[Sca-cooks] poha

[ranvaig at columbus.rr.com]

>I recently bought a bag of POHA - dried rice flakes. I think it is a 
>cereal. You know, hot cooked cereal type of thing. But has anyone 
>ever heard of this stuff? Do you do something else with it? I got it
>at Wegmans in the Indian/International section.

Poha sometimes called beaten rice is flattened parboiled rice,  from 
western India. Often made for breakfast or snacks as kind of a spicy 
pilaf.  I've made poha, but don't remember the recipe.  Here are a 
few recipes, from the net.  There is both thin and thick poha, but I 
think the only difference is the cooking time, and the finished 
texture.

http://www.indianchild.com/Recipes/mini_meals_recipe/poha_recipe.htm
http://www.bawarchi.com/cookbook/simple2.html
http://indianfood.about.com/od/sidesandsalads/r/poha.htm
http://www.radhikanair.com/recipes/archives/2004_09.php#000438

Here are sweet recipes
http://ahaar.blogspot.com/2006/12/sweet-poha-beaten-rice.html
http://mydhaba.blogspot.com/2006/09/beaten-rice-payasam.html

And some recipes for chivda, a spicy, crunchy snack, about the 
texture of granola
http://kitchenaromas.wordpress.com/2007/01/21/guilt-free-snacking-poha-murmura-chivda/
http://foodcourt.wordpress.com/tag/quick-eats/
http://onehotstove.blogspot.com/2005/09/c-is-for-chivda-and-chavli-amti.html
http://www.gelskitchen.com/view/recipes/rec/10237/-/

Bhel is the crunchy stuff added kind of salad with potatoes, other 
vegetables and/or fruit, and chutney
http://www.bawarchi.com/contribution/contrib3455.html
http://www.aayisrecipes.com/2006/05/28/bhel/

For anyone who thinks that chivda or bhel sounds good, but doesn't 
have poha, often they use rice krispies or other cereal.

Its more like couscous than mashed potatoes.

Ranvaig