Indian Trail Mix

HUNGRY?  NEED A YUMMY SNACK? 

Indian Trail Mix or poha mixture is just the snack for you. This snack has everything: nuts, dry fruit, spices, potato wafers, and flattened rice. And, it's easy to make. Check out the recipe below:

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 lbs Thin Poha (Flattened Rice)
• 1 cup Peanuts
• 1/2 cup Roasted Chana dal
• 1/2 cup Craisins or raisins
• 1-1/2 Tbsp Chili Powder
• 1-1/2 Tbsp Dhan-Jeera powder (Coriander/cumin powder)
• 1 tsp Turmeric Powder
• 1 tsp Citric Acid Powder
• 2 Tbsp Confectioner’s sugar
• 1 cup Potato wafers (fried or microwaved), optional
• 2 Tbsp Salt
• 1/3 cup Vegetable Oil

Procedure:
Heat oil in a big wok or skillet on medium heat. Add peanuts and fry them for 5 minutes. Then add dhan-jeera powder, chili powder, turmeric, citric acid and salt. Stir for 30 seconds and then add poha or flattened rice. Mix well and continue to roast the mixture on Low/ Medium heat for 5-6 minutes or until the spices and turmeric are mixed uniformly.

Transfer the mixture into a big microwavable glass container, add Chana and microwave for 5 minutes at 70% power level (for 1100 Volts unit, adjust time based on your microwave voltage). Remove and mix well and microwave for another 3 minutes.

Remove the container and sprinkle the confectioner’s sugar using a tea strainer for uniform distribution. Mix in the sugar and finally add craisins and potato wafers. When the mixture cools down, store in an airtight container and use within 3 weeks.


LOVE SNACKS? Check out our Corn Flakes mixture as well.

A Real Crunch Muncher!

If you have ever read "The Namesake" or watched the movie, then you will remember this scene I am about to narrate to you. Ashima Ganguli newly married leaves her hometown in Calcutta, India to settle with her husband, Ashoke in Cambridge, MA. Ashoke is an engineering student at MIT and lives in an apartment on or near campus. Ashima wakes up in the morning and looks around their little kitchen to figure out what to eat for breakfast. Oh, I forgot to mention she's pregnant. I guess pregnant women have all sorts of cravings, something spicy, sweet or salt. All Ashima could find is a box of Corn Flakes in the cupboard. So she takes out a bowl, pours the corn flakes into it and just looks at it; it's so plain. The next scene that I remember from the movie was that she chops up onions and adds them to the cereal and tosses it with masala and salt. Note to self: every Indian household has masala for cooking...it's a necessity.

Anyways, after mixing everything together, she sits down by the table and eats her spicy corn flakes mixture for breakfast with pleasure. Now I have explained this particular scene to you because that was one of the scenes that reminds me of foods I grew up with and how I could relate to the movie. My mom made a similar Corn Flakes Mixture this weekend and I just couldn't help but think of the scene from "The Namesake".  And you know what, the procedure for this snack is so simple and so easy and it takes like 10 minutes. So grab some corn flakes and get cracking!!!

I'm sure you are so excited about this snack that you are dying to know what's in it, right? Well, I'm gonna tell you and then you have to tell me how it turns out. You will never look at Corn Flakes the same way again.

Ingredients:

- 7oz box of Corn Flakes cereal
- Handful of Peanuts / cashews
- Handful of Roasted channa dal
- ½ tsp of Red Chilli powder
- 1 tsp of Coriander powder (dhania),  (optional)
- 1 tsp of Salt (as per your taste)
- ½ tsp of Citric Acid powder, (optional)
- 1 tsp of Confectioner's sugar
- 3 to 4 tbsp of Vegetable oil

Procedure:
1) Heat oil in a small saucepan on medium heat and fry the peanuts/cashews until golden brown.

2) Remove from heat and add coriander powder, salt and citric acid and mix well.

3) Empty the cornflakes into a microwavable contrainer and add the roasted channa dal. Then transfer the  seasoning into it and mix well.

4) Reduce the power level on the microwave oven to 70% power and microwave for just two minutes. (Please note that heating time could vary on the power of the oven).

5) Remove from the oven and sprinkle the confectioner's sugar over using a metal sieve and mix well. When it cools down, store it in a tight container to keep it from going stale.

****If you guys haven't heard of The Namesake, you can read more about it at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Namesake