Aloo Poha

Comfort food in a spoonful ~ Aloo Poha

Poha

Poha is flattened or beaten rice, is an easy-to-cook breakfast recipe. This type of flattened rice absorbs water and gets swollen which is then used to make the breakfast dish. There two varieties of flattened rice - thin and thick because of their thickness. Poha is also used in other snack items such as mixture or chiwda or many more.

Beaten rice also a convenience food to make a rice porridge or paste by adding hot water to it, depending on the amount of water added. The best poha could be found in Indore; at least that’s where I had the most mouth watering poha from street vendors. Hot steaming poha is prepared and kept warm over boiling water so that the hot moisture from the water can keep the poha warm and moist. Toppings such as onions, tomatoes, green chilies and more are kept on the side for people to add them as per needs.

Recipe:
2 cup poha
1 medium size aloo (potato) diced
1 onion chopped
1 green chili finely chopped or as per taste
1/4 cup dry peanuts
Cilantro for garnish
1/2 lime or lemon juice
Salt per taste
2 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp haldi (tumeric) powder
1 tsp red chili powder - optional
1/2 cup mutter(peas) - optional
Oil

Run cold water over poha, drain them and keep them aside. Meanwhile, heat oil in a pan, preferably non-stick, add mustard seeds and let it splutter. Add onions, green chilies and saute. Add the potatoes & peanuts, mix well and let it cook. Lift the poha with your hands and fluff it. Add haldi powder, salt to the poha and mix. The reason to add the spices to poha directly is because if you add the spices to the pan and then add the poha , you need to mix well to blend the spices with the poha but you do not want to over work it and break the poha. By adding the spices directly to the poha, and gently tossing it, the poha gets well coated. Now throw it into the pan and mix gently. Add lime juice, chopped cilantro. Serve as is or with an extra zing of spicy Bhujia .This is what I call as “Comfort food in a spoonful.”

Poha - the comfort food for breakfast