You Need:

• Poha/chiwra (flattened rice) – 1 cup
• Onions – 3 medium
• Carrots – 3
• Green chili – 1
• Black pepper corns – 15
• Coriander leaves – 1 small bunch
• Salt – to taste
• Cumin seeds – 1/2 teaspoon
• Oil – 1 tablespoon

How To Make Carrot Poha:

Wash chiwra in several changes of water till the water runs clear.

The technique/timing for washing chiwra depends on the variety of chiwra you’re using. Some varieties turn to mush in the blink of an eye and must be washed and drained really quickly just before being cooked. Other sturdier varieties, like the kind I use, need a few minutes of standing time after being washed and drained.

Peel and chop onions finely.

Mince green chili. Coarsely grind black pepper corns.

Scrape and grate carrots. Chop coriander leaves.

In a non-stick pan, heat a tablespoon of oil. Add cumin seeds and when they splutter, add chopped onions and coarsely ground pepper. Cook on medium-high heat till onions turn translucent.

Add grated carrots and minced green chili. Continue to cook on medium-high heat, stirring regularly.

When the carrots are no longer raw, add chiwra and salt. Stir well and cook on low heat, stirring every other minute. After 10 minutes, add chopped coriander leaves. Continue to cook carrot poha on low heat for another 5-10 minutes, till the chiwra grains turn slightly crisp.

Serve hot. Carrot poha is great for breakfast or as an evening snack with tea.

Notes:

Want to try some other recipes using chiwra? Check out the chiwra recipe gallery on The Steaming Pot. If it’s the carrots that interest you, try a range of tastes: a raw and sweet orange carrot juice, a savory aloo gajar ki sabzi, or a spicy jhatpat achari gajar

The post Carrot Poha appeared first on The Steaming Pot.

Flattened rice, called chura in Bihar and chiwra/poha in other parts of north India, is a popular snack ingredient in east India. Shallow-fried and eaten with peas, it becomes a teatime munchie – chura mattar. Soaked and stir-fried with peanuts/vegetables, it is poha – that’s right, we call it by that name in Bihar only when it is cooked.

This recipe goes by the name ‘dahi chura’ – not ‘dahi poha’ – as there is no cooking involved.

Now that the semantics are sorted out, on to the “recipe” if you can call it that. Putting together a bowl of dahi chura is the easiest thing in the world. It is as easy as cornflakes. You just mix things and eat them.

Hang on, don’t dismiss the dish as ordinary just yet. Dahi chura has festive significance. Makar Sankranti – the day on which the sun moves into makar (Capricorn) by the Hindi calendar – is celebrated in Bihar with eating copious amounts of dahi chura. So much so that in place of the greeting "Happy Makar Sankranti", it is usual to say "Happy dahi chura".

You Need:

[per serving]

• Chura (flattened rice) – 1/2 cup (the thin variety, if available)
• Dahi (plain homemade yogurt) – 1 cup
• Fresh fruit (mangoes, bananas, apples) – 1/2 cup, cubed
• Milk – 2 teaspoons
• Jaggery/honey – to taste

How To Make Dahi Chura:

Wash chura well in a couple of changes of water. Drain completely let the chura soak in 2 teaspoons of milk for 15 minutes. This is assuming you’re using the "Patna" variety (i.e. the thin variety) of chura. If using broad chura, reduce the soaking time. 

You’ll know chura is ready to be eaten when you can mash a moist flake with gentle pressure of thumb and forefinger.

Whip yogurt well with honey or jaggery. Mix together with chura.

Add cubed fresh fruit.

Dig in.

FAQ:

Q1. Dahi chura vs. chura dahi: what is the difference?

A1: The same as the difference between ‘aloo gobhi’ and ‘gobhi aloo’. Thumb rule: put the ingredient with greater volume first in the name, or call it whatever rolls off your tongue more easily.

Q2. Can I add sugar instead of honey/jaggery?

A2. Yes but if you ask me, honey/jaggery pair better with dahi chura.

Q3. What other accompaniments can I serve this with?

A3. The Sankranti tradition is to serve dahi chura with tilkut, a disc-shaped sweet made of pounded sesame seeds and sugar or jaggery.

Notes:

After dahi chura for Makar Sankranti breakfast, it’s a time-honored ritual to feast on khichdi for lunch.

Also check out other Bihari recipes on The Steaming Pot.

The post Dahi Chura, a Makar Sankranti Special appeared first on The Steaming Pot.

