Rice flakes/ Beaten rice with Potatoes ( Batat Phovu, Potato Poha)

Beaten rice/rice flakes are spiced up and seasoned to make a variety of items for breakfast, tea time snacks throughout south India. One such item that's famous throughout Maharastra, Goa and Karnataka is seasoned, spicy, flavourful beaten rice with mashed potatoes. It's called Batat Phovu in konkani. Here goes the recipe to make a yummy Batat phovu.

Ingredients:

1 cup white beaten rice (medium thick)
2 medium onions 
2 medium potatoes
7-8 curry leaves
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
2 green chillies   
1 inch ginger               
1 red chilli
1/2 tea spoon urad dal
A pinch of turmeric
2 tablespoons of oil
2 tablespoons of coriander leaves
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
1 tablespoon grated coconut(optional)
Salt to taste

Serves: 2

Preparation time: 30 mins

Preparation Method:

First wash, pressure cook the potatoes until they are soft and peel them. Smash them with hand into small chunks and keep aside. It's important to smash them using your hand so that they mix well the beaten rice later on. If they are diced or chopped into cubes with a knife they won't mix well.  

Then wash the beaten rice and drain the water and keep aside. This step has to be done in the beginning so that the beaten rice gets enough time to puff up and soft by absorbing moisture. And it's also important to do it in the beginning and to be kept aside, if not the beaten rice will be soggy and sticky and the end product will not look appetizing.

Medium thick poha:

Soaked poha:

Medium thick poha before & after soaking:

Heat up a wok, add oil and mustard for seasoning.

Once the mustard starts popping, add urad dal, curry leaves, chopped green chillies, red chilli, finely chopped ginger and fry for a minute or two until the urad dal is fried nicely and turns brown. 

You can finely chop chillies to get more flavour and spiciness or just slit them and break them into 2-3 pieces so that you don't get spicy chilli in your mouth while eating. 

You'll get a nice aroma of chillies, fried urad dal and curry leaves. Then add finely chopped onions and fry until they get translucent and start to brown.

Add a pinch of turmeric powder and saute to mix.

Then add the beaten rice that has been washed and kept aside and mix well.

Add the hand-mashed potatoes and mix well.

Keep it on medium heat for 2-3 minutes with sauting in between.

Add lemon juice on top, grated coconut, coriander leaves and mix well. Remove off heat.

Serve it hot with a hot cup of coffee.

P.S: This dish is usually prepared with green peas, but we prepare it without the green peas. To use green peas, cook the green peas with salt and add them along with potatoes.   

Roasted peanuts and roasted cashew can be added to give a nice crunchiness along with the soft, flavourful flattened rice with peas and potatoes. You can add cashew and peanuts to the seasoning after the tempering is done and fry for a minute or two until they brown. Then add onions and follow the method described above. Or mix peanuts and cashew roasted in oil with the flattened rice. 

Find more breakfast, tea time snack recipes here.

Tags: Beaten rice, potato, tea time snacks, vegetarian, Konkani dishes, phovu, batato, Konkani recipe, poha, Konkani cuisine, Konkani food, bachelor recipe, kids breakfast