There are many preparations and recipes for Poha, or flattened rice. These dry flakes are used for various Indian snacks such as chivda or in desserts like poha with sweetened milk. In this recipe poha is washed gently and fluffed up to make a soft and savory dish sometimes known as Batata Powa or Kanda Poha. This particular preparation has roots from the state of Maharashtra, but is very popular all over India. It is a great breakfast dish that can be made on a jiffy or perfect tea time snack when you want a little more flavor in your life.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
Poha (thick variety) – 2 cups
Salt – to taste
Lime/Lemon Juice – 1 Tbsp or to taste
Sugar – to taste (optional)
Oil – 2 Tbsp
Mustard Seeds – 1/2 tsp
Whole Dry Red Chili – 1
Asofoetida (Hing) – 1/8 tsp
Turmeric Powder – 1/2 tsp
Curry Leaves – 1 sprig
Peanuts – 2 Tbsp
Onion – 1/2 medium (approx 150g) – diced
Green Chili – to taste, finely chopped
Potato – 1 large (approx 200g) – diced
Cilantro (Coriander Leaves) – finely chopped for garnishing
Method:
1. Gently rinse Poha with water about 2-3 times.
2. Drain out the water and sprinkle Salt and Lemon Juice (and optional sugar). Gently mix with a fork and leave aside.
3. Heat Oil in a medium non-stick pan on medium heat.
4. Add Mustard Seeds and let them pop.
5. Add Dry Red Chili, Asafoetida, Turmeric Powder, Curry Leaves and Peanuts.
6. Cook peanuts for 30-40 seconds and add Onions and Green Chilies.
7. Cook onions for 1-2 minutes until translucent and add Potatoes and Salt.
8. Mix well, cover and cook potatoes until tender but not mushy.
9. Fluff up Poha with a fork and add it to the pan.
10. Mix well. Sprinkle with a little water if Poha have dried out too much.
11. Garnish with chopped Cilantro and serve hot.
Thank you . It Helps me a lot
Your way of writing recipes is Awesome…its just step by step so people like me who does not know how to cook! Can easily follow the steps..and i would request you to publish more esily recipes so that i dont have to go outside for my meal…Plzz Recipe which are rich in proteins.
Thnx 🙂
for how much time poha can b kept.i mean after frying it ??
can i prepare it and keep inside a box and eat whenever i want ?
Hi Vivek,
You can make it and ofcourse, it is best had fresh but it can be stored in the fridge also. To re-heat, sprinkle a little water and re-heat in the microwave, covered OR take a paper-towel, dampen it and spread that of the poha and heat.
Hi Hetal and Anuja,
i want to make Poha in the next time.
But i have “Poha medium” at home. Is that kind of poha ok for this recipe?
Please give me a answer. Thank´s
Hi Reni,
Yes, either medium or thick will work for this recipe. Do not buy the thin or nylon variety.
I have made poha many times, but always after soaking poha in water for 5 minutes and then draining.
This time, I rinsed the poha and drained out the water immediately. After letting the drained poha sit for about 15 minutes, I added them to the remaining ingredients and cooked them on very low heat for about 10 minutes.
Verdict: The poha lacked the softness that I get by letting them soak for 5 minutes. I had to sprinkle some water several times (and taste the poha several times too) to get the necessary softness of the poha.
Yes, you do need to sprinkle water during the cooking process to maintain the softness of the poha. Many times, people are forgetful while trying to soak the poha and end up oversoaking. This creates a bit of a mess so draining the water after washing helps to prevent these issues.
Hi Hetal & Anuja,
I was just looking for poha recipes and there u go to help me with ur marvelous recipes :). Gonna try this for tomorrow’s breakfast.
And also became a little curious to find out the size of your saute pan. Can u please let me know if u don’t mind?
Made this today. It was great!
I found that it’s best to let the Poha sit and dry for a little longer before cooking.
good job
boo hoo
This is truly delicious. I added one cup of cooked quinoa to the poha and stirred. Wonderful way of getting some added protein!
Thanks.
Hi Lana,
That is a wonderful suggestion…we’ll definitely have to try it out. Thanks!
I understand the recipe was posted long time but, but I just happened to see it lately. Just wanted to add a tip from my end. sprinkling grated coconut to poha at the end adds to the flavour and taste.
Hello Ladies!
I will be helping a group of college students prepare this dish for an International Dinner. We will be making enough for 90 people…any suggestions/tips for making this in a large quantity?? Thanks!
Hi Bobby,
Unless you have a pan big enough that will hold such a large quantity, I would suggest breaking it up in batches.
WOW this was pretty filling. I made it this morning and it came out great. I avoided potatoes as I’m a little careful of having lots of calories. Heads off to you ladies. GREAT JOB.
hello ladies,
you guys are awesome and i refer to your website whenever i need to look up a recipe.
Thank you for your website
Durga
Hi Hetal & Anuja,
What is the side dish for this recipe?
Hi Sulthana,
Poha is served either as a breakfast item or as a snack with afternoon tea. There really is no need for a side dish unless you want to serve it with some buttered toast for breakfast.
I just found a bag of poha thick without knowing what I was buying and then I found you ladies and I am so excited. Can’t wait to try your recipe.
Hi Hetal and Anuja,,,
I have tried lots of recepices which u taught like gobi manchurian, kaju katli etc… They were awesome.. I hope u both keep on showing such delicious recepies
Thanks for the feedback Sheetal! Glad you are finding SMTC useful!
