Indian snacks are awesome, but when we look into the health factor, they go from 30 to 0 in 2 seconds flat. Poha Chivda or Chidva is a wonderful healthy snack alternative to the fried ones, you so yearn for at the stores. This Poha Chivda recipe has a great shelf life and is so easy to make. Make a big batch and store it or a small batch and keep it fresh.
Ingredients:
Thin Poha - 3 cups
Oil - 2 tbsp
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
Curry Leaves - few
Green Chili - to taste (finely chopped)
Roasted Chana Daal (Daliya) - 3 tbsp
Whole Raw Peanuts - 3 tbsp
Golden Raisins - 1 tbsp
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
Citric Acid - 1/4 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp or to taste
Sugar - 1 tsp
Method:
1. Heat the Poha in the microwave safe bowl for 2 minutes, stirring after 1 minute.
2. Grind the Salt and the Citric Acid to a fine powder.
3. Grind the sugar to a fine powder seperately.
4. In a non-stick pan, heat the Oil at medium temperature.
5. Once the Oil is hot, add in the Mustard Seeds. Allow them to pop.
6. Add in the Green Chilis and the Curry Leaves and cook for a few minutes.
7. Add in Whole Raw Peanuts and cook for 1 minute.
8. Add in the Roasted Chana Daal and cook for another minute.
9. Add in the Golden Raisins and cook for 30 seconds.
10. Add in the Turmeric Powder and the Salt & Citric Acid Powder. Mix well.
11. Add the Poha and mix very well till all the Poha is yellow and no white is visible.
12. Once it is mixed well, turn off the stove and allow it to cool for just 1-2 minutes.
13. Sprinkle the Sugar Powder and mix well.
14. Allow the Civda to cool down to room temperature before you store it.
Tips:
1. It is best to grind the Sugar yourself.
2. Adjust any or all of the ingredients to your need to suit your requirments.
3. Store it in air tight container or a ziploc for weeks. It does not need to be refrigerated.
Last 5 posts in Appetizers
- How to Make Vegetable Puffs - Indian Snack Recipe - June 29th, 2008
- How to make Sooji Dhokla - Indian Appetizer Recipes - June 9th, 2008
- Bread Idli - May 9th, 2008
- Channa Dal Bada (Bhajji) - May 7th, 2008
- Sarvapindi - April 22nd, 2008
Share This
Stumble it!
[PRINT ARTICLE]


April 10th, 2008 at 7:53 am
Hi Hetal & Anuja,
it was a nice recipe. My mom used to make it for me. One more tasty idea would be to have it with coarsly crushed papad( Roasted urad daal popadum)and it really tastes so good..try this out.Enjoy…
Thanks for the recipe
April 10th, 2008 at 7:39 pm
Hi Snehal,
Thanks for that suggestion! It sounds great…will definitely have to try it out.
April 11th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
This is great. I always thought it has to be deep fried. I will definitely try it.
Also, in some shops they had dry coconut pieces and they taste great! Roasted cashews also go very well in this.
April 24th, 2008 at 2:32 am
hi ladies
I’m from sydney. watched couple of your recipe demos, love it, very easy to make. One was spinach raita, and bhelpuri, and chivda recipes.
Thanks for doing VDO demos. Keep up the good work.
Regards
Rosina Sharma
May 16th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
hi hetal,
I remember my mum didnt use citric acid while making this chevda. Can u tell us the reason why you used it in this recipe?
thnx.
May 19th, 2008 at 3:42 am
Hi Vikas,
Citric Acid has a very concentrated flavor similar to lime/lemon (basically, sour). The reason we use it in place of lime or lemon juice is that citric acid comes in a dry, granulated form and will not add any additional moisture to the dry chivda. If there is moisture, the chivda will spoil.
June 19th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Hi Hetal and Anuja,
Thanks for the great recipe! I didn’t think of citric acid. That’s a great idea. And microwaving the poha is a great idea too. I make something similar but use corn flakes cereal and rice puff cereal and also put chaat masala besides the salt and curry leaves.
It tastes like the Haldiram Cornflakes mixture that my family loves. I also grind some fennel seeds and put that in with the masala.
The kids love it and it’s healthy too!
July 5th, 2008 at 1:11 am
Hi Hetal & Anuja,
Love this recipe! Easy to make & delicious to taste!
Love,
Shakta Kaur