Annapurna: Cornflakes Chivda / Makai Poha Chivda Recipe

Thursday, 12 October 2017

Cornflakes Chivda / Makai Poha Chivda Recipe

Cornflakes Chivda is a crisp, sweet and savory Indian snack made from Maize flakes (makai poha) , spices and nuts. This lip smacking snack is a part of my Diwali faral for sure . The recipe is very easy and the chivda is ready within no time. All you need is to deep fry the maize flakes , nuts and curry leaves , mix everything and season the chiwda. This is my son's favourite snack and i do not limit it to Diwali faral. I often make it on weekends and enjoy with tea.

Makai poha or maize flakes are easily available in Indian grocery shops and you can order it from Amazon as well. These are not the the regular ready to use cereal - corn flakes. These are the dried maize flakes which puff up when deep fried and are usually added to mixtures and chivda. Usually red chili powder or pieces of green chilly are used to spice up this chivda, but for my son's sake. i powder some black pepper corns along with little sugar and add it to the fried flakes. This gives a mild spicy and sweet taste and so this snack is kids friendly too. I have used peanuts, curry leaves and golden raisins in this recipe. You may fry cashew nuts or almonds and add them as a variation in this snack. This chivda can be made in large quantity and kept in an airtight container as it remains fresh for about 15 days. Serve it as a tea time snack or as a healthy munch to the kids . The chivda is so addictive and irresistible that no matter how large a batch i prepare , it hardly lasts for 2-3 days. The chiwda can also be added to Kanda Poha while serving , to add crunch and taste to the soft poha.

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Cooking Time: 25 minutes

Serves: 1 jar

Ingredients: Measurements used 1 cup = 200 ml

2 cups of maize flakes/ makai poha
2-3 tablespoon peanut
2-3 tablespoon golden raisins
2-3 sprigs of curry leaves
Salt to taste
2-3 tablespoon sugar
4-5 black pepper corns
Oil for deep frying

Method:

Powder sugar and black pepper corns in a grinder jar and keep aside until use. In a deep kadhai or wok, heat oil on medium flame. Add fist full of the maize flakes when the oil is hot . The flakes immediately puff up and turn golden. Remove them from the oil with a large perforated ladle. Alternatively if yo have a fine meshed ladle , add the flakes to it. Deep in the oil, once they puff remove the ladle. Allow the flakes to drain on an absorbent paper.

2. Repeat the same until all the flakes are deep fried. The temperature of oil should not drop, or else the flakes will not puff properly and remain hard. After draining transfer all the fried flakes to a large mixing bowl. Now fry curry leaves, peanuts and raisins on low to medium flame one by one and directly add over the fried flakes in the mixing bowl. ( Take care not to over brown the peanuts or else they will turn bitter )