PUFFED RICE CHIVDA/BOMBAY MIX

My son loves all things crunchy. He likes to munch on them and the sound it creates seems to amuse him . On weekends I make snacks for him to last for a whole week and I made this chivda. Chivda is a famous snack from many parts of India. It has a whole bunch of nutritious items like groundnuts (peanuts), bengal gram (kadala parippu), coconut, etc.It is non-deep fried and very quick to prepare.

Although this snack can be prepared in minutes it is usually prepared during diwali, holi, etc. My earliest memory of this snack is getting loads of chivda to eat during diwali time from our neighboring houses. It was a custom that kids from each house used to take prashad ( offering given to God) and distribute in each house of the locality. So a big batch used to visit our house with lots of sweets and other snacks. i don’t know whether such custom is still followed or not. Diwali evening we used to gather around and burst crackers. On other days we used to visit out family friends where again there used to be a huge spread of savory and sweet items.

As kids we wish to become grown ups. But once we are grown up we yearn to go back to those childhood days because they were the best. Anyways coming to the recipe-

INGREDIENTS:

Puffed Rice – 1 cup

Mustard – 1 tsp

Turmeric Powder – 1 tsp

Chilly powder / Green chilly – 1 tblspn

Peanuts- 1/2 cup

Chopped coconut – 1/4 cup

 

Asafoetida – 1/4 tsp

Bengal Gram – 1/2 cup

Curry Leaves – 6-8 stems

Sugar – 1 tblspn

Salt – As per taste

Oil – 2 tblspn

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. In a mortar pestle add sugar and salt and crush them. You can also use blender to powder them. This allows the sugar and salt to be of same consistency and not settle at the bottom of the jar where chivda is stored.
2. Dry roast the puffed rice in a non-stick kadai.
3. Remove it to a plate.
4. In the same kadai, add 2 tblspn oil.
5. Add chopped coconut pieces and saute till nicely browned.
6. Remove the coconut pieces and in the same oil add bengal gram and toast.
7. Remove toasted and add peanuts and toast.
8. Remove and splutter mustard seeds.
9. Add asafoetida, curry leaves and the roasted bengal gram and peanuts.
10. Add turmeric powder and chilly powder.
11. Add the puffed rice and mix everything well.
12. Add sugar and salt mix and mix again.
13. Toast for another 30 seconds and remove it to a plate.

Store it in air tight container.

TIPS:

1. Prepare chivda on a low flame as it can easily  burn.
2. You can add dry fruits if you like.