Poha Chiwda | Aval Chivda | Easy Snack Recipes | Diwali Snacks

Poha Chivda or Poha Chivda is nothing but an Indian version of hot and sweet trial mix. It makes for a perfect tea time snack and the mild spiciness and the just right sweetness makes it a perfect pairing for your coffee or tea. You may share it with your partner over your tea table or if you are like me, put the kid to sleep, pull out your favorite cooking book and snuggle onto your couch with your personal cup of black tea and personal plate of chivda. I however prefer the latter.

I made this sometime back just before Diwali when I had little above half a cup of red poha and out of ideas on what to make with it. A phone call to the mother came to rescue and I got into business once the kid was up and playing on his own (which seldom happens). BTW, he is a BIG-TIME attention seeker and can never be by himself and his mom has to be his playmate 24/7. But that is what makes me happy these days. Watching him play, watching him grow, watching him do anything ~ I just can't get enough of it.

Prep Time: 10 mins; Cooking time: 20 mins; Serves - 2 ~*What U Need*~ Poha/Aval - 3/4 cup Peanuts - 1/4 cup Roasted chana dhal - 1/4 cup Cashews - 1/4 cps Black raisins - 2 tbsp Curry leaves - 1 sprig Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp Hing - 1/8 tsp Brown sugar - 1/2 tbsp Salt - to tast Oil for deep frying How I Made it: Measure all your ingredients and set aside. Heat oil in a kadai. When it is hot, add the poha and fry it. It should become crisp and will start floating in the oil. Drain and place in a kitchen towel. Similarly fry the peanuts, cashews, raisins, dhal and curry leaves and drain excess oil. Once it is warm to touch, take a large bowl, add all the fried items sprinkle hing, red chilli powder, salt and brown sugar and mix gently till evenly coated. Cool completely and store in an air tight container.

Serve as a tea time snack.

** My Notes:
** The oil should be very hot. When you drop the poha, it should fry and immediately come up.
** I used the red variety poha but you can use whatever you like.

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(Amma Cooks) Sweetened Aval Pori Mix | Easy Festival Recipes

With everyone getting geared up to celebrate Vinayagar Chathurthi (people in the other side of the world would have finished your celebrations but here we have just started with it), we (me and amma) thought that we could share some easy neivedhiyam recipes here. The first one was the kondakadalai sundal which is easy to make, diabetic friendly and a must for Vinayagar Chathurthi neivedhiyam. Next is this, a simple mix of aval, pori, vellam and kadalai just like a trial mix. All you need to do is measure, mix and serve. As simple as that. Its diabetic friendly too as you are not using sugar here and makes a simple tea time snack. I love this a lot and amma makes it a point to make this for every festival, not only for vinayagar chathurthi.

~*What U Need*~ Aval/Poha - 1 cup Roasted Channa dhal - 1/4 cup Pori - 1 cup Grated Jaggery - 1/2 cup Cardamom powder - a pinch How I Made it: Mix everything with a spoon. Flavor with cardamom powder.

Serve as neivedhiyam!!!

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Aval Payasam | Gokulashtami Recipes | Festival Recipes

Aval a.k.a poha payasam is part of the neivedhiyam kept for Lord Krishna on Gokulashtami. Before marriage amma used to make a simple sweet with poha, roasted gram and jaggery and that is what we kept for neivedhiyam alongside some butter. Amma has never made seedais till date and we have never asked for it. Thanks to all the maamis who lived near us, we had a non-stop supply of sweet and salt seedais for every gokulashtami and so amma never bothered making some.

Coming to this recipe, this payasam is so simple to make, thick, creamy and just right for that sweet cravings. I had the organic red rice beaten poha in hand and so used that but the thin white variety also works just fine. In fact amma tells that the thin variety suits best for this payasam. Also to make the payasam more creamy skip the sugar and replace it with sweetened condensed milk. If you are a health freak, then you can replace the sugar with jaggery or palm jaggery. I will be trying both ways and will update the blog once done.

~*What U Need*~ Aval / Red rice poha - 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp Sugar - 4 tbsp Milk - 2 cups Ghee - 1+1 tbsp Cardamom powder - a pinch Cashews - 4-5 Raisins - 10 How I Made it: Heat 1 tbsp ghee in a kadai, add the poha and fry till golden brown. Remove and set aside. In the same kadai, add another tbsp of ghee and fry the cashews and raisins, remove and set aside. Add milk and cook till reduced to 3/4th. Then add the poha and cook till reduced to half. Add sugar and cook for 3-5 mins. Add cardamom powder. Remove from flame and add the cashews and raisins.

Serve warm or cold!!!

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Poha Laddoos / Aval Laddoos | Diwali Sweet Recipes | Poha Recipes

Here comes another simple laddoo recipe out of my Diwali gift hampers that I sent out to friends and family. Unlike the dates choco laddoo that I made, these are not diabetic friendly. Its laden with ghee and has added sweeteners. I have used jaggery here but those not in favor of jaggery can use sugar but I feel jaggery gives a unique sweetness to the laddoo with compliments the ghee flavor beautifully. That being said, this is a good way to add beaten rice, jaggery and ghee to ur kids diet, all three when taken minimally has its own benefits.

