One-Pot Poha Chivda | Indian trail mix

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Poha Chivda is a healthy Indian snack, made with flattened rice, nuts, some condiments, and spices. It is super delicious and a perfect tea-time snack. This recipe is easy and much less time-consuming than the traditional one.

This quick and easy one-pot Poha Chivda though is eaten all-round the year, has its own special place in the Diwali celebrations.

Along with sweets like Besan ladoos, Kaju katli, Shankarpali, Chivda has its own unique place in Diwali recipes.

This Maharashtrian Chivda is perfectly spicy, with a slight hint of sweetness that balances the flavors, beautiful aromatic touch by the curry leaves, nuts, and raisins that make you feel special, and the perfectly crisp Poha that provides the much-awaited crunch.

What is Poha?

Poha is nothing but beaten rice or rice that is flattened into flakes. There are two kinds of Poha available in the market, thick Poha and thin Poha, also known as patal Poha or nylon Poha.

There are various variations of making this tasty snack. It is known by different names in different regions of India. It is also referred to as Namkeen or Farsan or Mixture or Faral.

Chivda is such a versatile recipe that with just a little variation of ingredients you can have different flavors each time.

I especially love experimenting with a few ingredients in the recipe that changes the flavor of the dish and you feel the difference in taste.

Have you ever added crispy fried garlic to Chivda? For those who like garlic, I would definitely recommend trying this variation. It gives the Chivda a beautiful rustic flavor.

Another quirky but flavorful addition is crispy fried onion. Adding crispy onion adds one more element of crunch and also adds a slightly sweet taste to your bite.

Believe me, these are 2 ingredients you should definitely try in your recipe. A surprise element in the regular chivda.

This roasted Poha Chivda is so very easy to make!! This along with Besan Ladoo is a must to make dishes for Diwali at my place.

It is so tasty and addictive that I end up making more than one batch before the end of Diwali. And because it just whips up in about 20 minutes it doesn't bother me making it multiple times.

Let's get to know about Roasted Poha Chivda.

The Maharashtrian Chivda is a chatpata, easy and quick snack. It is traditionally made with thin Poha or even more preferably with Nylon Poha. Poha along with other ingredients like peanuts, dalia/ roasted chana dal, raisins, and spices are all combined and tempered with a spicy seasoning to make this dish.

It is medium spicy and has a crispy texture from roasted Poha and richness that comes from dried fruits and nuts.

Over the years people have added some other enriching ingredients like cashews, garlic, fried onion, or thin sev. Each of these ingredients is just some additions to elevate the flavor and provide some new taste to the regular one.

Which Poha do you use for the Chivda?

This recipe always calls for thin/nylon Poha. Thin Poha is easy to roast and gives you a perfect texture for a roasted chivda.

Thick Poha is also used for making chivda but it is more suitable for the one made with fried Poha. Thick Poha is dense and upon roasting it becomes hard and hence not suitable for this recipe.

As I stated earlier that traditionally this recipe is made by deep-frying some of the ingredients and dry roasting the Poha. All of which takes up a lot of pots and time. As you need to roast the Poha in multiple batches it becomes time-consuming.

I have made this Roasted Poha chivda using all those required ingredients but in one pot. That's right you do not have to roast the Poha in advance.

This is not just time-saving but also results in crispier chivda. What I love about this recipe is that it does not compromise on flavors and texture and yet saves time and utensils usage.

How to make Poha Chivda?

For this Poha Chivda, it is important that you gather all the ingredients that you need before you start cooking. As we will be doing this recipe in one pot and in a series of steps it is very important that you don't run around finding the ingredients last minute.

Once you have all the ingredients you need to heat up the oil and add the ingredients to the hot oil in the order I have mentioned below.

After all the ingredients are added to the pan toss them together over medium heat till the Poha becomes nice and crispy. You will have a tasty crispy Chivda ready in 15 to 20 minutes.

I make this recipe with the ingredients that my family likes. Like it needs to have lots of peanuts and cashews as my husband loves them, similarly, I also add crispy fried garlic to the chivda as my son loves the hint of garlic in it. He also looks forward to the sweet bite of golden raisins.

