Cover Story:Namkeen Poha/ Aval Chiwda
Festival welcomes all your friends at home with gifts and sweets. So what you need to serve them is a quick time snack which is fresh, crisp, crunchy, sweet, savoury and mildly spiced mixture made with rice flakes or poha, dry fruits and spices with tea or soft drinks.
Cuisine: Maharashtrian
Ingredients
- 8 1 cup red or white poha/aval/flattened rice
- 8 1/2 cup peanuts
- 8 1/2 cup roasted chana
- 8 1/2 cup cashews/ kaju
- 8 1/4 cup chopped dry coconut slices (optional)
- 8 2 tbsp golden raisins
- 8 10-12 curry leaves/ kadi patta
- 8 1/4 tsp mustard seeds/ rai
- 8 1/2 tsp cumin seeds/ jeera
- 8 1 tsp white sesame seeds/ safed til
- 8 1/4 tsp red chili powder/ lal mirch powder
- 8 1/4 tsp turmeric powder/haldi
- 8 A generous pinch of asafoetida/ hing
- 8 1 tsp sugar or as required
- 8 1 tsp oil for tempering
- 8 Salt as required
- 8 Oil for deep frying
Method
- First rinse the curry leaves, cashews and raisins.
- Dry them in a clean kitchen towel.
- Measure all the ingredients and keep them separately in a plate or bowl.
- Heat oil for deep frying in a kadhai or wok.
- Take a fine sieve with a handle.
- Place half of the poha or rice flakes in it.
- Immerse the sieve with the poha in the medium hot oil.
- Fry till they expand and become crisp. Don't brown them.
- Remove the fried poha on a plate lined with paper towel.
- Place the sieve on a dry plate. Add the remaining poha in it.
- Again keep the sieve with the poha in the hot oil and fry till they are crisp.
- Drain them in the same plate.
- Add the chana dal in the sieve and fry them for some seconds till they become crisp. Drain on another plate.
- In the same way fry the peanuts, cashewnuts, raisins, coconut slices and curry leaves.
- Keep all of them separately in a same plate or in separate plates or bowls, lined with paper towels.
- Heat 1 tsp in another pan. Add the mustard seeds. Let the mustard seeds pop.
- Then add the cumin and sesame seeds. Let the sesame seeds pop and change color.
- Switch off the flame. Add the turmeric powder, red chili powder, asafoetida. Stir and now add sugar and salt.
- Stir and switch on the flame and add all the fried ingredients – poha, peanuts, raisins, cashews and chana dal.
- Crush the fried and crisp curry leaves and add them to the mixture.
- Stir well and roast for 2-3 minutes on a low flame.
- Check the taste and then add more salt or sugar or red chili powder if required.
- Let the chivda mixture cool and then store in an air-tight box and container.
Serve the poha chivda as a tea time snack.