Note: for an easier South-style poha recipe, see : potato peanut poha with curry leaves.]

You Need:

[Serves 4-5]

• Poha/chiwra (flattened rice) – 1.5 cups [buy here]
• Carrots – 1 or 2
• Peas – 1 cup, shelled (we used frozen)
• Spring onion with greens – 100 grams
• Potato – 1, boiled
• Red onion – 1
• Green chili – 1
• Black pepper – to taste
• Salt – to taste
• Mustard seeds – 1 teaspoon
• Vegetable oil – 1.5 tablespoons
• Coriander leaves – for garnishing

How To Make Vegetable Poha with Peas, Carrots and Spring Onions:

1. Scrape and dice

Scrape the carrots, skin the boiled potato. Cut carrots and potato into 1cm cubes.

Thaw the peas if frozen.

Chop green chili, onions, spring onion and spring onion greens.

2. Prep the poha

Wash poha in 2-3 changes of water, till the water is clear. Drain.

Note: The timing of this step depends on the variety of poha being used. Broad poha tends to get mushy if left moist for even a couple of minutes. Thin/hard poha needs some moist time before being cooked.

If using broad poha, wash just before adding the poha to the pan. If not, wash 5-10 minutes before adding it to the pan.

In the picture above (from top-left clockwise): poha, carrot cubes, a couple of peas, boiled potato,  chopped onion, spring onion and spring onion greens.

3. Cook

Heat oil in a kadhai or wok. When hot, splutter mustard seeds. Add the onions and green onions; after 2 minutes add carrots and peas. Cook for 5 minutes on medium flame, turning occasionally.

Add potato cubes and spring onion greens. Cook for another couple of minutes.

Mix salt and pepper with the poha. Add it to the cooked vegetables in the kadhai. Cook on medium-high flame, stirring every minute, for 5 more minutes.

To Serve:

Ladle onto individual bowls. Dot vegetable poha with ketchup/green chili sauce, sprinkle chopped coriander and Bikaneri bhujia. Serve immediately.

A more recent pic:

Notes:

Try other savory breakfast recipes:

The post Vegetable Poha with Peas, Carrots, Spring Onions appeared first on The Steaming Pot.

Learn how to make this delectable sweet  packed with nutrition, with no added oils, no processed sugars. And vegan to boot.

The first thing to take care of is to use the freshest, best-quality ingredients. Before you go ‘Duh, why would I use stale, poor-quality ingredients’ let me explain with an example. When you’re making toast, the absolute freshness of bread is not critical. Most taste buds can’t tell the difference between bread baked today or yesterday when you’re having it in the form of toast. But say you’re making sandwich with untoasted bread – now freshness matters a great deal.

So it is with tomatoes in dal vs tomatoes in salad, bananas in banana bread vs bananas in banana milkshake, green chilies in tadka vs green chilies in pickle.

The thumb rule to follow:

The lesser the cooking involved in the recipe, the more the need to pick the best ingredients.

If you always have fresh ingredients on hand, more power to you. If like me you need to plan these things, pay special attention to the dates you put into bonbons. Skip the shriveled bunch you have in the fridge since over two months. Make a sweet chutney out of those; for coconut date bonbons get yourself a fresh pack of premium-quality dates. I use kimia dates for this recipe, which are moist and help in binding the bonbons.

You Need:

• Fresh coconut, grated – 1 cup
• Dates – 1 cup (more if you want it sweeter)
• Flattened rice (chiwra)* – 3/4 cup
• Almonds – 10
• Raisins – 1/4 cup

[Makes 9-10]

*Flattened rice (chiwra) not available? You could substitute it with rolled oats that don’t need cooking.

How To Make Coconut Date Balls:

Soak almonds in a cup of water for 6 hours or more. Skin and chop them into fine slivers.

Wash chiwra well, drain  and spread out to dry for 5 minutes.

In a non-stick wok, dry roast the chiwra on medium flame, stirring regularly till it is no longer moist (4-5mins). Add grated fresh coconut and stir fry for a minute.

Switch off the heat and mix finely chopped almond slivers and raisins.

[In the picture above: Roasted chiwra and grated coconut mixture, dates, soaked almonds and raisins.]

Deseed and chop the dates into tiny bits.

Mix chopped dates with the chiwra-coconut-almond-raisin mixture, kneading gently to blend all the ingredients well.

Shape the dough into small balls. Let them rest for an hour. Coconut date balls are now ready to eat.

