Diwali is just round the corner and everyone is busy buying goodies, sweets, gifts and crackers. Cleaning, decorating and lighting our homes is another chore on priority, and that makes cooking take a back seat and we end up offering market sweets and snacks to our guests and loved ones.
Here is one quick and easy sweet and savory snack which can beat any market namkeen and is high on fiber and low on fat unlike the deep fried market namkeens. This snack can be prepared using the most common ingredients present in ours kitchens
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
Poha (thin) : ½ KG
Peanuts: 250 gms.
Coriander leaves: 50 gms. (finely chopped)
Curry leaves: 10-15 in Nos.
Ghee: 4 tablespoons
Cumin seeds: ½ tsp.
Ginger: 2 inch (finely chopped)
Green chilly: 6 in nos. (finely chopped)
Salt: To taste
Sugar: 2-3 tsp.
Kasuri methi(Dried Fenugreek leaves): 1 tsp.(crushed)
Black salt: ½ tsp.
Chat masala: ½ tsp.
Kashmiri lal mirch powder: ¼ tsp (optional)
Oregano powder: 2 tsp.
Black pepper Powder: ½ tsp.
Cooking steps:
Take a thick bottomed pan and heat it on medium flame. Add poha to roast it on low flame. Leave it for 1 -2 minutes and then stirr. Again leave it to roast and stirr after every 1-2 minutes till the time the poha is roasted completely and can be crushed with your hands.
In a separate pan roast the peanuts until they crackle and keep aside.
In a separate pan add 2 tablespoons of ghee and heat it. On medium flame add cumin seeds and let it crackle. Now add fenugreek leaves, chopped Ginger and chopped green chilly to the pan, keep stirring continuously and add chopped coriander leaves side by side. This seasoning (Tadka) should turn crispy, add 1 more tablespoon of ghee if the mixture is yet to turn crispy.
Now switch off the flame and add chat masala, oregano powder, black salt,black pepper powder salt and Sugar to the seasoning. We can add the optional Kashmiri lal mirch powder to add extra color and spice to the snack.
Add the remaining ghee to the roasted Poha and add peanuts and mix well. Now add the seasoning prepared to the roasted Poha and mix it properly on low flame.
Switch off the flame and shift the mixture to a flat dish, let it cool completely. Now our chatpata poha snack is ready. It has a very long shelf life. Store in an airtight container and enjoy this light and lip smacking snack with your family and friends.
This poha mixture goes really well with Kachri (onion fritters) The next Diwali recipe in the series. So keep watching the space and happy snacking!
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