for dinner as I was over weight. You can also check with your gynac during your next visit
This upma looks yummy, will try it sometime. We are trying to reduce wheat usage so I was looking for alternatives to wheat chapati. Jola roti is something we used to have in our native (Dharwad) so I was looking for an easy way to make it – back in the native they beat it to flatten it – not an easy task 🙂
So do you happen to have a recipe for Jola roti? It would great if you could share it. I am looking for something that is easy to make and also should stay soft for the lunch next day (I carry cooked dinner as lunch for the following work day). Thanks in advance.
Hi Santosh
Sorry for the delay. I was on a vacation so couldn’t reply. I don’t have the recipe on the blog. I sometimes make it by pouring very hot water to the flour and knead to make dough. Quickly make balls and roll them with rolling stick gently and toast them immediately. Smear some water with a cloth while toasting. Remove to a cloth and keep them covered while hot. This is the only way I make now. But remember to use fresh ground flour( milled with in 30 days).
Hi mam
I’m BALA I tried u recipe definitely I want to reduce my weight with good diet is there any relevant to the ragi and jonna
Hi Bala
Yes you can try with ragi and jonna without adding milk
Thanks for the recipe (Jowar upma). Looks perfect and healthy. Will definitely try to prepare this.
Just a small suggestion. Can you add pinterest button on your blog? it will be easy to tag for all of us.
Welcome Anjan
Yes sure I will do it.
How do you make roasted Jowar snack with all spices without jowar turning into popcorn?
Hi Lakshmi
They will turn hard if they are roasted and not popped. You can make a snack following the same method mentioned above by soaking, pressure cooking and then seasoning with spice powders.
I have never eaten jowar/sorghum. This looks like a good recipe for it that I want to try. I noticed there are some leaves added in the picture for step 5. Are they curry leaves?
Hi Francine
Do try it. yes they are curry leaves. Sorry I forgot to include it.
Thanks a lot for the mention I will update soon
I normally use Idli rice for making dosas. But this time I used different rice. As you said this may be the reason. I will try with idli rice next time. Thanks for all your healthy recipes.
Tastes great.
I tried jonna dosa, but dosa is sticking to tawa. I used all 1 cup.. Rice, urad and jonna. Little bit of methi seeds.
Thanks Shravani
I make Jonna dosa with the same measurements. I almost make it every week. But if the batter is not blended smooth or tawa is not greased well or batter doesn’t ferment well that can happen. Also you may try changing the rice. It works well with aged parboiled rice and even with idli rice for me. Hope this helps for your next try
Hi Swasthi..this time I tried with idli rice and dosas came out well..thank you.
Hi Swasthi…this time I tried jonna dosa with Idli rice and they came out well. Thank you
Welcome Shravani
Good to know it came out well, Thanks for the comment
Can I use bajra instead of this?please help..thank you.
Welcome Ankita
Yes it works. You can also make bajra khichdi with some dal,
Its informative and very good information.. kindly tell us how to make jowar granuels or jowar rava
soft and palatable.as per your guidelines we could not make it soft..
Hi Krishna
I soak the jowar rava in hot water for 2 hours and then drain off the water and keep it aside to cook. Then use it to make upma, khichdi, pulihora or lemon jowar, curd jowar and even pongal. I usually add it to the talimpu / tadka and saute for 3 to 4 minutes to prevent turning sticky. While cooking use up the water that was used to soak it. Pressure cook for 2 to 3 whistle on a low to medium heat using 1 cup rava:2.5 cups water. It does take some time but cooks very well.
I have never tried the store bought jowar rava. We make our own jowar rava by washing and drying them in sun. Then milling them in a rava mill. The above method works very well for us since the rava is fine, I guess the same method works for store bought rava.. Hope this helps.
is this dish healthy for HDL or LDL Cholesterol?
Hi
Any high soluble fibre foods like oats, whole grains are good to reduce LDL. i.e bad cholesterol in the body.. To increase your HDL, i.e good cholesterol, exercise and stress free life is very important.