Vegetable Poha

 Poha or flattened rice has always fascinated me. It is not one of our most sought after South Indian staple but it does remind me of upma or Pongal that we get in the South.

In Kerala we call it Aval and it is usually had as a tea time snack or a quick bite when you have guests unexpectedly. I have eaten a lot of aval/flattened rice as a child. My mother made it for us as we were four children and four very hungry children as well! It was difficult for her to continuously stand and prepare light eats for us but she always had something up her sleeve to amuse us and fill our tummies. I would eat anything she gave because I loved her so much and I found her the most hard working woman in my life.

I think I would see her rest only when she had her period (which I didn't understand back then) or once Pa returned from work and we would all sit as a family and lunch/ dine. The four us always pitched in to do some work around the house. We were Ma's little helpers-we would clean the table, lay the table for her, fill water in the bottles to be refrigerated, peg the clothes for her, dust her carpet, clean our mirrors for her...the list is endless! I think perhaps more than out of duty, I think she was grateful to us for helping her around. And being two older sisters, my sister and I ensured that our baby brothers were mothered by us as well which is only natural! So snacks like aval, maida appams, mom's achappams, ethakyappams were all hand crafted by her and we would eat it without any fuss.I don't recall the four of us(when we were small) crying because we were not fed well or fight over food!!!

 But this version of poha is different, I don't even think Mom would have known that such a snack existed. She passed on at fifty-four. But I did learn how to make upma from her so I used the same recipe to make my poha. For me the fascination grew when I recently visited my son up North where he is studying. The guest house where we resided gave this to us as breakfast along with bread pakoras (two slices of bread sandwiched with some filling, dipped in a batter and fried) I loved it and wanted to come back home and experiment with those ingredients.

Coincidentally, a recent post on Poha by a friend on her facebook page Rimzy's Kitchen prompted me and pushed me rather reminded me to get some flattened rice from the supermarket. She had posted a lovely and very simple picture of her Poha which was very inviting! It flooded me with memories of my son and the three to four days we were with him in his campus.

 Soak and wash the poha in a colander. Allow it to drain immediately. In this way it remains moist. In a saucepan, in a tbsp. of oil, splutter some mustard, finely grated ginger, a finely chopped green chilly and finely chopped onions. As they brown add in your peas and allow it to cook, throw in diced carrots or potatoes (the veggies are optional) a tsp. of turmeric and allow the veggies to cook. Once all the veggies come together, add in your moist poha/flattened or pressed rice along with adequate salt and toss them all about with your spatula such that the marriage between the poha and those sautéed veggies takes place without any major confrontation.

Check if salt is adequate. You may garnish the dish with a handful of grated coconut and some cashews fried in ghee. Again this only makes the poha richer and glamorous. It can be avoided!

Before serving, sprinkle some grated coconut and a few curry leaves.

Note:- while washing the poha, some recipes ask for a little bit of sugar as well. the choice is yours. I haven't added!