Chiwda Namkeen Recipe (Fried Poha Chivda)
Chiwda namkeen recipe for Diwali festival! It’s medium spicy with a balanced flavor of sweet and tangy. In short, it has ‘chatpata’ taste. It is one of the popular Diwali namkeen recipes where all the ingredients are deep fried and tossed with spice mixture. Hence the name fried poha chivda.
Region by region; the taste, flavor, and name of it may vary. This is also known as namkeen or poha mixture or jada poha chivda or chevdo or chivda.
What is Chiwada & it’s variations?
- Chiwda or chivda is the savory dry snack (namkeen) made with a mixture of many fried elements like sev, poha, nuts, green chilies.
- Today’s recipe is fried poha chivda. This is indulging and high-calorie snack because everything is deep fried. But that is fine, after all, we are making this only once a year during Diwali.
- Another version is roasted poha chivda which is healthier than this fried one.
Check out other chivda recipes
Corn flakes chivda // Cereal chivda // Sabudana chivda
What kind of poha to use in Chiwada namkeen?
In this fried poha chivda, always use thick poha (jada poha or mota poha). This is the same poha which we use in making batata poha.
How to make Poha Chiwda Recipe?
1) First, measure all the ingredients and keep handy on the countertop. Because we will need them one by one.
2) Get all the spices (red chili powder, turmeric powder, fennel seeds powder) and salt, sugar, citric acid and sesame seeds in a bowl. Mix well and keep it aside till needed.
3) Heat the oil in a pan on medium heat for deep frying. we will be frying all the ingredients one by one.
4) We will start with the nuts. Once the oil is hot, take peanuts in a sieve and immerse the sieve in the oil. fry the peanuts till they are light brown in color. It won’t take much time. Remove them in a large bowl.
5) Next, fry the cashew nuts the same way. They will get a light golden color, again remove them in the same bowl.
6) Next fry the raisins. Within seconds, they will get plump up. Immediately remove them, If fried for longer then it will become chewy.
7) Now we have fried all the nuts and raisins. Next is to fry the poha. Fry them in batches. I have fried 2 tablespoons at a time.
8) Fry them till they are expanded in the size. No need to brown them. It won’t take that much time to fry, so you need to work quickly. Keep frying and keep collecting them in a bowl till you are finished with all the poha.
9) Now poha is still hot or warm, sprinkle the spice mixture on it. Mix it immediately. Keep in mind that always mix spices while poha is still warm.
10) Now back to the frying, fry the slit green chilies till fried completely. We do not want any moisture left in the chilies.
11) Do the same with curry leaves. Fry till leaves are crispy and no more moisture in them.
12) Add them to the chivda and mix well.
Let it cool down completely. Then store in the dabba or container. It stays good for 2-3 weeks.
Notes on making BEST Chiwda:
- The quantity of peanuts, cashews, raisins, dalia are adjustable. I prefer more poha compared to the nuts. While many prefer more nuts vs poha. So adjust it accordingly. This proportion works for my family.
- Be careful while adding citric acid. a very small pinch is enough this quantity of chivda. When I say pinch, I really mean it. Little goes a long way.
- Instead of citric acid, you can use amchur powder.
- Do not over fry the raisins, otherwise, they become chewy.
- Always add, mix the spice powder mixture while poha is hot/warm. Otherwise, spices will not stick to the poha.
- If making a bigger batch of it then fry small portion, add spices, mix. Then fry next batch do the same and then fry the third batch and so on. Because poha is still hot/warm, turmeric will get its color quickly and evenly on the poha and spices will get mixed properly.
- Also as soon as spices hit the warm poha, the raw edge of spices will go away. So you won’t get the raw flavor of spices.
Check out more Diwali namkeen recipes
Chakli // Namak pare // Tikha gathiya // Aloo sev
Chiwda Namkeen Recipe (Fried Poha Chivda)
Ingredients
- 3-4 tablespoons Peanuts
- 2 tablespoons Cashew nuts
- 1 tablespoon Raisins
- 2-3 tablespoons Roasted chana dal (Fried gram or daria, dalia)
- 1 ½ cups Thick Poha (beaten rice)
- 2 Green chili slit
- 2 small sprigs Curry leaves about 15-20 leaves
- ½ teaspoon Red chili powder
- ¼ teaspoon Turmeric powder
- ¼ teaspoon Fennel seeds powder
- 1 teaspoon Sugar powdered
- Salt to taste
- a small pinch or 1/8 teaspoon Citric acid (nimboo ful)
Instructions
Preparation:
- First, measure all the ingredients and keep handy on the countertop. Because we will need them one by one.
- Also get all the spices (red chili powder, turmeric powder, fennel seeds powdeand salt, sugar, citric acid and sesame seeds in a bowl.
- Mix well and keep it aside till needed.
Making chiwda recipe:
- Heat the oil in a pan on medium heat for deep frying. we will be frying all the ingredients one by one.
- We will start with the nuts. Once the oil is hot, take peanuts in a sieve and immerse the sieve in the oil. Fry the peanuts till they are light brown in color. Remove them in a large bowl.
- Next, fry the cashew nuts the same way and remove them in the same bowl.
- if using dalia, you can fry them a similar way. I have not added in this chivda this time.
- Next fry the raisins. Within seconds, they will get plump up. Immediately remove them.
- Next is to fry the poha. Fry 2 tablespoons of poha at a time in batches,
- Fry them till they are expanded in the size. No need to brown them.
- Keep frying and keep collecting them in a bowl till you are finished with all the poha.
- Now poha is still hot or warm, sprinkle the spice mixture on it. Mix it immediately.
- Now back to the frying, fry the slit green chilies till fried completely and not any moisture left in the chilies.
- Do the same with curry leaves. Fry till leaves are crispy and no more moisture in them.
- Add them to the chiwda and mix well.
- Let it cool down completely.
Notes
- Mix the spice powder while poha is still warm or hot. Otherwise, spice powder won’t stick to poha well.
- Fry the poha in batches about 2-3 tablespoons at a time.
- Make sure to fry chilies and curry leaves well. Fry them till there is no moisture left and become crispy.
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i want information about fried poha chiwda
we have noticed that one lot chiwda has gone a little soft after two months. what is the reason behind it?
So the moisture makes the chivda soft. I can think of below reasons.
1) The main reason could be there is moisture left in green chili and curry leaves. So fry both of them until they become crispy.
2) If storing for that long then skip the raisins. No matter how long you fry, it will have some moisture left.
3) always use dry spoon to take chivda from the container.
4) Humid weather could be the reason.
Just tried this recipe. It was very easy to do. Thank you for sharing 🙏🏼
Glad that you find it easy.