[Experiments in Kitchen #1] Baked Poha with a Twist

Experiments in Kitchen

This is my first post in the series of experiments I carry out in my kitchen which generally involve replacing one ingredient with another in a recipe and tasting the end result. Sometimes my changes are a disaster and uneatable, but often they produce something delicious like this version of baked poha.

Last year, I posted the recipe for baked poha. After that, I made it lot of times but without any variation. This Sunday I started to make this version of poha again. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the key ingredient semolina that day. I was about to change to something else for the breakfast. But then I saw the curry leaves and decided to make baked poha using the ingredients I had along with new ones. 

What did I change?

I added peanuts and curry leaves to the tempering. Rest I followed my previous recipe leaving the semolina step. 

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Serves: 2 Prep Time: 10 Minutes Cooking Time: 20 Minutes

Ingredients

• 2 cups thick poha(thick beaten rice)
• 2 tbsp milk
• 1 cup curd
• 2 small green chilies finely chopped
• 2 tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 and 1/2 tbsp salt, or according to your taste
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 tbsp mustard seeds
• 1 tbsp oil or ghee
• 1/2 tbsp red chili powder
• 10-15 small curry leaves
• Pinch of asafoetida (Hing)

Instructions

 

1. Wash the poha well with water, then add curd and 2 tbsp milk and mix well
2. Add salt, sugar and lime juice, green chilies to the mixture.
3. Add coriander leaves to the mixture.
4. Tempering: In a pan, heat the oil, add asafoetida, mustard seeds. Wait till the seeds crackle.
5. Add peanuts. Let them turn slightly brown.
6. Then add the curry leaves and saute for 1 minute.
7. Switch off the flame and add red chili powder.
8. Spray the cake pan with oil, and pour the mixture into pan. Level it on all sides. Then pour the tempering over it.
9. Preheat the oven to 400 F/200 C, and keep the pan in oven for 10-15 minutes.
10. Serve hot, garnish with coriander

Notes

Add tray underneath the detachable cake pan to catch any water that comes out.

How did it turn out?

The peanuts got properly roasted, once in oil on the stove and then in the oven. Same happened with the curry leaves. The crispy curry leaves and the peanuts made up for the missing semolina. Their flavor combined complimented the overall tanginess of the dish. 

Thanks for stopping by. Poha is one of my favorites when it comes to breakfast. What’s yours?