I had promised long ago that I would post these simple poha dishes that are very popular in Konkani homes. These are basically 10 minute dishes and no cooking involved. Just mix( kalayi in Konkani) all the ingredients with fresh coconut and thin poha and the job is done. These pohas were very popular in any Konkani wedding/function breakfasts, but in the recent times over the last decade or so people have started preparing more fashionable/modern breakfasts.
I think the kalayile (mixed with hand) phovu was chosen because this is fast to prepare and are very filling. These are staple foods for those who do a lot of manual work.
This particular type of kalayile (mixed with hand) phovu is known after my maternal uncle ( maam ) at my home. He is called Balu at home, so we all call this after him – Balu phovu . That’s because he is very fond of this and he would ask my aayi to prepare this whenever he came to visit us. He loves this more than any other snacks and he can have it at any time of the day :).
Check out kalayile phovu with special poha masala powder . There are ofcourse other types of poha, and soon I will be posting them in this series of Poha preparations.
Ingredients: 1 cup thin poha 1/2 tea spn mustard seeds 1/2 tea spn cumin seeds 1/2 tea spn ghee 1 tea spn chili powder 1/2 tea spn turmeric powder 1/2 cup fresh/frozen coconut 2 tea spn jaggery Salt
Method: Heat ghee and add mustard seeds. When they start popping, add cumin seeds. Switch off heat and add chili powder. Pour this over coconut, jaggery, salt and mix well with hand. Now add poha and mix till everything is well mixed. If you feel it is very dry, add a tea spn water and mix. Water softens the poha . Serve with sev .
Serves : 2-3 Preparation time : 10mins
In India, we were frequent visitors to Nandini restaurant . This is the place where we became huge fans of Andhra food. We loved the normal vegetarian thali , which according to us, was a comfort food. The other thing we absolutely loved there was their chicken dishes. Since hubby is not a great fan of chicken with bones, we would always pick up some boneless dish. After a while, our staple chicken order was for an extremely flavorful pepper chicken. It used to be very hot and would have a strong curry leaves flavor to it.
Now after two years in US, I have forgotten how it is supposed to look, but the taste still lingers on my tongue. Every time I buy chicken, hubby’s request comes for this dish. So this time, I thought of recreating this dish. Since I wanted a strong pepper and curry leaves flavor to it, I kept it very simple. It came out to be absolutely delicious. Try this at least once to know what I mean.If you have Kashmiri red chili powder in hand, use it for a bright color. Increase the amount of heat if you can tolerate more. It tastes great when savored with lemon juice sprinkled on it.
Ingredients: 1/4 kg boneless chicken A pinch turmeric 1 tbl spn thick yogurt 1 tea spn ginger paste 1 tea spn garlic paste 1/2 tea spn chili powder 1 tea spn pepper powder Oil 15-20 curry leaves Salt
Method: Apply ginger-garlic paste, chili powder, 1/2 tea spn pepper powder, salt, yogurt to chicken and leave it aside for about 2-3hrs. Heat oil in a pan. When the oil is steaming hot, add the marinated chicken. Cook for 5-6mins from both sides (do not add any extra water). When the chicken is almost half done, add 1/2 tea spn pepper powder, curry leaves (cut into two), cover and cook till chicken is completely done.Serve hot with lemon wedges.
Serves : 2 Preparation time : 15mins
