Pyar se poha and style se flaked rice! It is our beloved chira or chire in Bengali. De-husked rice is beaten to obtain flat flakes. Flaked rice is extremely light and heavily nutritious.
It keeps you full without adding any extra pound to your belly fat. That sounds a great relief, especially for those on diet.
Cooking flaked rice is extremely easy; it takes almost no time. For a few flaked rice dishes, a little more work is needed but I know you will enjoy it.
Keeping a ready stock of flaked rice is a great idea to quickly serve something very comforting and delicious to your surprise guests.
Uses of Flaked Rice in Bengali & Indian Cuisines
Flaked rice soaked in milk and served with bananas and/dry fruits is still one of my favourite breakfasts.
This breakfast dish is amazingly tasty and has some nostalgic childhood memories deeply attached to it. So simple yet so delicious and nutritious as well! No fussy work to make it, yet it easily tames your hunger pangs!
Flaked rice sautéed with shallow fried vegetables such as, carrot, cabbage leaves, and cauliflower makes a savoury dish for both breakfast and snacks.
You can toss chopped green chillies and onions in the mix for flavour and taste enhancement.
Doi Chire is a Bengali dish which is made from rice flakes mixed with dahi.
Poha pulao is an interesting delicacy. The name drops enough hints about the ingredients. Almost similar to rice pulao in terms of preparation, poha pulao is a perfect dish for your breakfast.
You can pack it for your office lunch as well. The dish tastes mildly sweet due to lots of dry fruits used in it.
Poha chivda is a festive special prepared during Diwali. Chivda means a crunchy, savoury snack. You can choose from plenty of variations of the dish.
Different flavour combinations are tried to experiment with taste. It is usually served to friends, relatives, neighbours and other hosts along with other traditional home-made savouries and sweets.
In Maharashtra, onion poha or kanda poha is an extremely popular dish. It is a part of their daily breakfast spreads. In South India, flaked rice is used to make batter for idli and dosa.
Poha barfi is a sweet recipe with beaten rice slowly cooked with milk and sugar. Add condensed milk while stirring the milk and flaked rice for an added and enhanced layer of flavour and sweetness.
Dry fruits give sweet, crunchy bites whereas cardamom powder is used as a flavour enhancer. You can also make ladoo, instead of barfi, from it.
Poha kheer is another dessert made of flaked rice. Flaked sugar is cooked in milk. The mixture is stirred continuously until a thick creamy consistency is not achieved.
Condensed milk is used to sweeten and thicken the milk. Sugar is also added as a further sweetening agent. The dish is served with lots of dry fruits topping on it.
Do Rice Flakes Need to Be Cooked?
Not necessary, for items like Poha it should be cooked, even it can be tossed as a snack but it is not necessary that you have to cook and eat the Rice Flakes.
How Do You Make Rice Flakes?
This is made by de-husking and then parboiling or soaking it in the hot water for 45 mins.
You can dry, flatten and roast it to make the rice flakes. Usually it is a thick, medium and thin variety.
Questions & Answers
How Does Flaked Rice Taste?
Indori flaked rice is known for its sweet-sour taste. Flaked rice soaks in the flavours of the ingredients used with it.
What Can Be Made of Rice Flakes?
You can have Poha, Polau, Poha barfi, Doi Chire and even Chuara from Rice Flakes.
Is Poha the Same as Flaked Rice?
Yes, Poha is the cooked version of Flaked rice.
Are Flaked Rice Same as Rice?
Flaked Rice is the flatted version of rice.
Is Flaked Rice a Cereal?
No flaked rice is not cereal.
What is Flaked Rice Called in Different Languages?
Flaked rice is known as Chire in Bengali and Chura in Hindi.