Hi
Were the peanuts you used in the recipe raw?
Hi Pavithra,
You can use either raw or roasted peanuts. The only difference is that you have to let the raw peanuts cook for a bit longer in the oil than the roasted ones.
Hello Ladies !
You both r doing a very good job. I would like to give one suggestion that we can also use cummin seed instead of mustard seeds.
Do you know, how to make indori pohoa. I mean poha with steam.
I bought a packet of thick poha, and tried to make this recipe. As soon as I washed it, it turned to a thick sticky mush.I didn’t soak it, but just ran water all over it, and immediately it turned to mush. I tried a few times actually, but the same thing happened. What do you think is the reason?
Hi Jasmine,
Sounds like your Poha is old (…gets brittle and breaks up just by touch) or it was already crushed (needs to be kept and handled gently since it’s cooked and flattened)!
We suggest (if it’s not old and stale)…you can make kheer out of it. It’ll look a little different but atleast it won’t go waste. Now if there is stale flavor and smell to it – pl. do get rid of it 🙁
I will try to make kheer with it today. The poha doesn’t smell bad, but it is a little crushed as you stated.Thank you for the awesome idea
Loved it!!!Its easy and yummy!!
The best cooking website I have ever known…
Keep up the good work.
Hi Anuja,
Thanks for the immediate reply..
I will try with the veggies as u mentioned..
Hi Hetal,
I being a Jain ..Dont eat potatoes and onions..
Should I stick with same oil measurement in that case ?
Hi Bhavika,
You can substitute the Onions and Potatoes with other vegetables (carrots, beans, corn, peas etc). If you use the same amount of mixed veges as the amount of potatoes and onions in the recipe then you can use the same amount of oil.
The mixed veges mentionsed above is what I normally use for my family and they taste very good and also a little healthier.
hi,
how to add roasted peanut for this recipe.
Thanks
Tiya
Hi Tiya,
You can just put your roasted peanuts in the oil, but don’t cook them for too long before you add the other ingredients. Just give them a quick toss.
2 additions that made this even more brunchy:
1) Some light brown fried Urad Dal.
2) Well done scrambled eggs
Another lovely post!!! Way to go ladies!!! 🙂
What about that final sprinkling of a tbsp of sugar…that’s what I love most about the Gujju way of preparing Bataka Poha…adds a blast of flavor.
Thanks for posting one of my favorite Gujju dishes!
TGP
hi,
can u suggest me which potato is best for cooking indian dishes (white or red)…..
I luv ur receipes simple and easy to cook…
byeeee
Russet potatoes or red potatoes work well for Indian cooking. Red potatoes are a little less starchy, so if you are concerned about starch you could use that.
I love bataka pova so do my dad and brother. but we call bataka pova in Gujarat because it has potatoes in it.
new comment is submiting, please wait a comment
This is what is coming up when we submit a comment.
Shouldn it be
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Just a information. Forgive me for pointing out.
Priya
Thanks for the feedback. We will send it to our development team to fix!
Hi Anuju & Hetal didi!
I bet u are mind readers. I got a packet of poha 1 month back and it is in the pantry still. I googled but was not ready to make it without a video.
I was thinking from last week that i would beg u to teah me how to make it. And the moment i checked my email now for ur subscriptions..i was so so excited!! Thanks!!! 🙂
Another sTuff..
Kindly inform ur website coder that when we submit a comment, it says ” wait a comment” Isnt it should be “wait a moment”? Just a information.
Dont mistake me. Im a coder/designer myself..not software though..ao it caught my site.
If rectified, kindly ignore. And sorry for it!
Last but not the least..love u both and thanks a million.
If only i could come to Dallas and thank u enough!!
love,
Priya
Priya, thank you for your feedback. We have sent it to our development team and we hope to have it fixed soon!
i bought thin variety of poha instead of thick accidently,
can you please tell me a method to use that for making this dish?
Deepa,
Thin is too thin to make this dish… you can instead make low fat chewda with it…
google for thin poha chewda and you will find tons of recipes! It doesnt need deep frying and is guilt free!
Hi Deepa,
Satya is right. The thin variety will turn to mush when you wet it. We have a video for poha chivda. Check it out.
https://34.233.61.50/2008/04/10/poha-chivda-a-snack-a-perfect-snack/
Hello,
I accidently got the thin variety once, but was successful in making poha using it. You do not wash thin poha. When the potatoes are cooked, turn your gas to very low simmer (if the gas is high, then poha will wilt), and then add poha, and just sprinkle with water until it is wet enough. Add salt, and let it cook in the steam with very low simmer. Also, you will need double quantity of thin poha.
Hi Newbee,
Thanks for posting your feedback regarding thin poha. We’re sure it will help others as well.
How funny….I was just thinking two days ago that you guys had not made this very simple but very tasty snack. Today as soon as I open up my email I notice a recipe for it. You guys are mind readers.
Now if only you can read my mind for all the other recipes I want to see…..hmmmm 😉
Pinal
No problem! We read your mind, and it’s coming up soon:)
can u make ras gulay
Hi Shabina,
You can use our ras malai recipe to make just the gullas. https://34.233.61.50/desserts/ras-malai-indian-dessert-recipe.html
so it is not necessary to soak poha, i can wash it and go on, right?Reply. and thanks for the wonderful receipe.
keep up your good works.
You are right. No soaking needed.