Name: Roasted Poha Chivda
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 25 min
Yield: 2 servings
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients: 1 cup Flattened Rice, thin, patla poha (crucial to use THIN poha); 2¾ tbsp Peanuts, raw; 1¼ tbsp Roasted Bengal Gram, daliya / phutana; ⅔ tbsp Dried Coconut, cut into thin slices (kopra); ⅔ tbsp Cashews, halved; 5 Curry Leaves, washed and dried completely; 1 Green Chili Pepper, finely chopped; ⅓ tsp Mustard Seeds; ⅛ tsp Ground Turmeric; ⅛ tsp Asafoetida; ⅓ tbsp Powdered Sugar, essential for the sweet-salty balance; ⅓ tsp Salt, to taste; ⅔ tbsp Cooking Oil, for tempering and roasting nuts

25 mintotal

Prep 10 min · Cook 15 min

Serves: 2
Difficulty: Easy
Spice: Mild

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Method

Set a large, heavy-bottomed kadhai over the lowest possible heat. Add the thin poha. Dry-roast it lightly for 5-7 minutes, stirring constantly. The flakes should curl and turn fragile and crisp without colouring at all. Tip them out onto a wide tray.
5–7 min
Inject the specified cooking oil into the same kadhai, driving it to a medium thermal state. Submerge the raw groundnuts, panning them consistently until they trigger audible pops and radiate a deep golden hue.
Introduce the desiccated coconut slices and cashew halves. Sauté rapidly for a targeted 60 seconds until the coconut perimeters assume a crisp, pale brunette finish.
1 min
Add the roasted chana dal (daliya). Fry it for just 30 seconds to freshen its crunch; any longer and it burns. Push the nuts and dal out to the edges of the pan.
30 sec
In the oil in the middle of the pan, let the mustard seeds pop. Add the asafoetida (hing), finely chopped chillies and the fully dried curry leaves straight away. Fry hard until the leaves are bone-dry and brittle, since any moisture left will stop the chivda keeping.
Turn the heat right down to its lowest. Add the turmeric powder and salt. Mix the spiced nuts and dal together evenly.
Tip the crisp poha back into the pan. Using two spatulas, toss it with a light lifting motion so every fragile flake picks up the golden spiced oil without breaking up.
Turn off the heat completely. Scatter the powdered sugar evenly over the pan and give it one last fold.
Enforce a total ambient cooldown. The chivda will achieve peak crispness only upon reaching room temperature. Secure immediately within a hermetically sealed environment.

How to tell it's done

An incredibly light, shattering, and airy crunch from the thin poha, contrasted by the dense snap of fried peanuts, lentils, and rich coconut slices.

Getting it right

Tip

The curry leaves and chillies must be fried until absolutely crisp with zero moisture left. Any residual water in them will transfer to the poha and turn the entire jar soggy within a day.

What to serve it with

The quintessential jar snack. Enjoy it dry with your evening tea, or add chopped raw onions and tomatoes right before eating for a quick Bhel vibe.

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