We love to have this poha cereal for our morning breakfast. It has all the goodness in it and when you top it with nuts and bananas you get all the required proteins that your body needs. I usually use the thin variety of beaten rice to make this as when soaked in milk it becomes soft easily. This time when the huss was sent for grocery shopping, he came back with a 1 kg packet of the thick variety and worst of all he was not ready to go back to exchange it. And so the poha was lying in my pantry unused. When I was banging my head on how to put it into use, I thought of trying this simple laddoos. I used ghee to bind the laddoos and so the huss was happy to eat them.
P.S. I made this for Diwali but this can be made for Karthigai Deepam also.

~*What U Need*~ Aval(thick variety) - 1 cup Jaggery - 1/2 cup Ghee - 1/4 cup Cardamom powder - a big pinch

How I made it:
Dry roast the poha till you get a nice aroma. Blend the poha till you get a coarse powder. Add jaggery, 1/2 of the ghee and cardamom powder and give it a whiz just to blend and bring it together.

Tip into a mixing bowl, add the remaining ghee little by little and mix well. Form lemon sized balls out of this.

Healthy kid friendly laddoos.

** My Notes:
** The jaggery itself gives some binding so adjust ghee as needed.
** You can replace the cardamom powder with 2 cardamom pods.
** Thick variety aval suits best for this as you get a crunchiness for it.

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Poha & Groundnut Laddoo / Aval Verkadalai Urundai | Poha Recipes

Poha a.k.a flattened rice is one of my favorite breakfast. A cereal or upma with a simple tadka ~ it makes a healthy breakfast option.
The beaten rice that the huss purchased this time from the market was of the thicker variety which I find not ideal for the above said recipes. It was lying untouched in the pantry and I didn't want to waste it. So come up with this easy laddoo variety. The laddoo vanished the same day itself ~ thanks to the huss who loved it (that goes without any doubt 'cos I could find him sneaking around the kitchen to pop one into his mouth whenever he felt hungry).

I have added ghee to bind the laddoo together. I would recommend you to do the same. A few tsps of ghee are essential for the body. But if you are so calorie conscious then increase the jaggery cos that makes the mixture sticky and will help in forming laddoos.

~*What U Need*~ Aval(thick variety) - 1 cup White sesame seeds - 1/4 cup Roasted groundnut - 1/2 cup Jaggery - 1/2 cup Ghee - 2-3 tbsps Cardamom powder - a big pinch

How I made it:
Dry roast the poha till you get a nice aroma. Dry roast the groundnuts for 1 or 2 mins. You can remove the skin from the groundnuts but if you are lazy like me you will leave it as such. Dry roast the sesame seeds and set aside. Blend the groundnuts and poha till you get a coarse powder.

Add jaggery, ghee and cardamom powder and give it a whiz just to blend and bring it together.

Tip into a mixing bowl, add the sesame seeds and mix well. Form lemon sized balls out of this.

Healthy kid friendly laddoos. How I love making easy to make and simple to put laddoos like these!!!

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Beaten Rice / Poha Cereal... a wholesome breakfast | Poha Recipes

I am always on the lookout or rather say "hunt" for easy and healthy breakfast recipes. We usually prefer oatmeal / sathu maavu kanji (a homemade protein powder... recipe coming soon) / wholewheat sandwiches to the regular dosas/idlis /aapams. So easy protein packed breakfast recipes are something that always fall under my search list.
I have adapted this recipe from my SIL, tweaked it by giving my own touches. SIL who is from Tenkasi, Tamilnadu prefers to have this as her boost-up snack. I have seen her eating poha soaked in sweetened milk whenever she feels hungry, says its best when compared to the fried snacks. And I agree to that. This recipe is kinda hybrid to hers.

~*What U Need*~
Poha / Beaten rice - 1 cup
Water - few sprinkles

Ripe Banana - 1
Walnuts, cashews, almonds - as needed
Dates - few
Dried figs - 1 or 2
Milk - 1 cup
Sugar/Honey - to taste(optional)

How I Made it:
Clean the poha. Sprinkle some water and mix well till all the granules are soaked well. Rest for half an hour.
Mix sugar with milk. I usually skip the sugar as the banana itself adds sweetness. When serving, place the poha in a bowl, top it with mashed banana, nuts, dates and figs. Add milk, allow to rest for 10 mins, give it a stir and then serve.

...wholesome and satisfying breakfast.

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Aval Uppuma with Spring Onions | Poha Recipes

Aval uppuma / Poha using flattened rice is easy to make and is one ingredient which will be always available in my pantry. If I turn late from office any night, I usually make this or semiya uppuma. You can have this with sugar. Need not make any side dish.

~*Ingredients*~
Flattened rice / Poha – 1 cup
Water – 1 cup
Urad dhal – 1 teaspoon
Channa dhal – 1 teaspoon
Chopped onions – 1 cup
Green chilli – 1 slit
Mustard seeds – 1 teaspoon
Curry leaves – 2 sprigs
Chopped Spring onions – ¼ cup
Oil
Salt – to taste
Toasted Peanuts – handful (optional)

The Making:

Soak the flattened rice in water for 10 mins. Drain water and set aside. Heat oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds and when spluttered add the curry leaves and green chilli.
Add urad and toor dhal and peanuts and fry till brown.

Now add the chopped onions and fry till golden brown. Then add the turmeric powder.

Once done add the flattened rice and cook for 5 mins.

Add the spring onions and cook till done.
Combine the toasted peanuts. Serve with sugar.
The crunchiness of the spring onions gives an extra flavor to this dish

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