Thin poha (or thin beaten rice) Chivda aka snack in english

When we say snack in India, we get the visuals of lots of different home made Chivdas (mix). There are so many different varieties of them. Corn flakes, Puffed rice flakes (chirmura, murmura), beaten rice flakes, Sago (sabudana) and the list is endless. I am sure different states would be making snacks in different styles from these very primary ingredients. I am going to share the very basic Chivda made from beaten rice thin flakes. This one is quick, there is no deep frying involved, so its a guilt free snack and I love it.

Ingredients:

Thin poha pack from Indian
grocery store

1. Thin poha 2 lbs, get this in any Indian grocery store.
2. Peanuts 1/2 cup
3. Roasted Chana daal - 1/2 cup
4. Sesame seeds - 1 tbsp
5. Dry coconut flakes
6. Green chilies 3-4, depending upon how hot they are and your liking, chopped horizontally
7. Salt and sugar as per taste
8. Oil - 3-4 tbsp.
9. Curry leaves - 10-12
10. Mustard seeds and cumin seeds each 1 tbsp\
11. Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
12. Asafoetida or "hing" - a pinch
13. Cashew-nuts - 1 tbsp (optional)

Have all the ingredients ready in a plate as you would need them quickly during making of the chivda.

Method:

1. First you have to roast the thin poha, so that they become crisp. To do this, simple put the poha a little at a time in a microwave safe bowl. Heat for 30 seconds and then mix the poha and heat again for 30 seconds. Try a little to make sure they are crisp. You will definitely feel the difference between undone and done poha flakes. If not may be you need to heat them 30 seconds more.

2. After this, heat oil in a pan and once heated add mustard seeds. When they splutter add hing, cumin seeds, curry leaves, Add peanuts, mix it well, Then add chana daal, mix and after few seconds add coconut, cashews, chilies and sesame seeds. Peanuts take more time than coconut to turn red. Make sure you are not turning any one ingredient more red or they will not taste as good.

3. Once coconut are red, add turmeric powder, salt, sugar , mix it for few seconds until l salt and sugar dissolve a bit.

4. Add the poha and mix everything properly, All the white poha  flakes should get covered with the oil mixture so that it taste evenly. Mix for a while on a low flame. Adjust sugar and salt as per taste and the poha chivda is ready.

Tips:

1. You can give this as a snack for kids in school
2. This makes an excellent tea time snack, make sure you top it with chipped onion.
3. You can also make this in Diwali.

Hridhaans 2nd Birthday Cake !!!

Birthday decoration is no fun, but I am always excited to decorate the cake. I feel taking this extra effort is a way to convey your love to your kid. I am sure like me you and many other moms feel the same. :)


Here are some pictures of his 2nd birthday cake.


First one is a simple birthday cake pendant. I got some pendant free prints online. Used some threads to put them together and the barbeque skewers to tie them too. It was fun to make this one. So many things you can hand in there. Animal cut outs, photos, numbers etc.







2) Here is the cake I decorated. Simple isn't it. I got wilton's butter cream and used it to top the cake.
Then added some food colors, used the plastic bags and decorating tips to decorate the border and the dots on the cake. In the middle I used the sprinkles to make the number 2. I used a paper cutting for the number 2, placed it on top of the cake and then sprinkled to get that number. I think its super easy trick :). You can do it with dried colored coconut flakes too or different kinds of sprinkles.







This time we celebrated the birthday by going to a Zoo. What else a 2 year old need anyways ;)