Aval upma is a spicy, savory south Indian food made with aval, or flattened rice flakes, and seasoned with lentils, curry leaves, green chili peppers and mustard seeds. It's an ultra-simple, beginner-friendly recipe and it can be served for breakfast or for a nutritious snack.
Table of Contents
A healthy and easy Indian breakfast
On Saturdays, I typically cook up some breakfast food that Desi or I ate growing up in India. Sometimes it's dosa or idli or rava upma, but more often than not it's something really simple, like kande pohe or aval upma.
Aval upma is the Tamil cousin of kande pohe, a Maharashtrian breakfast food I've shared with you before. The two have some ingredients in common, including the rice flakes, called "aval" in Tamil and "pohe" (pronounced po-hay) in Marathi, and the technique for making both is similar. But there are also some key differences in ingredients that result in a differently delicious flavor.
This is a really simple recipe, where all you do is make a tempering and add the rice flakes to it. The rice flakes barely need any cooking so the whole recipe comes together in minutes. It's a wonderful choice for breakfast on the fly, and you can make it even healthier by adding veggies like carrots, green peas, bell peppers and potatoes.
The recipe is naturally vegan and gluten-free and it can easily be nut-free. And you don't need to limit it to breakfast - it makes a great afternoon snack or brown bag lunch. My son, Jay, loved kande pohe and aval upma and often requested them, so I put this firmly in the category of kid-friendly foods.
Recipe card
Aval Upma
Ingredients
- 3 cups poha (aval or flattened rice flakes. Use thick poha for this recipe)
- 2 tablespoon cilantro (chopped, for garnish)
- Juice of 1 lemon
- Salt to taste
For tempering
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
- ¼ teaspoon asafetida
- 1 tablespoon urad dal
- 1 tablespoon chana dal *(optional)
- 1 jalapeno (or any green chili pepper, cut into thin strips)
- 3 sprigs curry leaves
- 1 tablespoon ginger (grated)
- ¼ cup raw peanuts
- 2 tablespoons raw cashews *
- ½ cup grated coconut (fresh or frozen. If using frozen thaw before using)
- 1 cup frozen green peas
Instructions
- Place the rice flakes in a large strainer or colander and rinse thoroughly under running water for a minute. Set aside while you prepare the rest of the recipe.
Make the tempering
- Heat coconut oil in wok or skillet over medium high heat. Add the mustard seeds and asafetida. When the mustard sputters, add the urad dal and chana dal. Roast the lentils until they turn light gold. Add the peanuts, cashews, ginger, curry leaves and green chili pepper to the wok. Continue sauteing until the nuts are lightly browned.
- Add the coconut, sauté for a minute, then add the green peas. Mix and sauté for a couple of minutes. Add salt to taste.
Assemble the aval upma
- Add the rinsed rice flakes to the wok and mix it all together. Continue sauteing the aval upma for a couple of minutes until the poha has warmed through and is soft. If you feel the poha is a bit tougher than you'd like it to be, sprinkle a little water, but not too much, and sauté for a little longer.
- Check salt and add more if needed. Stir in the cilantro and lemon juice. Serve immediately.
Notes
- Chana dal is bigger and tougher in texture than urad dal so either make sure you fry it thoroughly so it's crunchy or just skip it if you're not familiar with using it.
- Cashews are optional and you can skip them or use more peanuts. If nut-free, skip the cashews and peanuts and use a little more urad dal and chana dal instead for crunch.
- Some recipes ask you to soak the rice flakes for a few minutes, but please don't. They will become too soft and waterlogged after soaking even for a short time and the aval upma will clump together after cooking, which is both not great to look at or to eat. Just a simple and thorough rinse will ensure the rice flakes soften to the perfect texture.
Nutrition Information
To print recipe card without images, uncheck "instruction images" after clicking the "print recipe" button.
Aval upma FAQs
Flattened rice flakes are made by parboiling and then drying rice grains in the sun before they are put through heavy rollers that flatten them. In your kitchen, you rinse the rice flakes in water before using them in recipes and just that simple rinse is enough to soften them so they don't need much more cooking. This makes them really easy to use, especially in quick recipes like aval upma.
You can buy poha at any Indian grocery store or online and I will add an Amazon affiliate link in the recipe card below. Poha is made with brown rice, white rice or red rice and any of these will work for this recipe. For aval upma and kande pohe, buy the poha labeled "thick poha" - the thin poha is better suited to recipes like chivda where you dry-roast the poha without rinsing it because water can easily turn it to mush.
Aval upma leftovers can be stored in the fridge for up to four days. For longer storage freeze up to three months in a freezer-safe container. Warm thoroughly before serving.
Try my favorite south Indian recipes
First published Oct. 9, 2011. Updated and re-published on April 6, 2025.
divya says
look so yummy, just perfect.
Manasi says
I had heartd of this but I usually make 'kande pohe' at home, i should ry this!
Vaishali says
Richa, yeah, I like the nuts too for the higher protein content.'
Kalyani, Sharmilee, Manju, Priya, thanks!
Usha, the only thing most people go wrong with is soaking the aval, really. I just soak it first thing before I start on the rest of the recipe and it's perfect each time.
Usha says
Yum! I like this upma too. I make regular upma and the puffed rice upma. This beaten rice (aval) upma always fails me.
Priya says
My fav upma anytime,super inviting..
Manju says
love love love aval upma! I made Amma make some when she was here a few months ago 🙂
Sharmilee! :) says
Anytime comfort snack perfect with tea
Kalyani's Platter says
upma looks delicious ........
Richa says
the upma looks delicious..u should do like a breakfast/snack round up!... some days i am out of ideas for savory breakfast.. the white rice gives me a carb high unless i add enough nuts in it.. then it becomes nuts poha or upma.. rather than rice:)
Richa @ Hobby And More Food Blog