Heat a pan and add sooji.
Roast the sooji on low flame for about 5 minutes while stirring continuously.
When the sooji has just started to turn light brown, add 1 tbsp ghee.
Roast the sooji on ghee for a couple of minutes while stirring continuously.
Add 2 cups of water. (Reduce the quantity if you're making the upma for older kids, who don't need runny upma. One cup water would be fine.)
Add red chili powder and salt, and stir properly. (You can use less or no red chili powder if your baby’s smaller or is not used to spicy food.)
Bring the sooji to a boil, then lower the flame and allow it to simmer till it reaches the desired consistency. For smaller babies, you will need to make the upma slightly runny.
Heat another pan.
Add ghee and immediately add jeera powder.
Stir the jeera powder for a minute, and then add haldi and hing.
Add mashed vegetables and stir for a minute. If you don’t have mashed vegetables ready with you and want to use fresh vegetables, boil them properly and then mash them finely or coarsely depending on your baby’s age.
Add the mashed vegetables to the cooked sooji and mix properly.
Add some homemade ghee to the upma before serving it.