There are no set rules as to what you add in Poha chivda, you can alter ingredients as per your preferences. You could adjust the proportions of ingredients that go into the recipe too.

And a tip to remember just in case your chivda turns too spicy, you can add thin sev to balance the spice level. It will add flavor, texture as well as balance the spice levels.

Let us get to know the Ingredients.

Poha - Always use thin Poha or nylon Poha. As mentioned above this is very important.

Green Chillies - Fresh green chilies as per your taste. I like to make my chivda spicy as even my son likes spicy food. You can add finely chopped or big pieces as per your preference.

Curry leaves - Lots and lots of curry leaves, this is very important for this chivda recipe. Curry leaves give it a beautiful aromatic touch and a lingering enticing taste.

Mustard seeds - I prefer using Andra mustard seeds as they impart good flavor, but you can use any mustard seeds available.

Turmeric - For the color and flavor of the dish.

Salt - As per taste

Sugar - I always like adding sugar to the chivda as it binds the complex flavors together and makes it tastier. But you can always skip this if you don't like sweet taste.

Hing/Asafoetida - A good quality of hing is very important as it helps with digestion.

Optional but important ingredients

Peanuts - I always use peanuts with skin on them as I like the flavor they impart.

Cashews - Cashews add a rich taste to the recipe. They are also kids' favorite.

Dried Coconut - Thinly sliced dried coconut slices.

Raisins - I like using raisins as the sweet element to the chivda making it sweet and spicy. I prefer using golden raisins as they have good taste.

Roasted chana dal - Since chivda or mixture is an amalgamation of different ingredients, roasted chana dal also adds another layer of texture and flavor. I prefer using the spicy fried chana dal that you get in Farsan packets as it has a lot of flavors and also I can just add it in the end without having to roast or fry it earlier.

Garlic - Thinly sliced garlic is one of the favorite ingredients at my place. It adds a very nice umami flavor to the dish. But be careful not to add too much.

Onion - This is another optional ingredient. I normally add little store-bought fried onion as it is nice and crispy.

Thin Sev - The first time I added sev to chivda was to balance the flavors of spice and salt in the dish but eventually it became a tradition at my place to add thin sev to the chivda.

Step by step Instructions for One-pot Poha Chivda

Firstly, collect all the required ingredients, oil, mustard seeds, washed curry leaves, chopped green chilies, peanuts, asafoetida, Split cashews, thinly sliced garlic, thinly sliced dry coconut, golden raisins, fried masala chana dal, turmeric, salt, sugar, thin sev, and thin Poha.

Heat the kadhai or wok on medium flame, once it's hot add oil.

To the oil add the mustard seeds, followed by chopped chilies and curry leaves.

After these are well-tempered add peanuts, thinly sliced coconut, cashews, thinly sliced garlic, and hing/ Asafoetida. On medium flame roast all of these ingredients till they turn crisp and light brown.

Once they are all roasted properly add turmeric, salt, sugar, and raisins to it. Mix it all well together.

Finally, add Thin Poha to the kadhai/ wok and then toss it lightly. With a gentle hand mix all together and keep roasting to chivda for another 10 minutes or until the Poha turn crispy.

Remember to be careful as you don't want to break the Poha while roasting. I usually use Zara to toss the chivda.

I usually like tossing the mixture by tossing the pan without using any spatula. This will keep the Poha intact and not break into pieces.

Once the Poha is nice and crispy check the chivda for seasoning. If there is an imbalance you can add more salt or sugar to the chivda.

Add the thin sev and roasted chana dal to the chivda and mix it all together.

Enjoy the hot delicious and tempting Poha Chivda.

Let the Chivda cool down to room temperature and then store it in a dry air-tight container. It will stay good for a couple of months.

HAVE YOU TRIED THE RECIPE?

DO DROP A COMMENT IF YOU HAVE TRIED THE RECIPE. I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCES. ALSO, IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS DO DROP A COMMENT BELOW. I WOULD BE HAPPY TO HELP.

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