Poha is the desi breakfast that is loved by scores of Indians living in the country as well as in abroad. The flattened rice dish is often spruced up with vegetables, served with tiny crispy Indian fritters, bhujia or chutneys, or simply with chopped onions and tomatoes. You may also pair them with jalebis or imartis. Poha is a much-loved breakfast dish across states in northern and western India, and in Madhya Pradesh, it's a staple breakfast. It is not only delicious and filling, but also comes with a number of health benefits. Poha comprises substantial nutrition, with relatively low number of calories. It's easily digestible and has probiotic properties as well, which makes it great for our digestive system and gut health. You can play around with this interesting dish quite a lot by adding your favourite vegetables and even top it up with your favourite savoury toppings like roasted peanuts or crunchy fried sev or namkeen.
Poha is quite easy to make and even the prep of the dish doesn't take more than 15 minutes. This is another reason why we love making poha for breakfast. Poha is quite versatile and with a little creativity, you can turn even your leftover cooked poha into a number delicious snacks and appetisers, without even putting in a lot of extra effort or ingredients.
Also Read: Poha Health Benefits: 6 Reasons This Popular Indian Breakfast Food Is Great For You!
Here Are 3 Delicious Ways Of Using Leftover Poha:
1. Poha Paratha
Parathas is one of the most loved desi breads. We Indians have a penchant for stuffing our parathas with the many interesting fillings. If you can have a halwa paratha, then why can you not have a poha paratha? No, it doesn't taste horrible. In fact, you'll be surprised by how delicious this unique stuffed paratha tastes! All you need to do to make this paratha is prepare your dough like you do for a regular paratha, flatten the dough balls into thin rounds, place some leftover poha in the middle and fold it all in to make stuffed dough balls. Cover the dough ball with some dried flour and flatten it again into a round paratha, using your dolling pin. Cook your paratha on your griddle using a grease of your choice, until it's well done. The poha paratha is crispy, flavourful and incredibly filling.
2. Poha Tikki/Cutlet
Poha tikki or poha cutlet is one of the best things you can turn your leftover poha into. This quick and easy-to-make evening snack is an absolute delight to bite into. You can mix the leftover poha with spices and vegetables of your choice to make the tikkis and then lightly fry or roast it using ghee or oil on your griddle. Add mashed potatoes to the mix to make your tikkis or cutlets crispier and tastier and coat them with toasted bread crumbs. What you'll get is a delicious and filling appetiser, which you may want to make again and again.
Also Read: 10 Best Indian Breakfast Recipes
3. Poha Pakoda
The method for preparing poha tikki and poha pakoda is similar but their cooking methods are different. While the tikkis or cutlets are lightly roasted or pan-fried, the pakodas are deep fried, for richer and more filling taste. All you have to do is mix all the spices and some chopped onions with your leftover poha along with fresh coriander and a little bit of corn flour. Mash the mixture with your hands until it starts to come together. Check the consistency and add a little water if the mixture seems to be falling apart. Add some mashed, boiled potatoes to the mixture and start making small balls from this mixture. Fry these balls in a deep-bottomed pot until golden brown and crisp. Serve the pakodas with tomato sauce or mint chutney.
Also Read: Red Poha: How to Use This Healthier Alternative to Regular Poha
You can prepare these dishes from cooked or uncooked poha. In case you want to make these but you don't have any leftover poha, you can simply soak the poha in water for half an hour, add some turmeric and chilli powder to it and get going! If you're using cooked poha, make sure you use salt judiciously in the final mixture, otherwise it may make the final dish a little too salty for your taste.