Instant Poha Recipe For Busy Mornings: Ready in 10 Minutes

Do you often skip breakfast just because you are running late to work? With this instant poha recipe, you won’t have to worry about spending too much time in the kitchen. Follow this simple recipe and tips to get your breakfast ready in just ten minutes.

A typical morning on a busy weekday can be messy. With an urge to hit the snooze button, you rush towards the kitchen, rubbing your eyes. But even in the middle of the morning rush, compromising on a healthy homemade breakfast is not a healthy option. If you have a similar routine, you must be looking for quick and healthy breakfast options that can be made in just minutes.

One of the easiest breakfasts to prepare has to be instant poha. Since it just takes about ten minutes to prepare and is light and nutritious, you won’t even have to think twice before taking the pack of flattened rice out of the cupboard. With minimal kitchen ingredients, you can whip up this South Indian breakfast and forget about skipping breakfast. Just scroll down to this instant poha recipe, followed by some handy tips.

Instant Poha Recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup poha (flattened rice)

1 onion

1/4 cup peas

1/4 cup roasted peanuts

1-2 green chillies

A few curry leaves

1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds

1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder

Salt to taste

2 tablespoons oil

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

Coriander leaves for garnishing

Instructions:

1. Take a cup of poha and rinse it. Drain the water quickly, as soaking the poha in water will make it mushy. Set aside.
2. Heat some oil and saute mustard seeds, curry leaves, and green chillies.
3. Finely chop an onion, add it to the oil and saute till pink. Mix in peas and let them soften on low heat.
4. Add turmeric powder, salt, rinsed poha, and roasted peanuts. Stir till everything is well mixed.
5. Once the poha is fluffy, squeeze in half a lemon and mix gently.
6. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve with sev or chutney.

Tips To Make Fluffier Poha Instantly

Use Thick Poha

Poha comes in a variety of thicknesses. Depending on the recipe, you can choose from super thin to thick. Since you’re making breakfast and not a crunchy snack, always go for thick flattened rice to make the poha fluffier. Note that if you use thinner poha, after you rinse it, there is a higher chance of the flattened rice turning into a mush and not tasting good.

Quick Rinse

All your poha needs is a quick rinse. One of the most common mistakes made while making poha is to soak the flattened rice. To avoid poha turning into a mushy mess, quickly rinse it through running water, drain the water, and let it sit till you prepare the tadka. Remember to not soak the poha in water, as if the flattened rice absorb the water, they will have a heavy and mushy texture and will not give you the classic fluffy bowl of poha that you expected.

The Right Pan

Even after doing everything right, from picking the thicker poha to making the tadka, to make sure you get a smooth cooking experience, always pick the right cookware. Since poha is easy to stick to the bottom, ensure that you use a heavy-bottomed kadhai or a non-stick pan. Also, as a bonus tip, remember not to overheat. You can cook the vegetables on a high flame, but after you toss in rinsed poha, keep the heat to a minimum to avoid making the poha dry.

Pre-Chop The Vegetables

If you know you will have little time to prepare breakfast in the morning, you can save some cooking time by planning ahead. Just rinse and chop the veggies you want to add to your poha. Spending a little extra time the night before chopping onions, green chillies, and other seasonal veggies will save you time to quickly toss them in the tadka and make poha instantly. Also, if you think roasted peanuts are the soul of a bowl of poha, you can also prep them and refrigerate them the night before. Just roast them in oil, transfer to an airtight container, refrigerate, and then toss them in with the vegetables whenever you are making poha.

Make Fresh Tadka

Tadka or tempering is the soul of poha that can make or break the taste of your breakfast bowl. While you can prechop the veggies a night before, make sure you prepare the tadka fresh by adding mustard seeds, curry leaves, green chillies, and a blend of spices. Before you add onions, wait for a couple of minutes and let the mustard seeds crackle to release their flavour. In the ten allotted minutes of making poha, let this step take some two to three minutes, and your poha will turn out to be lip-smacking.

Experiment With Protein

Protein is one of the major dietary requirements of the day, and you must add it to the first meal of the day. While the roasted peanuts you must be mixing to the poha add a certain amount of protein to your poha, but you can make your breakfast even healthier by adding a protein source. You can mix in paneer, roasted chana dal, or even some pre-boiled chickpeas to make the poha filling and more nutritious. As for non vegetarians, some grilled chicken pieces tossed in a blend of spices would perfectly complement poha and give your breakfast bowl a protein punch.

Add Seasonings And Garnished 

Depending on your preferred flavour, you can add seasonings like salt, sugar, and lemon juice. While the recipe above is a standard South Indian one, you can adjust the level of salt or sugar to make the poha slightly sweeter. You can also add pomegranate seeds and sev to add something crunchy to the poha bowl. And after plating, you can garnish with some curry leaves and chopped coriander to make the bowl look more aesthetically pleasing.