Instant Poha Mix -just add Hot water in the ready poha mix and your soft and fluffy Poha is ready in few minutes.
Instant poha mix- Poha is a very popular snack or breakfast item in India.It is made with flattened rice,which is washed and soaked for few minutes before preparation.Then a tempering is made and few spices and ingredients are added as per your choice or regional preference. I sometimes add potato,peas and tomatoes in it .It is a wholesome filling meal in itself .
In my house Poha, Upma, Sevai upma , Doodh Daliya are often made for breakfast. Poha is quite easy to make and also easily digested . Although making poha is easy but sometimes we need quick fix recipes which do not require cooking and are fuss free, specially when we go on travel trips or when the kids or husband are home alone or a tiring day at work or when we are simply feeling lazy.Working women also need such ready to cook ideas which can be easily fixed in the morning.
Last week my children went to Europe and I wanted to pack some ready mixes for them in case they might not get vegetarian food at some places or they just get bored of eating restaurant food. I made this Homemade Instant Upma Mix for them, they just need to add some hot water and micro for 2 minutes or just add it in a coffee mug ,cover and wait for 5 minutes .I also made this ready to eat Instant Poha mix which does not require cooking ,just add some hot water,cover and wait for few minutes and delicious soft fluffy poha is ready to eat.
Instant Upma mix and Instant poha mix are great option to carry along while travelling as we always crave for home cooked food on our travel trips specially vegetarians like me have a tough time searching for veg food in foreign countries .This type of ready instant food packets are easy to carry and easy to make travel food.We can also pack these mixes for our children who are going for further studies and might be living on their own .They can just take a small portion in coffee mugs and make individual portion for them.
How to Make Poha with this No Cook Instant Poha ready mix-
- On the Gas Stove– Boil water in a pan and then add this poha mix in the boiling water. Let it cook for 1 minute then cover with a lid and switch off the flame keep it covered for 3-5 minutes or till it absorb all the awter,mix, fluff with a fork and enjoy. For 1 cup of mix add about 1.5 cups of water .The quantity of water also depend on the thickness of your poha so adjust water accordingly .
- In the Microwave– Add Poha mix in a micro proof bowl and add water just to cover the poha(1/2 inch above the mix ) and mix ,then cook on micro high for 3 minutes .check it may take little extra time depending on your microwave model.
- In the Coffee Mug – Take a coffee mug and fill it half with poha mix and add hot boiling water over it and cover with a lid and wait for 10 minutes or till it absorb all the water and looks cooked.,open the lid and fluff it with a fork and enjoy your hot cup poha .
Shelf Life of Ready Poha Mix – This Instant Poha mix easily stays well for 2 months at room temperature and for 5 months in the refrigerator. After making Instant Poha mix let it cool down completely for a day and then either pack in ziplock bag or in an airtight container.
Quantity Of water added- Normally you just need to cover the poha mix with hot water but it also depends on the quality and quantity of the poha ,If using thick poha then you need about 1/2 inch of water above the poha and it may take 15- 20 minutes cooking time again depending on the thickness of poha.
In case hot water is not available then you can also make this with normal water but then it will take some extra soaking time .
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Instant Poha Mix, Ready To Eat Poha Mix
Ingredients
- 6 cup Poha / Pressed Rice medium thick variety
- 1/2 cup Peanuts / Moongphali raw
- 8 tbsp Cooking Oil
- 2 tbsp Green chili/hari mirch chopped
- 2 tbsp Ginger / Adrak finely chopped
- 1 cup Fresh Coriander / Cilantro / Hara Dhaniya fienly chopped
- 3 tbsp Cashew Nuts / Kaju chopped
- 5 Dried Red Chilli, Whole broken into poeces
- Handful Curry Leaves
- 1 tsp Cumin Seeds / Sabut Jeera
- 1 tsp Mustard Seeds / Rai *
- 1/4 tsp Asafoetida / Hing powder
- 1 tsp Turmeric Powder / Haldi Powder
- 4 tsp Salt / Namak
- 6 tsp Sugar / Chini
- 1 tsp Nimbu phool/taatri/ Citric powder/Lime powder powder (optional)
Instructions
- heat a pan and add chopped green chilies ,ginger ,curry leaves and saute on medium heat for about 2-3 minutes.
- Remove from the pan and keep aside.
- Now heat oil in the pan and add the peanuts and saute on slow flame till they start to change the colour .
- Then add the cashew nuts ,mustard seeds,cumin seeds,broken dried red chilies,curry leaves ,asafoetida ,chopped fresh coriander and the roasted green chili ,curry leaves and ginger mix
- Keep stirring on low flame till the peanuts are roasted well.
- Now add turmeric and mix well.
- Add the poha in the pan and keep roasting on low heat for about 15 minutes or till it become crisp.
- Add salt,sugar and citric powder and mix and switch off the flame after a minute.
- Let it cool down completely for few hours or over night.
- Pack the ready poha mix in an air tight jar or in a zip lock bag,
Notes
- The quantity of peanuts can be adjusted according to your preference or can also avoid adding it.
- If you are making this poha mix to use at your home then can avoid adding citric powder/taatri and can use fresh lemon juice instead.Citric powder is added for sourness and is optional.
- Adding cashew nuts is optional.
- you can also add raisins in the tempering.
- Can add red chili powder instead of adding green chilies or skip both if making for small children.
ruchika says
wow.. quick.. how do you cook when you wanna cook
Anjana Chaturvedi says
Hi Ruchika – Just take some mix in a glass or bowl, add some boiling water (from a water heating kettle available in any hotel room) and let it sit for 5 minutes. It will be cooked. Depending on the type of poha you used, you may need to tweak the ratio of water to poha mix – but it’s easy to get right in 1-2 attempts.
Bethy says
Step 1: heat a pan and add chopped green chilies ,ginger ,curry leaves and saute on medium heat for about 2-3 minutes.
Dry fry (no oil)?
anjanaskc says
yes
Sushila Kedia says
Can we make it in ghee instead of oil
anjanaskc says
Yes you can but avoid during winter
Geeta Bhagat says
wow…should try definitely
Naga says
This so good to carry when on vacation too,yummiest idea,more with sautéed broken wheat or broken basmati which can be be sautéed with spices ,just add hot water or if we can hotel’s microwave we use that to cook our on the go pulao,yum.
Neelu says
This is brilliant Anjana di!
anjanaskc says
Thank you Neelu!
Dhanya Samuel says
Fabulous recipe; will definitely try it out soon
anjanaskc says
thanks Dhanya !