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Monday, June 18, 2007

Phodnichi Poli

Weekends at our place are so lazy...by the time we wake up and make our weekly calls back home, we have missed breakfast time and close to lunch. On top of that, many a times we have run out of veggies but have leftover polis (chapatis). So this is the perfect occasion for another of our childhood favourites---'Phodnichi Poli' or 'Policha Kuskara' as some people call it. This is a very good way to use leftover, stale polis and a great option for breakfast or for a quick snack in between. As a kid I used to plead my mom to make this dish whenever there were some extra chapatis. Of course, my wish was not always granted, but whenever my mom did make this dish, it was a real treat for me. You will not find any Maharashtrian kid who has not heard of this dish and hence this recipe is going for the RCI-Maharashtrian Cuisine event, hosted by Nupur of 'One Hot Stove'.

Ingredients: (serves 2)
Leftover poli 4
Chopped onion 1 medium or 1/2 big
Kadhipatta (Curry) leaves 2-3
Daane (Peanuts) optional 1tsp
Sugar 1/2 tsp
Cayenne pepper 1 tsp
Salt
Mohri (mustard seeds) 1/4 tsp
Jeera (Cumin seeds) 1/4 tsp
Hing (Asafoetida) 1/4 tsp
Halad (Turmeric) 1/2 tsp
Oil for phodni (tadka) 1 tbsp

Method:
Tear the poli (chapati) very fine and crumble it (we call it 'kuskara karne'). This can be done in two ways. Either tear the poli into big pieces, and run them in the food processor till you get really tiny pieces of poli; or just keep rubbing the pieces of poli between your palms to crumble it into tiny pieces. The tinier the pieces the better. Once done, sprinkle sugar, cayenne pepper and salt on this. It will look like this...

Now heat the oil in a kadhai. Once heated add the mohri, jeere, hing and halad to make the phodni (tadka). To this add the kadhipatta leaves. Fry for a minute and then add the chopped onions. Fry till they turn translucent. Next, add the peanuts if using. Fry a little and then add the poli mixture. Mix together, check for taste. Cook covered for a minute or so. Do not cook for a long time otherwise it will turn tough. Garnish with some cilantro and serve with a dollop of dahi (plain yogurt).

13 comments:

Nupur said...

Ooh, this is one of my favorites :) Too bad that these days I rarely make polis, let alone have ones left over for this dish! Thanks for sharing a favorite dish!
By the way, I adore the little bhaatukli stove :) I had so much bhaatukli kitchen things as a kid...I am sure they are in my parents' home in some forgotten box. The stove is so cute!

Tee said...

Thanks Nupur! All these days I had this stove sitting as a showpiece but it never struck me to use its picture on my blog. Recently a friend remarked how it reminded her of her 'bhaatukli' and then it was 'Eureka' for me! :)

Suganya said...

I din't know this was actually a dish.. I accidentally made this once with leftover stale chapatis... I love it.. Now-a-days am making this with frozen paratha.

sra said...

Tee, there's something like this made with Parathas in the South. People tear up the paratha, add eggs, meats or vegetables and it's a fulfilling, heavy one-pot meal!

TheCooker said...

Love it!
At my place, phodnichi poli and poli-cha-laddoo are displacing mac-cheese! Yeah!!

Sia said...

never knew that it is dish in maharashtra:) my amma always used to make this with left over dry chapaties and we would eat it w/o any complaints:) now that i know the meaning of ur blog title, it makes me nostalgic thinking abt all those cooking set we had:)

TNL said...

This stuff is so good......We make it all the time too....call it "Vaghareli rotli", have you ever tried making this with yogurt? that tastes good too!

trupti

FH said...

This is new to me.Looks great.I need to make Poli first!:))

Arts said...

My favourite tiffin food.. :) Used to ask mom to prepare extra rotis in the evening just for me to take phodnichi poli in tiffin,,
thanks so much for sharing :)

Tee said...

Suganya, this dish is really addictive. I am glad you enjoy it...

Sra,your recipe sounds really good, must try it out sometime.

TC, double 'yeah' to that!

Sia, I am thankful to you for pushing me to put up the description for my blog! I had been postponing it for a long time now...:)

Trupti, never tried making it with yogurt...though we do take yogurt on the side while eating this. would love to know how exactly you make it.

Asha, try it out, you will love it! Even if you make this out of phulkas or paratha, it should be fine.

Arts, you are welcome!

Vini K said...

Hi Tee,I saw this being prepared once long ago(in 1990) by my friend's mom.she had put out rotis to dry out and my friend had explained what they were going to do with it but never tasted it.I guess I can make this now and fulfil my wish of the last 17 yrs!hanks for sharing:)

Tee said...

ViniK, 17 years is too long a wait...its time to taste it now :)

Unknown said...

I tried this today and it was simply amazing, my son who is a very fussy eater actually said it was yummy and he enjoyed eating it. I used to be so worried about what to do with stale chappatis, but not anymore, thanks to you