On a long-ago idyll in India, I discovered unimagined rice delights. There were soft puffy rice cakes called idli commonly eaten in the morning. Pilaf-like biryanis. Sweet pongals. Here is a take on a rice dish you probably have never imagined, a poha.
While I try not to use difficult-to-find ingredients in Blue Cayenne recipes, poha is, I suspect, something you don’t normally keep in your pantry. You can find it on the shelves of most Indian markets and, of course, on Amazon. The Amazon link is here. Poha is inexpensive. You don’t have to invest a lot of money to give this rice dish a try.
If you are a little intimidated by the prospect of making this out-of-the-ordinary dish, here is a good You Tube video: Indian Poha. The recipe I’m posting below has some different ingredients, but the video will get you past your unfamiliarity in prepping poha. It’s easy.
This recipe is adapted from one that appears in Madhur Jaffrey’s wonderful cookbook, Vegetarian India. If you are vegetarian (and an adventurous cook) or if you are just trying to prepare more vegetable forward dishes, this cookbook would be a wonderful addition to your collection.
Jaffrey is an award-winning actress (Shakespeare Wallah)and an inspired cook. She has written numerous cookbooks, seven of which have won prestigious James Beard Awards. She has been quoted as saying that her three best/favorite cookbooks are An Invitation to Indian Cooking, A Taste of India and the book from which this recipe is adapted, Vegetarian India. If you want to dip your toe in the water before investing in one of her books, just type in Madhur Jaffrey on your browser and you will find a number of wonderful recipes.
As the story goes, Ismael Merchant (of the movie-making duo Merchant and Ivory–Howards End, Call Me By Your Name) set the young actress (she is now 84) up for an interview with the legendary NYT food writer Craig Claiborne. Worried about the inadequacy of her tiny NY kitchen, Jaffrey borrowed the kitchen of a friend and proceeded to prepare stuffed green peppers, sour cream koftas and raita for Claiborne. Lucky man, Claiborne.
That was 1966. The rest is history.
Claiborne wrote adoringly about her and her inspired Indian meal–Indian food was pretty unknown in America in 1966–and her career as an Indian food writer was launched.
I’m thinking it would be fun to recreate the meal Jaffrey prepared for Clairborne. Wanna come?
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I want to taste this, so I’ll have to make it I guess! The story about Indian food is fun reading…