Poha recipe | How to make poha recipe

Poha recipe with step by step photos - Poha is one of the most popular breakfast recipes in India. It is very healthy. It is neither too light nor too heavy! It can be prepared very quickly and easily. However, I have seen people struggling to get the perfect soft and flaky poha. Either it becomes too lumpy or chewy. So, in this blog, I have tried to cover everything that can go wrong while preparing poha. I hope these tips and tricks will help you get the perfect poha every single time!

Servings: 3-4
Cooking time: 20-25 minutes

Ingredients:

Poha(White or red) - 2 cups
Peanuts - handful
Potato - 1 medium size
Carrots - 1-2(Optional)
Capsicum - 1(Optional)
Beans - 4-5(Optional)
Onion - 1
Tomato - 2-3
Ginger - 1 inch
Green chillies - 3-4
Curry Leaves - 10-15
Mustard seeds - 1/2 Tsp
Coriander chopped (for garnish)
Lime juice - to taste (Optional)
Oil - 2 Tbsp
Salt - to taste

Poha recipe:

1.  Wash poha in a strainer. 
2.  Heat oil in a pan.
3.  Add peanuts and saute them until they are a little dark in colour. 
4.  Once done, keep it aside.
5.  Add chopped potatoes and a little salt in same oil. Cover it and let it cook on low flame.
6.  Meanwhile, chop other vegetables.
7.  Once potatoes are cooked, keep them aside with peanuts.
8.  Now add a little more oil if required.
9. Add mustard seeds. Let it splutter. 
10. Add curry leaves,  chopped ginger and green chillies.
11. Saute it for about a min on low-medium flame.
12. Add sliced onions and turmeric powder. 
13. Add sliced carrots, capsicum and chopped beans. All these are optional. I have added carrot this time. 
14. Mix everything then cover it and let it cook for about 3-4 minutes on low-medium flame. Few people like properly cooked vegetable few like them to be crunchy. 
15. Meanwhile, check if the poha is soft enough. If not, then go ahead and wash it once more.
16. Once these vegetables are little soft you can add tomato and salt. 
17. Cook it for another 2-3 minutes. 
18. Add potatoes and peanuts that we have kept aside in step 4 & 7.
19. Mix everything well. Then add soaked poha. If your poha was very thick then you should wash it again before adding it.
20. Mix it well and cover it for 2-3 minutes on low flame.
21. Sprinkle some lime juice and garnish with chopped coriander leaves.
22. Poha is ready! You can add some sev/aloo bhujiya before serving.

Poha recipe with step by step photos:

1. Wash poha in a strainer. Keep it aside. It will become soft in some time. If poha is really thick then wash it 2-3 times. 

Wash poha in a strainer

2. Heat oil in a pan.

Heat oil

3. Add peanuts. Saute them until they turn dark in colour. Make sure that the flame is low.

Add Peanuts

3. Now remove peanuts and keep them aside. Add chopped potatoes in same oil. Add some salt. Cover it and let it cook for 3-4 minutes on low flame. You can skip this step if you want to use boiled potatoes. That will also taste good.

Add potatoes

4. Once potatoes are done. You can keep it aside with peanuts.

Cooked potatoes

5. Add a little more oil if required. Add mustard seeds in the same oil. Let it splutter.

Added mustard seeds

6. Add curry leaves.

Added curry leaves

7. Add chopped/grated ginger and finely chopped green chillies.

Added chopped ginger and green chillies

8. Add sliced onions.

Added onions

9. Add turmeric powder.

Added turmeric

10. Add carrots. You can also add capsicum, beans etc. Cover them and let it cook for 3-4 minutes on low-medium flame.

Added carrots

11. While vegetables are getting cooked you can wash poha again under running water if it is not soft enough. Otherwise skip this step.

Soaked poha

12.  Once vegetables are soft you can add tomatoes and salt.

Added tomatoes + salt

13.  Add peanuts and potatoes that we kept aside in step 4.

Added potatoes and peanuts

14. Now it's time to add poha. Check if it's soft enough. If not then wash it again before adding. Mix everything well. Sprinkle some lime juice. Cover it and let it cook for 2-3 minutes on low flame.

Wash it again if not soft enough

15. Garnish it with coriander leaves and serve it. You can also add sev/ aloo bhujiya.

Poha is ready!

Tips:

Poha recipe is really simple and can be prepared quickly. However, many people find it challenging to get the perfect texture. Sometimes poha is too dry or chewy or if you soak it then becomes lumpy... almost like a upma. Even I have struggled with this problem for a really long time. Now I have finally found the hack to get perfect poha every single time! 😎

1.  The first tip is to find the right poha. For this recipe, you should get thick poha. Avoid using patla or thin poha or milk poha. Red poha also comes in two similar variations. For this recipe, you should take thicker one. 
2. The second important tip is to soak it correctly. Use a strainer! Earlier I used to wash and soak it in a bowl. Somehow that never worked for me. Wash it under running water in a strainer before you start cooking. Wash it once more while vegetables are getting cooked and once again before mixing it. This always works well for me.