A Tale of Poha by an Indori’s wife 🙂☺️😊

Indoris’ love for ‘Poha’ (flattened rice) is a well acclaimed fact. So much so, that it’s pivotal for every Indori’s wife to ace the art of making perfect poha, with the typical essence which you get on every next stall in Indore. I myself a wife of proud Indori☺️ hence making this public, as who better than me can acknowledge this fondness.

A Tale of Poha by an Indori’s wife

It is a veiled desire of every Indori’s wife to outshine in this arena, to reign the heart of their better half.

Whenever I am in befuddlement what to rustle up for breakfast (which is quite often) and have no one to go for the hint, my only savior in such dilemma is obviously my hubby. The way out for such indecision from his side has always been echoed ‘Poha’ ‘Poha’ and ‘Poha’.

As I don’t belong to Indore so I got upskilled by him to prepare authentic Indori poha. He painstakingly taught me to make the tadka with lots of green chillies, fennel seeds (saunf), whole coriander seeds with out which poha is not appropriately Indori.

And when I serve him his plate full of piping hot poha, with a dash of lime juice, he checks with me with out any fail, whether I sprinkled ‘jeeravan’ on it or not? On the very first bite after all these assiduous efforts, his contented reaction is “Bhiyaa majaa aa gayaa.” His such eloquence exuberant me.

After I got married, jeeravan is among the most important spice of my life. Whole grocery at one side and ‘the jeeravan’ on the other. The thing which is of main concern for him is ‘box of jeeravan should never be emptied’.

I recall, when we relocated to Bangalore (in 2004-2011), one of the monthly milestone was to get Jeeravan, an alien thing for Bangaloreans. He used his network in every corner of the city to accomplish this mission. While traveling to Native, he would never forget to stock-up for an year, but would get emotional to share with his Indorian friends, who couldn’t travel.

Poha is a popular breakfast in Indian subcontinents (including India, Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh). It also has many other popular names like Poha or Pauwa in Hindi, Baji in Newari, Pohe in Marathi, Aval in Tamil, Chindé in Bengali, Chira in Assamese, Phovu in Konkani, Chudaain Oriya, Avalakki in Kannada, Atukula Poni in Telugu and parts of Bihar and Jharkhand, Pauaa/Paunva in Gujarati, and Chiura in Nepali, Bhojpuri and Chhattisgarhi.

‘Poha’ has the potentiality to be greatly appreciated. Do you know it’s gluten free!!!Even the nutritionists acknowledge poha’s high nutrient value. Certainly it is one of the healthiest Indian breakfast.

Health benefits of Indori Poha

1. Valuable source of Iron
2. A Good Probiotic
3. Great option for Lactose Intolerance
4. Abundant in Vitamin B
5. Plentiful of Carbohydrates.

The recent trend in the world of diets is gluten free diet, as wheat gluten disorders are affecting an increasing number of people.

Poha(flattened rice) is super simple to make and has many variants.

This lightly fried poha, which is a standard break fast in Malwa region(surrounding Ujjain and Indore) of Madhya Pradesh is served with the topping of sev and jeeravan. Sev gives a nice crunch to this otherwise soft-textured dish.

Sev plays very important role in Indori’s meals and they never shy away to experiment with it. You can find this crunchy Sev eaten with many dishes & snakes. Some of the popular one’s are ‘Sev-Parmal’, ‘Sev ki Sabji’, ‘Sev Kachori’, apart from this it is served with Poha as topping, also it accompanies in daily meals.

In Maharashtra fried peanut on poha is the most important thing.

In Chattisgarh it is eaten raw by mixing jaggery to it.

Sometimes it’s personal choice also, some like to add fresh green peas to it in winters, when there is an abundance of it. Whereas some have a taste for stir fried potatoes, vegetables in it.

History of Indori Poha

Poha is an quintessential part of whole Indori experience. Poha is synonymous with Indore. But do you know that Poha is originated from Maharashtra and the credit goes to the ‘Holkars’ and ‘Scindias’ to bring it to Madhya Pradesh. History states that under the regime of Holkars and Scindias poha gained wide-spread vogue among the people of MP.

Ever since the olden days and even today, poha has been alluring people. This iconic Indori poha has become an important part of every day life in Indore.

This humble poha becomes ‘kande pohe’ and ‘Dadpe pohe’ when it comes to Maharashtra. Kande pohe is popular Maharashtrian breakfast as well as any time snacks. It’s influence on Maharashtrian culture pronounced by the fact that the word ‘Kande Pohe’ is used as a term for marriage talks. In Maharashtrian arrange marriage when a boy along with his family visits girl’s place for the first time, the dish which is generally served is ‘kande Pohe’. So if someone has to ask any Maharashtrian boy, that how many girls he met for marriage prospect, one asks ‘how many times you ate kande pohe?’

Types of Poha

While I am sharing these well known facts about humble Poha, being an Indori`s wife have already tried below versions

• Indori Poha (Served with Sev, Coriander, Onion and sometime with Pomegranate kernels)
• Kandha Poha
• Kandha batata Poha
• Ussal Poha (Poha served with Usal curry, onion and Sev)
• Chinese Poha (Special variant tried by my hubby, I would like to publish the recipe with you soon).

There was study done and published in ‘pressreader.com’, it is estimated that in a single days approximately 300 quintals of Poha and 10 quintals of Namkeen are consumed in Indore only. This proves that Poha industry is one of major industry in the state.

I am sure, many of you would have also experimented with Poha, It would be good to let world now about your experience.