This savoury delight is made of beaten rice (flattened rice/poha/aval) and is a much enjoyed snack in my home. It is a traditional Maharashtrian dish that spices up in a very easy-to-cook manner. The quantities specified below can be altered to suit your palate.
What goes:-
- Beaten Rice/Rice Flakes - 1 Cup
- Mustard Seeds, Cumin Seeds - 1 tbsp
- Green Chillis - 2 - to taste (Finely chopped)
- Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
- Garlic - 5 to 6 pods - optional -crushed (i did not use)
- Curry leaves - 1 to 2 sprigs
- Groundnuts - 1/4 cup
- Dry Coconut slices - 1/4 cup
- Roasted Bengal Gram - a fistful
- Salt - to taste
- Cashews & raisins - 1/2 cup
- Coriander Powder - 1 tsp (optional)
- Oil - 1 tsp
How:-
Lightly roast the rice flakes in a pan till they are dry and crispy. In another pan add oil and allow mustard & cumin to splutter. Now add the turmeric powder, green chillis, garlic and the curry leaves. Stir for some time and then add the groundnuts, coconut and the rasted grams.
Add rice flakes along with salt and keep stirring continuously.
Finally add the nuts & raisins. Saute for some more time and remove from heat.
Serve hot or cold. Enjoy !
Aval also called as poha is flattened or beaten rice which is very easily digestible and can be cooked in a variety of ways. It can be eaten raw, soaked in milk or water and eaten as kanji(porridge) or cooked with tempered veggies. Many sweets with poha or also popular !
My liking for poha started only after spending a few years in Mumbai! Kanda means onion in marathi and they are a very popular dish of Maharashtra !
What i have made today is standard upma with onions & peas.Veggies of your choice can be added to further heighten the taste.
Ingredients:-
- Poha (flaked rice) - 2 cups
- Onion - 1 (chopped)
- Green Peas - 1 cup
- Cashewnuts - broken - to taste
- Groundnuts - to taste
- Ginger - a small piece (sliced)
- Green chillies - 2 (chopped) - to taste
- Asafoetida - a pinch or two
- Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp
- Mustard Seeds,Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
- Curry Leaves- a few
- coriander - a handful (for garnishing)
- Grated coconut ( for garnish) - optional
- oil/Butter - 1 tsp
- salt to taste
- Lemon juice 1 tsp
Here's how:-
Wash poha and drain water completely and leave aside .
Heat oil in a pan and let the mustard & cumin seeds splutter. Add asafoetida,green chillies,ginger,curry leaves and saute for some time. To this add cashewnuts and groundnuts and roast till golden brown. Now stir fry the onion till it turns translucent. Add peas (any any other veggies ) and let it cook for some time.
Add poha and mix well . Adjust salt if needed and give it a good toss on low flame.
Garnish with coriander, coconut and sprinkle lemon juice just before serving.
Serve it with any chutney or other choice acompaniments. I relish it with a cup of curd !
Enjoy !
Linking this to kurinji's event Announcement- Healthy Food !- Aval/Rice Flakes
Mumbai is synonymous with vibrant spirits, welcoming people, amazing monsoon and of course yummy food. It is a potpourri of various types of cuisine and has awesome street food at roadside stalls as well as the scrumptious dishes at the classy restaurants. Having spent a few years in mumbai i literally binged on the road side food and fondly remember those happy times every now n then---- Tawa Pulao is one such street food of which am a huge fan! To spice up the rice n vegetables Pav Baji Masala is used and a few road side vendors also add red chilli powder or garam masala/kitchen king. This dish is also perfect if you have left over rice and the makeover it gets will have people asking for more !!
I served Tawa Pulao with Pomegranate Raita and the dish was a complete knockout-----
What goes:-
- Boiled Rice - 1 large cup
- Tomato - 2
- Onion - 1 to 2
- Carrot,Potato- 1 cup
- Capsicum - 1/2 cup
- Green peas ( fresh/frozen) - handful
- Cardamom- 2 to3 pods
- Mace - a little
- Cloves - 3
- Fennel seeds - 1 tsp
- Ginger-garlic paste - 1 tsp
- Pav Bhaji Masala - 2 tsp
- Garam Masala or Kitchen King Masala - 1 tsp (optional)
- Lemon juice - 1tsp
- Finely chopped coriander leaves - For garnish
- Butter - 1 to 2 tbsp
- Salt - as per taste
How did i do it:-
Boil the sliced carrots/potatoes/green peas n set aside.
Wash rice well and drain.Cook rice in a pot or pressure cooker and keep aside.
Heat butter in a kadai or a heavy bottomed pan, add fennel seeds and as they splutter, add mace, cloves and the seeds of cardamom along with ginger-garlic paste and saute well.
Add sliced onions, and saute till they turn translucent.
Add chopped tomatoes along with salt and let it cook for a while. Now add Pav Bhaji Masala and cook till oil separates.
Add the boiled vegetables and let the mix simmer for a while so that the vegetables absorb the spice.
Add chopped capsicum and cook till done.Finally add cooked rice,lemon juice, salt, garam masala / kitchen king masala and mix them all in low heat
Garnish with chopped coriander and Serve hot with pomegranate Raita
Sending this to Torview's Food Palette- Red Event
I know am jumping in to the bandwagon of doing a recipe blog!!!! But the temptation is too hard to resist----- Today i made Pav Baji , a popular Maharashtrian dish. The speciality about this dish is it can be had as breakfast, lunch or dinner. Yes that makes it an all round, wholesome dish. One thing about this dish is that it can be made in so many ways and the dish come out yummylicious as always.
Ingredients--- onion (finely chopped ), tomatoes (finely chopped ).,mixed vegetables like-------potatoes, green peas, capsicum, carrot, beans, cauliflower diced.Boil all the cut vegetables and mash them finely.
Spices----- Turmeric Powder (a pinch) Ginger - Garlic Paste ( 1 tsp each), Red chili powder (as per taste ), Pav Baji powder ( 1-2 tsps). For those who cannot get the pav baji powder in the market, garam masala powder will serve the purpose just as well
Preparation of the dish----
In a big wok, add some butter,just as it melts add the finely cut onions and saute it to a golden brown. For those running short on time onions and tomatoes can be pureed to speeden up.Now add the turmeric powder, ginger garlic paste and bring it to a nice stir. Let them be in the pan till the fragrance of the ginger garlic paste blends with the onions.
Now add the tomatoes and salt to the wok and let it cook and simmer.
After the mix simmers considerably, add the pavbaji masala/ garam masala and the red chilli powder and bring to a boil.Now add the mashed vegetables and let it cook on a lowflame till the gravy thickens. garnish it with finely chopped onions, green chillis and coriander leaves. 
For the pav---- Fresh Pav Bun from the market along with this gravy is a heavenly experience. Grease the pav with butter and put it on a tava to make it crunchier.
To make the Baji very very authentic, the vegetables should blend with the gravy as much as possible. Use masher to keep on mashing the whole gravy as it simmers
Bite in to the pav baji and forget the caloriesssss
YUMMMMMMMM !!!
