Chivda- simplest Pharal

Festive time, we smell a typical Pharal fragrance from most of the homes these days. Pharal  is the Marathi word for the sweet or savoury goodies prepared especially for Diwali. This year I thought of trying my hand on few of the simple goodies. And this weekend I started with chivda.

Chivda  is the simplest of Pharals to prepare – you can say a roasted version of Pohe. Most of the ingredients used are freely available in pantry and yeah, you can prepare this within twenty minutes. I prepared it for the first time, but now I think I’ll prepare this on regular basis for savoury snacks.

You Need :

• Thin Poha: 1/4 kg
• Green Chillies: 4-5 Large ones – split and cut in small pieces
• Curry Leaves: about 20-25
• Mustard Seeds: 2tsp
• Cumin Seeds: 1tsp

• Turmeric Powder: 1tsp
• Red Chilli Powder: 1/2tsp
• Cashews: fistful
• Raisins: fistful
• Peanuts: fistful
• Roasted Chana Dal: fistful
• salt to taste
• sugar to taste

You Do:

1. Heat Oil in a Huge Kadai, add Mustard Seeds followed by Cumin seeds. (Kadai – should be wide and huge enough to stir all the items easily)
2. Once they splutter – follow with Curry Leaves and Green chillies.
3. Add the items in Blue, fry them till half cooked.
4. Add the Poha and mix with the spice mix till its covered with spices.

1. Roast till all Poha turns crispy – about 15 minutes.

Done, keep it open till it cools down. Don’t keep in hot kadai else the bottom ones might turn red, use a flat thali to cool it. Store in air tight container. C for Chivda goes to “Dish Name Starts with C” event hosted by Akila.

Happy Diwali guys… have a safe and lovely festive season.