Notes:

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The method of making crispy red poha is exactly the same as for white poha – the only difference with red poha is that it is a little less easy to figure out when the grains are cooked enough. With white poha, the color change to golden is a sure indicator. With red poha, the color is already dark when you start so you need to be more watchful. Red poha turns crisp and ready to eat in about 5-6 minutes. Take a little nibble to make sure.

Here is a closer-up picture of my evening snack of peas and crispy red poha. I cooked the peas as in this post.

The post Red Chura Bhuja: Crispy Red Poha with Peas appeared first on The Steaming Pot.

Red poha isn’t very easily available where I live but if you can get hold of it, grab it with both hands – it’s healthier than white. If you can’t find red poha, white poha will also do for this recipe.

You Need:

• Red flattened rice (poha) – 1 cup
• Potato – 1, boiled, peeled and cut into small cubes
• Peanuts – 1/2 cup, dry roasted
• Onion – 1 large, chopped fine
• Green chilies – 2, chopped fine
• Curry leaves – 6
• Mustard seeds – 1 teaspoon
• Turmeric powder – 1 teaspoon
• Salt – to taste
• Oil – 2 teaspoons

How To Make Potato Peanut Red Poha:

Wash the poha well in several changes of water, till the water becomes clear. Drain well and keep aside.

[Washed poha]

Heat the oil in a kadhai and splutter mustard seeds. Slide in the roasted peanuts and after a minute, the curry leaves and chopped green chilies. After another minute or two, when the curry leaves and green chilies begin to brown, add the chopped onions.

[Peanuts  are done; in go the onions]

Cook the onions till they turn translucent and then add the cubed boiled potatoes. Cook for 5 minutes, turning occasionally.

Sprinkle salt and turmeric powder, mix and add the poha. Turn around gently so that the poha does not become mushy. Cook covered for another 6-8 minutes, stirring carefully every other minute – by the end of it, the dish should be even in color.

Some poha is most likely going to stick to the base of the pan. Don’t be in a rush to scrape it. When the dish is done, switch off the fire and let the container stand covered for five minutes. When you open the lid, the poha will come off easily.

To Serve:

Sprinkle a tablespoon of lime juice and chopped coriander leaves (I was out of coriander today so my pictures don’t have it, but they taste great with kanda poha), mix and serve immediately.

Notes:

Also try other poha recipes: carrot poha, peas and spring onion poha, or the cool dahi chura.

The post Potato Peanut Red Poha appeared first on The Steaming Pot.

What is chura, did you ask? Chura is the Bihari word for flattened rice, called chiwra elsewhere in north India. The better-known way of preparing chiwra is in its moistened form, as poha. Chura bhuja, in contrast, works on chiwra crisp and dry.

What is bhuja, did you ask? That is another Bihari word, meaning a dry roasted snack.

Chura bhuja can be had on its own but tastes best when paired with a mattar (peas) dish.

Here is a simple recipe. If you have the time and inclination you could prepare it as a full-fledged ghughni (curried peas) with onions and tomatoes.

You Need:

• Chura (flattened rice) – 1 cup [buy here]
• Peas – ~1 cup when shelled
• Green chili – 1, chopped
• Salt – to taste
• Amchoor/dry mango powder – a pinch [buy here]
• Vegetable or peanut oil – 1 tsp, for roasting the chura
• Mustard oil – 1 tsp, for cooking the peas

How To Make Chura Bhuja Mattar:

1. Make chura bhuja

Heat vegetable or peanut oil in a kadhai or pan. When the oil is hot, set heat to medium and slide the chura into it. Stir immediately so that the chura absorbs the oil evenly.

Keep moving the chura around while it cooks.

Take the pan off the heat when the chura begins to turn golden (around 5 minutes).

Spread to cool a bit, then mix salt.

3. Shallow-fry the peas

In a non-stick pan, heat mustard oil. Put in the green chili pieces.

When the chilies begin to turn color put in the peas and cook on low flame for 5-7 minutes, or till the peas are tender.

Mix amchoor powder, salt and cook for another couple of minutes.

To Serve:

In a bowl, put in equal quantities of chura bhuja and peas, side by side.

Chura bhuja with peas is ready to gorge on!

Serve as a snack with steaming hot tea.

Notes:

You could substitute white poha with red poha for a healthier variation of this recipe.

Want to try out more food from Bihar? Check out the posts on dahi chura, aloo chutney, nenua chana and more on recipes from Bihar.

Old pic:

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