Kanda Batata Poha, this super tasty savoury Breakfast made with Poha (rice flakes), Kanda(onion), Batata( Potato), Peanuts and some Indian pantry staple spices. This popular Maharashtrian dish is a frequent visitor in my kitchen most of the time either for Breakfast or for weekend Brunch.
This one also for those days when I need to cook Lunch only for me, and I am guilty of even thinking about picking up the phone and order for home delivery! This dish also for those rainy weekend evenings, when we want to stay at home, relax on our couch, want to enjoy some spicy snacks with a cup of tea and watch a movie! I made it a couple of days back on a cold weekend for our breakfast.
Potato in Indian Regional cooking!
If you notice, you will see that many of the iconic regional dishes found on the Indian plates made with Potatoes. While in north India Kashmiri Dum aloo is so popular, in the south we can’t imagine Masala Dosa without Potato. There are many delicious potato dishes in Bengali cuisine, from our humble Aloo Bhate, Aloo Posto, Aloor Dum, Alu kabli. I mean can Bengali imagine Mangshor Jhol or Biryani without Aloo? Right!
Ingredients for Kanda Batata Poha
I can’t claim that this is an authentic Maharashtrian recipe, but I can assure you that it tastes delicious! So here’s what goes in my Kanda Batata Poha
Poha: Poha is a Maharashtrian or Marathi word for beaten or flattened rice or rice flakes. In Bengali, we called it Chire. There are different snacks and Breakfast dishes made with this ingredient.
Chire Bhaja is a favourite bengali snack, and we make Chirer Polau for Breakfast too. Though we use almost the same ingredients for Chirer Polao, it tastes completely different. You can watch the video here!
Batata: When Portuguese traders landed on the west coast of India, they introduced Potatoes to Indian, as they called it Batata, so in western India Potato known as Batata. Then British traders introduced potatoes to Bengal. Alu or Aloo became the quintessential ingredient in Bengali cooking.
Kanda: Kanda is onions. Hence the term Kanda Poha or Kande Pohe.
Peanut: for crunch.
Flavouring agent and spices: Ginger, green chillies, coriander leaves, mustard seeds, curry leaves, turmeric powder.
If you are looking for more Recipes with Poha or Chire, watch this video:
Kanda Batata Poha
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups Poha
- 100 gm Potatoes - diced
- ½ cup Onion - finely chopped – approx 130 gm
- 10 gm Peas - approx 1 tbsp Peas
- 8-10 Curry Leaves
- 3-4 Green chilli
- 1 ½ tsp Ginger paste
- ½ Lemon Juice
- 20 gm Peanuts - approx 2 tbsp
- ½ tsp Mustard seeds
- 1 tsp Turmeric powder
- 1 tsp Sugar - optional
- A handful of Coriander leaves
- 2-3 tbsp Peanut oil - or vegetable oil
- 2 tsp Ghee
- Salt - to taste
Instructions
- Rinse the Poha under cold water, then soak them in a bowl for 5-10 minutes. Then drain the Poha, keep them on a sieve.
- Heat oil in your cooking pot, once hot add mustard seeds, let them splutter, then add chopped onions, curry leaves, sprinkle salt just for onion and over medium heat fry till the onion developed a golden colour.
- Add diced potato, sprinkle turmeric, salt and when potato halfway cooked through then add peas, ginger paste, green chillies and continue cooking.
- Add salt, sugar to the Poha and mix them.
- When Potato softened, add Peanuts, and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Start 2 minutes timer.
- Then, add Poha, ghee and mix them well, cook further 2-3 minutes. Start 2 minutes timer.
- Add chopped coriander leaves, lemon juice, give a final stir and remove from heat.
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