Making it Simples....Poha (fluffed rice snack)

Sometime back we were given the name of Sinha Tours and Travels by our long suffering friends. Mainly because of our inclination to plan a trip to death not just for ourself but for those unfortunate enough to trust us with their trip details. We have improved over the years..in the sense that we do not bore others anymore with our planning. But like all good tour advising companies, we do not mind a bit of PR. With that in mind we have been sharing our travel experiences with friends in form of calendar. It combines two of our three loves..travel and photography (in case you are wondering, third is food). The latter is still a work in progress. This year I added some quotes to it, all related to passage of time. The most insightful one was

Not enjoyment and not sorrow, is our destined end or way; but to act, that each tomorrow, finds us further than today.

It is a simple concept. All it asks for is to make sure that what we do today has a positive impact on tomorrow. And if all our tomorrows turn out better than yesterdays would we not have achieved ultimate happiness? But simple in concept it is really difficult in practice! But does it mean that we should always exist in a state of strife and unrest? I do not think so. One set of people are always on the quest for more without really appreciating what they have at hand. There is another set of people who are so complacent with what they have that they do not strive for better. The path to steadfast sense of well being is actually a very tightrope walk. The straddling of past, present and future is probably why the religions came into existence to resolve.

One thing that strikes me as a shortcoming of our society is that perusal of scriptures is relegated to the sunset of life. Our vedas and upanishads transcend geography and religion in their wisdom. It is a distillation of the experiences of people who worked to make sense of our existence. They should be read and applied as we go through the daily churn of life rather than realize too late what we did wrong. 

On this eve of another year, let me set this as my goal. Hopefully a simple resolution to last a year. It feels good to set a goal for that elusive happiness within for the coming year.

New year's eve and a party due in the evening calls for some big recipes. But I just wrote couple of paragraphs about simple concepts so I will try to keep this simple.Or as Aleksandr Orlov calls it Simples.

Poha is a simple and healthy snack. Anyone brought up in central or western india could not have gorwn up without being familiar with it. In bengal it is called chirer pulao. In bhopal you can find cartful of golden fluffy poha with amber succelent jalebis to start the day with. In mumbai kanda poha, batata poha, masala poha are almost synonyms with the snacks routine.

It was never on top of to eat list of things. When AS and I, we were pursuing the usual correspondence that accompanies an 'arranged marriage',  I was in the process of disillusioning him about my non existent cooking skills. In our six months of courtship he put up a brave face and had probably reconciled himself to a lifetime of drudgery in the kitchen. He mentioned poha as his favourite thing to eat. It was also our first joint venture in the kitchen, with me in the role of something even below Souz chef. My first couple of trials met with exemplary failures. I learnt a few tricks from my mother-in-law on my next visit. Simple things which make a vast difference to the outcome.

Ingredients

4 cups medium flaked poha

1 medium onion chopped

1/2 cup peas

1 tbsp Mustard seeds

1 tsp turmeric

5-6 curry leaves

1/2 cup chopped coriander

1 tbsp sugar

juice of 1 lime

3 tbsp oil

salt to taste

 The first step is wash the poha in water. Twice. Drain the water immediately before the flakes start absorbing it. The sprinkle 5 tbsp of water on it. Add salt, just a little bit less than what you would eventually want in our poha. Add half the lemon juice and sugar to this. Mix with your hands and let it soak it all up.

Heat the oil for 2mins. Add the mustard seeds. After they splutter add the curry leaves. 10 secs later add the onions. Cook them till softened but not as much as you would for a gravy. they should hold their shape. Now add the turmeric and the peas. After the peas get some colour from the turmeric (which would be 30 secs to 1min), add the poha. Mix quickly so that it absorbs the colour of turmeric. The first 5-6 secs it might seem that you do not have enough of the turmeric. But keep faith and keep mixing and you will be rewarded.

Add the remaining lime juice and sugar. Check the salt. the reason for adding half of the sugar and lime juice later is that the taste remains fresh. You can adjust the lime juice, sugar and salt as per your taste.

At this point if I find the poha flakes are dry-ish, I sprinkle some water, cover the utensil and let it be for 5 mins at low flame.

Garnish with fresh coriander, pomegranate and freshly grated coconut.

Simples....