Poha Usli with Carrots & Crushed Pepper Powder.

Pova / Poha / Beaten Rice - Usli with Carrots and Spiced with Green Chillies And Crushed Pepper Powder ..............

Take a stainless steel colander, add 3-4 cups of thick poha and hold under running water tap. Rinse well and let the water drain. Keep aside for about 20 minutes. The poha will soak up the water and become fluffy and soft. Put the softened poha in a large bowl. Separate the pova with a fork lightly. Add salt to taste, 1-2 tblsp of prepared hing water and mix well. Sprinkle some water if necessary if you find the poha going a bit dry and toss well. The poha should get softened and crumbled texture but not mushy. So do not add more water. Keep this first ready. Peel of the skin of 2 large sized carrots and grate them and keep aside ready. Pick and clean 1 cup of coriander leaves and chop them finely. Keep this ready for garnishing.

Heat a thick bottomed kadai with 2-3 tblsp of oil and 1 tblsp of ghee. When hot add 1 tsp jeera, then ½ tsp rai, followed ½ tsp hing powder if adding powder, 1 tsp haldi powder, 10-15 curry leaves and 4-5 chopped green chillies. Saute well. Add in the grated carrots and mix well. Cover and cook for some time. Add in 2 tblsp of coarsely crushed pepper powder and mix well. Let cook for another minute or two.

Add the prepared pova in the kadai and mix well for 3-4 minutes. The pova should be evenly coated with the fried masala’s. Cover and cook it in its own steam for about 5-10 minutes on slow fire. Pova is ready. 

Garnish with coriander leaves. Add freshly squeezed lemon juice of one large sized lime, mix well and serve hot. Pova should always be cooked hot and served fresh or else it tends to become dry and a bit brittle.

Note: 

** Carrot is optional. You can leave out the same and add some potatoes.

** Adding of coarsely crushed pepper powder is a twist I gave to the pova, as I like crushed pepper powder. You can leave it out if not as per your taste.

** Kanda Pova is prepared by adding finely chopped onions too. You have to add them and fry them till translucent once you have added the tempering ingredients and before adding in the pova.

** Boiled and cubed potatoes are also added to this pova which is called Batata (Potato) Pova. For this you need not add onions.

** This dish comes out best when prepared with thick pova, however you can prepare the same with thin textured pova too. Just do not hold it under running water as it gets soggy soon. Keep sprinling water to the pova and mixing with hands till you get a crumbling textured pova.