On a cold sunday morning when I look out the window, its raining outside and the clouds are consumed by fog, my heart was seeking for a hot mug of coffee and some hot breakfast dish to go with it while I lay under the blanket:)

Suddenly a dish comes to my mind. A very dear friend had mentioned the dish and it stayed in my sub conscious for a while now….so quickly got up and turned on my coffee machine for a hot cup of coffee.

The steamed flattened rice in India, commonly known as Chura or Poha, is rice which is flattened into flat, light, dry flakes. This dish is very nutritious and is a great snack or great for breakfast/ brunch.

Meantime, for the STEAMED FLATTENED RICE DISH,

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups of flattened rice

3-4 green chilies finely chopped

1 teaspoon of Mustard seeds

1 teaspoon of turmeric

4-5 curry leaves

1 inch of ginger finely chopped

2-3 garlic cloves finely chopped

Salt to taste

Vegetable oil

1 teaspoon of lemon juice

1/2 cup of peanuts (optional)

Cilantro for garnish

Preparation:

Firstly, take a sieve and add the flattened dry rice flakes to it. Take a nonstick pan and add some vegetable oil to it under medium flame. Once the pan gets warm, add the mustard seeds and curry leaves and wait for it to splutter. Add finely chopped ginger, garlic,peanuts and onion to the pan and saute well. Add turmeric and salt to taste and mix well.

While that is cooking, let cold water run through the sieve with flattened rice flakes for about 3-4 minutes and make sure it is soaked completely. Transfer the wet flattened rice flakes to the pan with onions cooking and mix everything well. Now cover the pan with a lid for 5 minutes and let it cook. Remove the lid and let cook for 2 more minutes so all the water evaporates and gives a crunch to the rice flakes. Add lemon juice and mix well. Garnish with cilantro and serve.

Serve with a mint cilantro chutney or eat it as is!!!!Enjoy!

With much love from my kitchen to yours…….