Chiwda

Its the ultimate homemade snack for munching while you are travelling. Its also one of the main items in the Diwali Faral(Festive snack). It may make so many hostellites nostalgic thinking how they have survived on the chiwda and how chiwda kept their taste buds happy when they had no option for the mess food :(
So lets indulge in the chiwda making process to discover what was the secret of those memories apart from mom's love in it :)

Ingredients:

4 cups Thin Poha (Rice flakes)

Onions thinly sliced (1 cup)

Green chillies slit

Peanuts

2-3 Garlic cloves(thinly sliced)

Saunf (fennel seeds)

Cumin and mustard seeds (I can't do without these)

Salt

Turmeric

Chilli powder (optional)

Curry leaves

Corriander leaves

Oil

Thinly sliced dry coconut

Method:

Lightly roast the poha in a pan till little crispy and keep aside.

In a pan add 1/3 cup oil enough for frying. Fry the peanuts and keep aside.

Add Mustard seeds, cumin seeds, onions, garlic and slit chillies. Fry onions and garlic on medium heat till it turns brown and crispy ( this will take at least 10-15 min). Add Fennel seeds, curry leaves and corriander and coconut slices. Fry till coconut is light brown in color. Now add the remaining ingredients i.e salt, turmeric, chilli powder. Mix well. Now add the fried peanuts and roasted poha. Mix well till all the poha mixes well and not a single poha is white in color. Mix till the whole mixture takes same yellow color.

Let the chiwda cool completely. Then store in an airtight container.

Whenever you feel the urge for some munching action, you know which container to look upto!