Indori poha
Preparation Time
15 minutes
Cooking Time
15 minutes
Difficulty Level
easy
Meal Type
Breakfast
Serves 4
Key Ingredients
- Thick poha
About This Recipe
Indori poha is what Indore eats standing up at a breakfast stall: a heap of soft, separate, faintly sweet flakes with a fennel-flavoured tempering, a dusting of jeeravan masala and a fistful of sev, onion and pomegranate on top. It is a different dish from Maharashtrian kanda poha, and the difference is the method. Kanda poha is stir-fried with onion in the tempering; Indori poha is steamed. The rinsed poha is seasoned and set over boiling water for a few minutes, so it swells in steam without ever touching the pan, and the tempering is poured over at the end. The result is fluffier and lighter, and the onion stays raw and crunchy on top instead of soft inside.
Jeeravan is Indore's own spice blend, sold ready-made in masala shops there. A shop-bought packet is easiest; the home mix in step 1 uses cumin, coriander, fennel, black pepper, cloves, dry red chilli, amchur, black salt and hing and comes close. Chaat masala with a pinch of roasted cumin powder is the fallback. Only thick poha holds up in the steamer; thin flakes collapse into paste (the thick poha vs thin poha page compares the grades). Ratlami sev is the Indore choice for the topping, but any fine sev works, and pomegranate can be skipped out of season. The poha recipes roundup has the rest of the family, from dahi poha to poha kheer.
Ingredient List
Serving Size:
1x
2x
3x
Poha
- Thick poha — 2 cups
- Sugar — 1 tsp
- Turmeric Powder — 1/2 tsp
- Salt — 1 tsp
Tempering
- Groundnut oil — 2 tbsp
- Mustard Seeds — 1 tsp
- Fennel seeds (saunf) — 1 tsp
- Fresh curry leaves — 10 leaves
- Green chillies, finely chopped — 2 pieces
- Hing (asafoetida) — 1 pinch
Jeeravan and toppings
- Jeeravan masala (shop-bought, or home-made from the spices in step 1) — 2 tsp
- Onion, finely chopped — 1 medium
- Fine sev (ratlami or plain) — 1/2 cup
- Pomegranate arils — 1/4 cup
- Fresh coriander leaves, chopped — 2 tbsp
- Lemon, cut into wedges — 1 piece
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Serving Suggestions
Pile the poha on a plate, top with jeeravan masala, sev, chopped onion, pomegranate and coriander, and squeeze lemon over just before eating so the sev stays crisp. In Indore it comes with a jalebi on the side, and the sweet-and-savoury pairing is worth trying at home once. Extra sev in a bowl on the table lets everyone add their own crunch.
Tips for Cooking Indori poha
Rinse the poha in a sieve and let it drain for five minutes before seasoning; wet, heavy flakes steam into a lump. Spread the poha loosely in the steamer plate rather than pressing it down, and keep the steaming to five to seven minutes; longer and it goes soggy. The tempering should be hot when it goes on, so fry it while the steamed poha rests under the lid. Add the sev only at the table.
Chef’s Note
The sugar is not optional: Indori poha should taste faintly sweet against the sour lemon and hot jeeravan, so keep at least a teaspoon. The poha cooks in steam, not oil, so the only added fat is in the tempering. A plate before the sev goes on comes to about 248 kcal, 3.7 g protein and 8.1 g fat; most of it is carbohydrate from the flakes, which IFCT 2017 puts at 76.75 g carbs per 100 g raw.
Per serving (approx.): 248 kcal, protein 3.7 g, carbs 40 g, fat 8.1 g, fibre 1.7 g. Computed from IFCT 2017 / USDA values for the listed quantities. Measures: 1 cup = 240 ml, 1 tbsp = 15 ml, 1 tsp = 5 ml.
Happy Cooking
!!
ByCOWBERRY
Jul 08, 2026
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