"Spiced Puffed Jowar (Sorghum) Chiwda/ Chivda/ Mixture/ Chooda" ... de-cluttering springs out surprises, giving pleasure in findings of that which were almost forgotten ... I found a pack of puffed Jowar bought about 6 months back and in no time this awesome chooda was prepared ... luckily I had all the ingredients at home ... I have added lots of roasted melon seeds along with putani (roasted gram) and groundnuts ... after which, so engrossed was I watching Hanumanji burning Lankha with his tail in Ramayan serial, that, I almost emptied half of the prepared chooda ... Yummilcious ….
** Though I had heard of puffed jowar ie sorghum, personally I had only seen the granule form and not the whole puffed form or if I had, I must have ignored it. A few months pack I had found this in Mall, as I love browsing through and finding something new always excites me. I had bought it and somehow put it in the stock boxes and completely forgotten about it. The present situation has made us home bound and everyday for a good 45 minutes to an hour I de-clutter any part of the home and most of the time end up in kitchen, as that somehow never seems to end. My joy knew no bounds on finding this as I had almost all ingredients with which I could prepared a spiced chivda using it. Well, that’s it within an hour it was ready for munching for time pass.
** The Government in order to keep people occupied and happy are telecasting old serial that which we grew up watching. Though my time goes well spent reading, writing, blogging and above all cleaning my home and cooking off course, I manage to watch a few and Ramayan is one of them. In today’s episode, Hanumanji burns Lankha with his tail to which the enemies had given fire and he purposely jumps about everywhere so that he can torch the place. So engrossed was I watching the serial with a large bowl of chivda in my hand that I just emptied without any forethought's which is very rare in my case. I guess sometimes we do get carried away many a times and become unaware of our surroundings when we get engrossed with something interesting.
** The recipe is simple and almost the same with minute changes as thought of other chooda recipes. Here I did not add in red chilly powder as my favorite brand of chilly powder is not there in stock and at present, the store is shut. Emptying the same means, I will have to go in for other brands, so trying my level best to pull through. I added more of green chilly pieces for adding on spice that’s it. Do try it out, if puffed jowar/ sorghum is available in your vicinity. You can puff them up too, but then the process is tedious, you need to first cook it for some time, then dry it and then further roast till it pops up which is frankly not my cup of tea at least under present condition. Stay Safe, Stay Blessed and please Stay at Home, We need to save ourselves, our home and the world.
** Here is my simple recipe for "Spiced Puffed Jowar (Sorghum) Chiwda/ Chivda/ Mixture/ Chooda" …. My Style …
** Pick the puffed Jowar/ Sorghum to clean for any dust particles and rub it with a cloth if you must, I did so, remove any dust etc. Now roast it in a thick bottomed kadai without oil/ dry roasting on medium heat, until it turns crisp. Remove and continue till the desired quantity of puffed jowar is roasted. I roasted about 250 gms of the same.
** In the same kadai roast separately ½ cup of peanuts till done, remove and keep it aside in a plate. Now add in ½ cup of putani/ roasted gram and roast till they turn crisp. Remove and add it into the plate of peanuts. Now add in one cup of melons and roast similarly till crisp. Add this also to the other roasted ingredients in the plate.
** Note : Do not raise the heat while roasting and keep stirring on medium heat till done, the nuts and the jowar should not get burned or charred while doing so as it gives then a bitter taste. So keep stirring for even roasting and don't forget to keep the flame on medium or slow.
** In the same kadai, heat about 3 tblsp of oil (you can use any oil) in a kadai, when hot add in 1 tsp of mustard seeds (sasam / rai), when it begins to splutter, lower the heat to minimum and add in 5-6 spicy green chillies (tarni mirsanga/ hirvi mirchi) cut into ½ inch pieces and fry for a minute, then add 10-15 fresh curry leaves (kadipatta/ karbevu), ½ tsp of hing powder/ asafoetida (+/- depending on its aroma) and fry for a few seconds.
** Now add in the roasted putani, melon seeds and groundnuts and fry all together for another few seconds, finally add in a large pinch of haldi/ turmeric powder, ¼ tsp of red chilly powder (mirchi powder/ mirsange pitti) and mix well. Add salt to taste (meetHa/ namak) and 1 tblsp of sugar powder (pitti shakkar/ sakre pitti) and mix well. Lastly add in the roasted and kept ready puffed jowar/ sorghum and mix well, till the masala binds evenly to all.
** "Spiced Puffed Jowar (Sorghum) Chiwda/ Chivda/ Mixture/ Chooda" is done and ready to be served. You can serve it as it is as a snack along with some hot tea/ beverages for tiffin or whenever anyone at home feels hungry. You can also add in some freshly grated coconut to the chooda in each serving in plates, mix well and serve the same. You can also add in some finely chopped onions, which tastes great too.
** This one comes in handy if prepared and stored when guests drop in unannounced or whenever you feel hunger pangs. Children are always feeling hungry and want to munch up on something, this is a healthier option even if it is deep fried compared to the ready instant food that has flooded the market now which contains chemicals. Do try it and enjoy with your family & friends. Very easy to prepare if you have the ingredients ready.
** Note : You can add in any nuts like almonds, cashew nuts, raisins etc. too, to the mixture. You can also cut thin slices of three inches of dry coconut/kopra and fry them in oil in seasoning and then add on to the chiwda too, I have not added it as we do not like it very much.
** I am enclosing a common link to "Chiwda/ Chivda/ Mixture/ Chooda" recipes posted in the blog, do go through the link and check them out, some of them have step by step pictures too that will help you in learning the exact procedure ….
Useful....Thank you so much for sharing 🙂
ReplyDeleteThanks dear, do try it out if possible, healthy snack.
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