Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Kaanda-Bataata-Pohé

As usual, a recipe (-) instructions (+) tips to let you know what I think is the best way to do it.

Ingredients:
  1. Pohé (rice flakes, 1 or 2 handfuls per serving)
  2. Onions (1/6th the amount of pohé)
  3. Potatoes (same as the onions or a little more)
  4. Green chillies (1 inch per serving)
  5. Ginger (1/2 or 1 inch block)
  6. Curry leaves (4 - 8 leaves)
  7. Turmeric powder (1 or 2 pinches)
  8. Mohri / Rai (mustard seeds, 1 or 2 pinches)
  9. Oil (I use groundnut oil, enough to fry the onions and potatoes)

Tip: Check the type of pohé you have. There are at least 3 kinds: thin, medium, and thick. This recipe requires the medium variety. However, the medium ones might be thinner than actually required, and if so, you'll need to soak them for only 1 or 2 minutes. If they are thick enough, you can soak them first, chop the onions, potatoes, and chillies, and then begin heating the oil.

Tip: Throw the chillies and curry leaves in first, add the onions, and then the turmeric powder so that it doesn't get burnt.

Tip: Sauté the onions for a minute, and then add the potatoes and stir until the turmeric is evenly spread.

Tip: Cover the mixture for a few minutes (while stirring in between) until the potatoes are soft enough.

Tip: Separate the pohé if they're chunked after soaking, and add them to the mixture. Stir until the turmeric powder is evenly mixed.

Tip: Cover for 1 or 2 minutes, stir once more, then cover again, and keep it on a low flame for another 30 secs - 1 min.


Serving tip: Enjoy them with a cup of hot Indian chai / cool chocolate milk / cold coffee. Good for those who simply can't gulp down dry morsels.

Garnishing: You can add shev (pronounced "shave" or sev ["save"] in Hindi).

Serving tip for the health conscious: Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and / or wet coconut meat.

Good for a morning or evening snack. We usually brunch on this.

5 comments:

i-me-moi said...

ahha i make this very often nowadays for an evening snack between meals ... breakfast remains a steady egg and toast

Pallavi Sharma said...

It's scrambled eggs and toast for us too, about twice a week these days! ez-pz :)

Pallavi Sharma said...

Thanks, Naval. I'll drop by sometime at the blogs you mentioned.

Rashmi Patel said...

ooo..reminds me of home...gujju version has sugar (:)) and a dash of lime.

kannada version has a bowl of curd and chatni pudi next to the plate..he he ...

Pallavi Sharma said...

Yes, I've had both versions. They're quite nice. I make the Gujju version too, sometimes, without the onions, but with chutney and lime. :)