Nothing can bring back memories like food.Just the name if certain dish creates nostalgia and we are carried back to fond memories.Growing up as late 80's and 90's kids we did not have such an exposure to world cuisine that today's kids have.All we ate were day to day south Indian meals and rotis/pooris occasionally.When we ate out the highest delicacy we would ask for was masal dosai :). Only during late 90's pani poori and bhel puri made their appearance in my home time and slowly found their way to our kitchen too. Does not having pizza,pasta or fancy burgers and sandwich mean that our childhood was deprived in terms of good food,no not definitely. We may not have had fancy cookies,but those mini britannia biscuits stored in tin which we could not get enough of,cute animal shaped biscuits(bommai biscuit),occasional slices of bread cake were really more than enough to lighten up our day.It was the time when loads of Iyengar bakery were in stream in the city and who can forget those freshly baked veggies puffs or fiery hot sandwiches.Coming to think of today's post-kara pori is the simplest of recipe one can make with puffed rice.I have written more about puffed rice here.As we were growing up,buying this pori and kadala (peanuts) from the street vendor was more like a norm right after every dinner,especially in my grand parents home.The sauteeing noise of peanuts in a big vessel with sand is the announcement that street vendor is on his way to our street with freshly roasted peanuts and many other eatables like puffed rice,roasted gram etc.We used to get our fill for 1 or 2 rupees,yeah just 1 or at the maximum 2 rupees for which we will be handed with a big paper cone full of roasted peanuts or puffed rice.While many of them liked to eat plain puffed rice with roasted peanuts,I never liked to eat plain puffed rice.How did or still do I like to have puffed rice? As I said before the simplest of recipe-kara pori was,is and will always remain my favorite ;). For those who doesn't know,here is the recipe,no not really a recipe,just a 2 step method :)Kara pori/varutha pori recipe
Star ingredients:Puffed rice (pori)
Time:10 minutesServes:4
Ingredients:
2 cups puffed rice
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon mustard
1/4-1/2 teaspoon asafoetida
10-12 curry leaves
Salt
Oil
Method:
1.Heat oil in a wide kadai.Temper with mustard and curry leaves. Add asafoetida,chilli,turmeric powder and salt.Mix well.
2.Add the puffed rice and mix well.Saute for 3-5 minutes till the rice becomes crispy.
3.Serve or store airtight.
Notes:1.Here I have used normal oil for tempering,adding coconut oil takes the whole dish to a new level.
2.Remember to do the entire cooking in very low flame to avoid the burning of spices and tempering.
3.Few people add channa dal,cashew nuts to this recipe but I like it this way.
4.Adding 1-2 cloves of crushed garlic while seasoning is another popular version of this recipe
Next time,while your hands reach for fat laden,synthetic filled snacks in the shop,do yourself and your family a big favor by leaving them in their place and try making such guilt free snacks at home.These are so cheap,easy to make,healthy and you don't have restrict yourself or your kids on quantity :)
