Pohe recipe

I’m writing down some recipes of my mom’s. Today is pohe! Pressed rice with spices and flavor is a Sunday brunch food in our family. This is the first dish I learned to make years ago because it’s pretty simple. You can find pohe (the pressed rice) in an ethnic grocery store.

Ingredients

• 3 cups of pohe
• 2-3 medium-sized onions
• jalapenos to taste
• A few strands of curry leaves
• 1/4 cup of ground, roasted peanuts
• The juice of a good-sized lemon

Pohe ingredients.

Spices

• 1/4 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/4 tsp mustard seeds
• Salt to taste
• 1/4 cup of sugar

Directions

Right after step 11

1. Dice the onions and the peppers.
2. Wash the pohe in a colander.
3. Pour oil in a pan on the stove over medium heat.
4. Add in the mustard and cumin seeds.
5. When the mustard seeds start to pop, add in the diced onions and peppers and the curry leaves.
6. Let cook until the onions are translucent.
7. Add in the turmeric, salt and sugar.
8. Mix well.
9. Add in the washed pohe and the juice of the lime.
10. Mix well.
11. Pour a handful of cold water on the pohe.
12. Cover the pot and let cook on low for 5-8 minutes or so.
13. In a separate pan, roast the peanuts.
14. When the peanuts are lightly roasted and cooled, grind them coarsely. You can do this ahead of time and keep a bunch in a jar.
15. Add the peanut powder to the pohe.
16. Stir well and let cook covered on low for another few minutes.

I didn’t realize how bad this picture was until just now. That previous sentence will only be true once.

Acceptable Alterations

1. You can use any type of hot pepper. These jalapenos were very mild and I wish I had used five instead of two.
2. You can use whole peanuts instead of grinding them.
3. Or you can ditch the peanuts altogether.
4. It’s okay if you don’t have curry leaves.
5. Adding cilantro to anything makes it better.
6. I like a lot more lime juice.
7. If you don’t have any hot peppers, you can use cayenne pepper.

Price

This was lunch for four of us. We spent about $3. Oh, right, I’m not doing that anymore.