Poha has been a part of a traditional breakfast for North India, just as much as idli and dosas have been for south india. It is a hearty snack perfect with HOT chai. This simple recipe very close to the heart of many family members in Central India.Learn to make this easy and healthy vegetable poha recipe here.
What is poha made of?
Poha or pohe are flattened rice flakes. It is made by dehusking rice and parboiling it. It is later dried and flattened with iron rollers. There are two varieties of flattened rice - thick or medium and thin beaten rice. There are different types of poha recipes.
Thin poha is used in dadpe pohe & poha chivda ,a roasted teatime mixture. Medium thick poha or jada pohe is used to make kanda pohe, batata poha. You can also use rice flakes instead of breadcrumbs to make a gluten free veg cutlet. Other recipes are poha kheer and dahi pohe.
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health benefits of poha
There is a lot of nutritional value of poha. It is actually a healthy vegan gluten-free kid friendly breakfast. Great even for people with hypothyroidism. Cooking pohe is not rocket science. It is quite simple and it does get ready very fast. Hence, works great for a quick breakfast. Bachelors can cook it too if they want to eat something healthy than a takeaway. It is simple and much healthier than eating junk outside. Rice flakes also have more iron than plain rice due to the pounding effect from the Iron beater.
Equipment
- frying pan
- large colander / sieve
- large mixing bowl
How to make vegetable poha? ( video recipe)
Ingredients
Poha ingredients are simple and can be customised as per your taste.
- Poha flakes or thick(medium) rice flakes
- Onions
- Tomatoes
- Potatoes
- Turmeric powder
- Red chilli powder
- Curry leaves
- Green chili
- Peanuts
- Peas
- Salt as per taste
Instructions
- Soak the medium thick rice flakes in little water in a bowl for not more than a minute. Alternatively, you can also add jada poha to a sieve and hold it under running water for 2-3 mins, so that it becomes moist. Later put the sieve on a bowl, so that extra water of soaked poha drains away. This way, your rice flakes will not clump up.
- Add turmeric powder, red chili powder, salt to the moist rice flakes.
- Heat 2 tablespoon oil in a pan, Fry some peanuts and add chopped potatoes to it.
- While potatoes cook on a side, add the mustard seeds, chopped green chilies and curry leaves to it.
- Now, add chopped onions to it and mix well.
- Once onions are pink, add chopped tomatoes to the pan.
- Once tomatoes soften, add peas and mix well.
- Now add the pohe to the pan and mix well. Sprinkle water, around 2 spoons is enough. If water is more, it will become clumps.
- Cover with lid, so that it becomes bit moist and let it cook for 5-7 mins over low heat.
- Serve tangy poha hot with dash of lemon juice, sev and chopped coriander leaves for garnish. Optionally you may add spicy namkeen to this special recipe.
Serving suggestion: Add some pomegranate seeds to improve Iron.
Related recipes
vegetable poha recipe | veg poha recipe
Equipment
- frying pan
- large mixing bowl
- large colander
Ingredients
- 1 cup Pohe or thick rice flakes washed in a colander
- 2 small onions diced
- 1 potato diced
- 1 medium tomato diced
- ¼ cup green peas optional
- ¼ cup roasted or fried groundnuts optional
For tempering
- 2 tablespoon oil
- Few curry leaves
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds or rai
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1-½ teaspoon red chilli powder
- Salt as per your taste
Instructions
- Soak the rice flakes in little water fir not more than a minute,drain the excess water in a sieve,Spread out the poha in a plate.
- Add turmeric powder, red chilli powder, salt to the moist rice flakes,let it aside.
- Heat 2 tablespoon oil in a pan, Fry some peanuts and add chopped potatoes to it.
- While potatoes cook on a side, add the mustard seeds, chopped green chillies and curry leaves to it.
- Now, add chopped onions to it and mix well.
- Sauté onions until they become slightly pinkish. Once onions are pink, add chopped tomatoes to the pan.
- Once tomatoes soften, add peas and mix well.
- Now add the pohe to the pan and mix slowly.Add 2-3 tablespoon of water.
- Cover with lid, so that it becomes bit moist and let it cook for 5-7 mins on low flame
- Serve hot with dash of lemon,sev and coriander for garnish.
Video
Notes
You may also add green chopped chilli and spoonful of sugar optionally.
If you want a more healthier option, you may add grated carrots with potatoes.
Variations & Substitutions
Oats pohe and Indori pohe are two other ways of having hearty early morning breakfasts for the whole family.You can either make oat version with only oats or add half oats and half thick rice flakes in the above recipe. Some people also add cumin seeds in tempering, a spoonful of sugar and grated coconut to it in garnish.
Ujjaini or Indori version is steamed and served with onions,aloo sev namkeen and jeeravan masala while the Mumbai/Pune one with lot of onions, potatoes and peanuts. Pair it with Jalebi for the best breakfast ever.No one can get enough of Poha jalebi!
You can also make vegetable poha with red rice poha and brown rice poha.
Significance of Pohe
The significance of this dish can be seen in Maharashtra. Authentic pohe recipe actually marks a beginning of a relationship. It is served as snack when the families of the to be bride and groom meet to confirm wedding relations. You may also remember the famous Marathi movie Sanai Choughade. Most college, office canteens as well as hostel mess serve it at least once a week, either as breakfast or snack. You can also gulp it down with tea or coffee. Even have it with yogurt if not eating it vegan. Here is a recipe where we have added a lot of veggies to the basic recipe.
Storage
Store it in refrigerator for 1-2 days in an air tight jar. Steam or microwave before serving.
FAQs
Rinse 2-3 cups in water and soak it for around 5 mins. It becomes soft and can be mashed by fingers.
If you leave it in open, it tends to become dry. Overstraining can also make it dry.
It is rich in Iron, Vitamins A,C and Phosphorus.
There are numerous recipes that you can make with Poha.We also use rice flakes to make cutlets instead of using bread crumbs in tikki. Vegetable poha cutlets are a great snack especially with a hot cup of adrak chai. We also make poha kheer, dudh poha and dahi poha for kids.
Vegan and gluten-free pohe is light and tasty way to start your day. It is staple across Mainly states of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. It was ruled by Holkar dynasty and hence has similar cuisine. You can see many versions of pohe like kanda poha recipe ( only onions), batata poha (only potato), kanda batata pohay (both onions and tomatoes) depending on the vegetables used. Indori pohay recipe or Ujjaini pohay is a steamed street food version. Pohey is also called as avalakki, atukulu or aval upma in South India and known as aloo pohey in Gujarat.
There are multiple types of Pohay available in the market. Primarily there are three types
--Thin
--Medium Thick
--Thick.
For this recipe, we prefer the Medium thick variety. The thin and thick variety is used in chivda.
Conclusion: Vegetable poha is an excellent light breakfast dish which wins your heart each time. It is perfect for weekend breakfast.The addition of roasted peanuts and different vegetables of your choice makes it healthy breakfast recipe or a quick snack any time of day.
Andrew Macmilan says
I will try this at home.