Kanda Poha - Pressed rice with tempering of Onions and Mustard seeds

Kanda Poha

Pressed rice with tempering of onions and mustard seeds

Poha is a typical breakfast in Maharashtra and many parts of UP and MP. Healthy and tasty and very quick to make, it’s perfect for breakfast especially when you got very less time to cook and eat it! This can be made in a lot of variants, kanda poha or poha with onions being the most common and popular.

Pohe or poha is a snack made of flattened rice. Flattened rice (also called beaten rice) is dehusked rice which is flattened into flat light dry flakes. These flakes of rice swell when added to liquid, whether hot or cold, as they absorb water, milk or any other liquids. The thicknesses of these flakes vary between almost translucently thin (the more expensive varieties) to nearly four times thicker than a normal rice grain.

Flattened rice 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. The lightly fried variety is a standard breakfast in Malvaa region (surrounding Indore) of Madhya Pradesh. It can be reconstituted with hot water to make a porridge or paste, depending on the proportion of water added. In villages, particularly in Chhattisgarh, Poha or Chivra is also eaten raw by mixing with jaggery

In Indore, poha is cooked with lightly frying mustard seeds, turmeric, chili powder, finely chopped onions and then moistened poha is added to the spicy mix and steamed for a few minutes. Jalebi is often eaten with poha.

Flattened rice is in a way, a convenience food and very similar to Bread in usage ( in making breading for meat or for adding crunch) .

Ingredients

Onions, chopped 2 medium

Pressed rice (poha) thick variety 400 grams

Salt to taste

Oil 2 tbsp

Mustard seeds 1 teaspoon

Asafoetida a pinch

Curry leaves 6-7

Peanuts 1 tbsp, 20-30 nuts

Green chillies, chopped 2-3

Turmeric powder ½ teaspoon

Lemon juice 2 teaspoon

Fresh coriander leaves, chopped 2 tablespoons

Kanda poha

Method

• Wash the poha in a colander.
• Poha should be moist but not mashed.
• Heat oil in a pan.
• Add mustard seeds and when they splutter add asafoetida and curry leaves.
• Sauté for half a minute and add onions and continue to sauté.
• Add green chillies and mix.
• Add turmeric powder and mix. Sauté for two minutes and add poha.
• Mix and cook till poha is heated through and looks uniform.
• Add lemon juice and mix lightly. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with tea!

Chef Tip: You can also sprinkle some sev or alu bhujia for garnishing. Boiled potatoes or shredded coconut can also be added when adding poha.