Kande Pohe for a Slow Morning
The Pune breakfast, done properly, which mostly means not drowning the pohe.
Pohe is judged entirely on texture, and texture is decided in the first ten minutes, before any heat is involved. Everything after the rinse is seasoning.
The two failure modes are opposites. Under-rinsed pohe stays chalky in the middle and no amount of steaming fixes it. Over-rinsed pohe collapses into a single mass the moment it hits the pan. The window between them is wide enough to hit reliably and narrow enough that you should actually check with your fingers rather than trusting a timer.
The sugar surprises people who did not grow up with it. It is not there to make the dish sweet; it is there to lift the lemon and the turmeric, and its absence is immediately noticeable in a way its presence is not.
Nutrition figures are household estimates for one serving, not lab assays.
The Recipe
- 2
- 10 min
- 12 min
| Ingredient | 01 | 02Check | 03Temper | 04Bloom | 05Sweating | 06Season | 07Fold | 08Garnish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
0 2 cups thick poheThin pohe will turn to paste. This is the whole recipe in one line. | Rinse Put the pohe in a colander and rinse under running water for about twenty seconds, moving it with your fingers. Do not soak it. Leave it to drain and swell for ten minutes while you do everything else. | Check the pohe with a fingertip. It should crush between two fingers with no hard core and no wetness. If it is still hard, sprinkle a little water. If it is wet, you have gone too far and there is no way back. | Heat the oil in a wide pan. Add the mustard seeds and wait until they pop properly, which takes longer than you think. | Add the green chillies (and peanuts). Ten seconds, no more. | Add the onion and cook until soft and translucent, around five minutes. Do not brown it. | Add the turmeric, sugar and salt. Stir for thirty seconds until the turmeric loses its raw smell and everything is evenly yellow. | Fold in the pohe gently, lifting rather than stirring. Cover and cook on low for three minutes. | Off the heat, add the lemon juice and coriander. Fold once. (Garnish the dish with diced tomato and/or coconut.) |
1 2 tbsp oil | ||||||||
2 1 tsp mustard seeds | ||||||||
3 2 green chilliesdark green chillies if you can handle the heat, else light green chilli. | Chop Slit the green chillies lengthways (or chop if you want the heat distributed). | |||||||
4 1 tbsp peanutsOptional. | ||||||||
5 1 onionLarge, finely chopped | Chop Finely chop the onion. | |||||||
6 0.5 tsp turmeric | ||||||||
7 1 tsp sugarNot optional. | ||||||||
8 Salt, to taste | ||||||||
9 0.5 lemon | Chop Finely chop the coriander. Halve the lemon. Dice the tomato. Shred the coconut. | |||||||
10 3 tbsp fresh corianderUse coriander leaves | ||||||||
11 0.5 tomatoOptional. | ||||||||
12 2 tbsp shredded coconutOptional. |
Nutrition
- Carbs 60.2%
- Fat 31%
- Protein 8.8%
| Per serving | Whole dish | |
|---|---|---|
| Calories | 320 | 640 |
| Carbs | 48 g | 96 g |
| Fat | 11 g | 22 g |
| Protein | 7 g | 14 g |
| Fiber | 4 g | 8 g |
| Sodium | 420 mg | 840 mg |