Chivda: Yummy Ayurvedic Snack

[LEFT]Chivda is one snack that satisfies all six Ayurvedic tastes: sweet, sour, bitter, salty, pungent and astringent. This is a big favorite in my home and this is my favorite chivda recipe.
[B]Chivda[/B]
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[ul]
[li]1lb poha or [B]thin[/B] flattened rice[/li][li]1/4 cup ghee[/li][li]1/4 cup vegetable oil[/li][li]1 tsp mustard seeds[/li][li]1/4 tsp asafetida[/li][li]15-20 fresh kadipatta or curry leaves[/li][li]15 Thai chillies, sliced fine[/li][li]2 tbsp sesame seeds[/li][li]3/4 cup raw peanuts[/li][li]1/2 cup cashew halves (optional)[/li][li]1/2 cup split dalia[/li][li]4 dried red chillies, broken into 2-3 pieces each (optional)[/li][li]1 tsp cumin seeds[/li][li]1 tsp turmeric powder[/li][li]1 tsp red chilli powder (optional)[/li][li]2 tsp sea salt[/li][li]1 tsp sugar[/li][li]pinch citric acid crystals (optional)[/li][/ul]

[ol]
[li]In a large pot or saucepan, add a tsp of vegetable oil and heat. Add 3-4 cups of thin poha at a time and roast on medium flame for 4-5 minutes until the flakes of poha are crisp. You can skip the oil, if you wish.[/li][li]Spread on a large cookie sheet and repeat until all of the poha is crisp.[/li][li]Wash, dry and slice the green chillies.[/li][li]Wash and dry the kadipatta, too.[/li][li]Wipe the pot clean and heat 1/4 cup ghee and 1/4 cup vegetable oil.[/li][li]Add mustard seeds and when they start crackling and bouncing about, add asafetida.[/li][li]Have a splatter guard or lid ready because if you didn’t need it before this, you will certainly need it now.[/li][li]Add the green chillies and kadipatta and quickly cover the pot else you will have droplets of oil everywhere.[/li][li]Open the lid to give you enough space to stir the oil mixture. Or hold the pot and swoosh it about every so often. The goal is to have crisp kadipatta and green chillies but you don’t want to burn them either.[/li][li]After a minute or so, add sesame seeds. Be a little careful at this stage as they tend to pop right out and into your face when they get hot.[/li][li]Add peanuts, cashews and dalia.[/li][li]Add cumin seeds and dried red chillies and stir some more.[/li][li]Add turmeric powder last as this tends to burn and leave an undesirable flavor if added earlier.[/li][li]Turn off the heat and add salt, sugar and citric acid. Mix well.[/li][li]Add 3-4 cups of crispy poha at a time to this oily mixture of spices and nuts and toss together each time. The oil should coat the crispy poha in a tight embrace.[/li][li]Taste for spice level and if you need to up the heat, add red chilli powder [B]now[/B] and toss to mix well.[/li][li]If you feel that it is not salty enough, hold that thought for at least another half a day.[/li][/ol]
[B]Notes:[/B]
[ul]
[li]You can skip the ghee and make this with 1/2 cup vegetable oil. Using ghee adds a level of homemade flavor not found in store-bought chivda.[/li][li]If you are lucky enough to have pure or near-pure asafetida, you won’t need more than a pinch.[/li][li]I like the flavor of green chillies in this chivda and prefer not to add dried red chillies or red chilli powder. If you are like me, make sure you have a lot of green chillies on hand. I ran out of green chillies the second time I made it and they were not spicy enough either, so I had to add dried red chillies, and that was not enough either, so I had to add red chilli powder. It was Kashmiri red chilli powder so I didn’t mind.[/li][li]Do not even think of attempting to make this if you don’t have fresh kadipatta or fresh green chillies. Go buy yourself a packet of chivda from the nearest Indian store instead.[/li][li]This chivda is often called [I]kaccha chivda[/I] or uncooked chivda as the poha is not deep fried.[/li][li]A core ingredient that I left out is thin slivers of dried coconut. About 1/4 cup. The dried coconut I had at home was a little too old and the bag of slivered dried coconut at my Indian grocer’s was a little too big. Dried coconut does not score very high with the rest of my family so no-one missed it.[/li][li]There are many variations of this chivda. A friend of mine fries onions till they are a crispy brown and adds it to the chivda.[/li][li]Another friend makes thin garlic chips and adds those.[/li][li]This recipe uses some garam masala made just ahead of time.[/li][/ul]

This original chivda recipe is found onIndian Food Rocks. The recipe and photo are both courtesy of Manisha Pandit.
I have gotten Manisha’s permission to repost her recipe and photo here, please be sure to do the same if you’d like to share it.
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Thank you, Manisha!