Quinoa Upma Recipe (Instant Pot & Stovetop)

Quinoa Upma is a South Indian Upma variety made with quinoa, tempering spices, curry leaves, mixed vegetables and cashew nuts (optional). While upma is traditionally made with semolina also known as rava, this Quinoa Upma is made healthier & gluten-free with the use of quinoa seeds. It makes a complete meal when accompanied with a side of yogurt, pickle or podi.

Quinoa is a health food and is technically a seed but used much like a grain in a lot of meal preps and many other dishes. It is one of those grains that has no relation to the Indian Cuisine.

But Indian food enthusiasts have started to incorporate these tiny little seeds in numerous traditional dishes like I did in this Quinoa Upma.

If you are new to quinoa, here is a little about this super food and why it should be included in your diet.

About Quinoa

Quinoa pronounced as “KEEN-wah”, is a gluten-free seed with high concentrations of protein and is a good source of iron, folate, magnesium and zinc. Its popularity comes from 3 main reasons:

• It is easy to grow quinoa in tough weather conditions
• It is easy and fast to cook
• Quinoa is one of the few plant-based sources of Complete Protein.

Complete proteins are made of all nine essential amino acids. Though animal-based products, like meat & dairy contain all nine amino acids, plant-based sources, like beans, often lack several of the amino acids.

So must be combined with other foods to form a complete protein. But quinoa is one of the sources of complete protein.

Once cooked you can see little curly tails/sprouts that come out which are actually the plant’s endosperm. With a little crunch, nutty aroma and chewy texture, these are delicious if cooked right.

This Quinoa Upma is a one pot dish and can be made in a regular pot on the stovetop or in the Instant Pot. In this post I share how to make it both ways on the stovetop and in the instant pot. I also have a few variations and tips below above the recipe card.

More Breakfast Recipes
Quinoa Fried Rice
Quinoa Pulao
Instant Pot Quinoa
Oats Upma
Rava Idli

Photo Guide

How to Make Quinoa Upma (Stepwise Photos)

Preparation

1. Prepare the following veggies:

• 1 sprig curry leaves (leave out if you don’t have)
• ¼ cup (1 small) onion sliced (optional)
• ½ cup (1 medium) carrot peeled & chopped
• ¼ cup (4 to 5) green beans chopped (optional)
• ¼ cup green peas (I use frozen)
• ½ teaspoon ginger peeled & chopped finely
• 1 to 2 green chili chopped or slit (leave out for kids or fry them separately)

2. These are the ingredients used to temper & season the quinoa upma.

• ¼ teaspoon mustard seeds
• ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 tablespoon channa dal (or use red lentils, optional)
• ½ teaspoon urad dal (optional)
• 1 pinch hing or asafoetida (optional, I don’t use)
• 12 to 15 cashews split or broken
• ⅓ teaspoon salt (adjust to taste)
• ¼ teaspoon turmeric (optional, for color)

3. Add quinoa to a bowl and pour water. Rub them well with your fingers to get rid of the bitter tasting saponins. Drain the water completely & rinse at least thrice. Later drain to a strainer to get rid of the excess water. Gently shake the strainer to drain the water completely.

Make Quinoa Upma

4. Pour 1½ tablespoons oil or ghee to the steel insert of the instant pot or to a hot pan placed on the stovetop, on a low to medium heat.

5. Press the saute button on the IP. Add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, chana dal, urad dal and cashews. Fry them until light golden.

6. Stir in curry leaves, ginger, green chilies and hing (optional).

7. Add sliced onions and saute until transparent for a minute or 2.

8. Stir in the vegetables and saute for a minute.

9. Add turmeric and salt.

10. Add the drained quinoa.

11. If using Instant pot, pour 1¼ cups water & mix well to release any bits of food stuck at the bottom.

Stovetop: If making it in a pot/ pan on the stovetop, Pour 2 cups hot water and bring it to a rolling boil on a high heat. Cook uncovered on a medium heat, until the water is absorbed and the quinoa is cooked. For the stepwise photos you may scroll down.

11. Cover with the lid. Press cancel and pressure cook for 2 minutes. Let the pressure drop naturally for 8 minutes and then release the rest manually.

12. Taste test the quinoa upma and add more salt if you want.

13. Let cool down for a few minutes and pour the lemon juice as required. Gently mix. Do not stir a lot when the quinoa is very hot.

Serve quinoa upma hot with pickle, podi or yogurt.

Stovetop Quinoa Upma

Make sure you use 2 cups hot water and bring it to a rolling boil on a high heat. Reduce and cook on a medium heat. I did not use turmeric here so the color is different.

Cook on a medium flame till the quinoa is cooked completely. Keep stirring to a few times. They look transparent when cooked well. If there is extra water left in the pan, evaporate by cooking a little longer.

Serve quinoa upma with plain yogurt or pickle. Squeeze in some lemon juice before serving.

Serve quinoa upma with podi, pickle or curd. It goes good even in lunch box or as a breakfast or quick dinner.

Pro Tips

• Ratio: Quinoa to water ratio is the key for a fluffy quinoa upma. A lot of times I cook quinoa in an open pot (uncovered) with 1 part of quinoa and 2 parts of water. This gives me good results without making it mushy.
• Instant Pot Ratio: For every cup of quinoa you will need 1¼ cups water.
• Instant Pot cook time: I lately realized that new IPs take just 0 to 1 minutes to cook quinoa fully but due to usage as it becomes old, it requires more time. I now cook for 2 to 3 minutes. So adjust the cook time depending on how old or new your IP is.
• Rinsing: If using regular kind of quinoa rinse-rub-rinse very well at least thrice to get rid of the saponins, bitter tasting toxic compounds. I prefer to rinse even the pre-rinsed quinoa store bought seeds.

Variations

• Most often I use carrots, peas & beans to make this. However you can skip the veggies and just make it plain with the tempering ingredients & onions. Sometimes I make with just the tri – carrots, peas and beans and leave out the onions. Both taste different.
• Feel free to spice up your quinoa upma with some Indian spice powder. Sometimes I add ¾ teaspoon of Vangi bath powder, Bisi bele bath powder or store bought Sambar powder to this quinoa upma. It turns out very delicious with the flavors of Khara bath.
• I have not used tomato in this. But sometimes I do use a tiny deseeded tomato. I saute it very well until the raw smell of the tomato goes away. Then add the veggies.

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Recipe Card

This recipe was first published in May 2015. Updated with new photos.