Thoda Namkeen Naashta

Welcome back my fellow foodies,

I hope you all had an amazing weekend and made as much as y’all could during this quarantine period. For our first recipe blog we have picked something that every Indian household loves and, enjoys-POHA!!

Poha is a digestible form of parboiled rice which is very popular across India, Nepal and Bangladesh, and is normally used to prepare snacks or light and easy fast food in a variety of Indian food styles. Poha can be eaten raw by immersing it in plain water or milk, with salt and sugar to taste, or lightly fried in oil with nuts, raisins, cardamoms, and other spices. In Maharshtra, flattened rice is cooked with lightly fried Mustard seeds,Turmeric , green chilli, finely chopped onions, and most importantly with fried peanuts and then moistened flattened rice is added to the spicy mix and steamed for a few minutes.

This is a snack that was there in India before cornflakes. Its traditionally an Indian snack. I am one of those people who remembers waking up early morning and having poha before school . Poha originated in Maharashtra , It's a light snack made from flattened rice and became very popular when the army troops started using it for its light and easy availability, they were sent to their station with bags of flattened rice, which they used to make poha. Today I will share a special recipe with you of poha that was handed down to me by my mother.

It's guaranteed to make savory and mouth watering poha. that will leave a citric after- taste. The secret is the combination of the right amount of ingredients and love

Poha recipe

Preparation Time - 10 minutes

Cook Time - 10 minutes

Servings - 2

INGREDIENTS:-

Oil - 1 1/2 tbsp

Mustard seeds (sarason beej) - 3/4

Cumin seeds (jeera) - 3/4

Curry leaves (kareeb patte) - 1 sprig

Green chillies (hari mirch) - 2 to 3

Onion (pyaaj) - 1

Tumeric (haldi) - 1/4 tsp (add more colour if needed)

Poha(Flattened rice) - 1 1/2 cups

Lemon juice - as needed

Sugar (cheenee/shakkar) - 1/2 tsp

Salt (namak) - as per requirement

Coriander (for garnish)

Grated Coconut (for garnish)

Lemon wedges - 1 no

METHOD:-

Preparation

1.To make poha, choose medium to thick flakes. Avoid thin flakes. Add them to a bowl or a strainer or colander.

2.Pour 4 to 5 cups of water and rinse them quickly. Drain the water completely. I rinse them twice.

3.Cover and set aside to soften. Meanwhile prepare the veggies.

4.Press a few flakes of poha in between your thumb and forefinger, they should be soft and break easily. If they don't, then sprinkle little water, mix and cover.

5.When they turn soft enough, add some sugar and salt. Run your fingers through the poha to break the lumps & spread salt.

How to make poha ???

1.Heat a pan with oil , add mustard and cumin. When they begin to pop, add onions, curry leaves and green chilies. 2. Saute until the onions turn lightly pink. Add turmeric and poha, Mix well then add salt ,sugar and cover the pan. 3. Cook on a very low flame until it turns hot. Turn off the heat and taste it. Add more salt if needed and squeeze lemon juice. 4. Garnish poha with coriander leaves & roasted peanuts. You may top with sev or farsan or fresh coconut. Serve hot with chai!!!!

I recommend all of y’all to try this recipe out for breakfast and on Saturday we will be back to cover lunch *winks*