Poha - The Perfect Breakfast

Poha is the ultimate Indian breakfast which is good enough to keep your tummy full till lunch! I love it so much that I make this 4 times a week. All the ingredients are easily and readily available at all Indian/ Asian stores.

Poha is flattened rice - You can get it any Indian Grocery near you. Red chili powder used in the recipe is Kashmiri Red chili powder (Can be bought at any Indian/ Asian store ) which adds color to the food and is very low on spice level.

Let’s get started. The following recipe makes 1 serving:

1. Take 1 cup poha and rinse it water. Keep it aside for a minute or two and then drain the water. Mix the soaked poha so that they don't form clusters. Keep the poha aside.
2. In a pan heat 2 tbsp oil. Once the oil is nice and hot add the raw peanuts. Once the peanuts are nicely shallow fried remove them from the pan and keep them aside.
3. Using the same oil add some mustard seeds. (This is optional) Once the mustard seeds start popping add cumin and a pinch of Hing ( asafoetida) to this. Again, hing is optional. Hing has a beautiful strong aroma and has great medicinal properties helping digestion etc.
4. Add curry leaves and finely chopped green chilies and let it stir fry for a minute.
5. Add 1 finely chopped onion and add a pinch of salt which will help the onion cook faster.
6. Once the onion is nicely cooked and the rawness of onion is gone, add 1 tomato.
7. Mix well and let it cook for few minutes.
8. Add Salt as per taste, red chili powder 1 tbsp., turmeric powder – ½ tbsp, cumin/ coriander powder 1 tbsp (optional). Mix well and add the peanuts to this mixture and let it cook for few minutes.
9. While this mix is getting cooked, add a pinch of turmeric, red chili powder, salt and 1 tbsp sugar to the soaked poha and mix it well
10. Add the poha to our onion tomato mixture, mix it well and let it cook for another minute or two
11. Add Coriander leaves. Taste the poha and add salt if needed
12. For extra crunch and taste – buy ‘Haldiram Bhujiya Sev’ from Indian store and add it to the Poha. Taste it first, not everyone has a taste for this.