Atukula Mixture or Poha Chivda

In my childhood, my mother used to make atukula mixture quite often as an evening snack and we enjoyed it a lot. It's nice to munch on them while drinking a hot cup of tea or coffee and it's raining outside.
Let's see how to make this simple and easy snack :)

                                                           

What we need:

Thin atukulu or thin flattened rice-3 cups

Pallilu or veru sanaga gundlu or ground nuts-1/4 a cup

Putnalu or roasted chana dal-1/4 a cup

Curry leaves-a sprig

Chilly powder-1/4 teaspoon 

Dry red chilly-2
Cumin seeds-1 teaspoon

Turmeric powder-1/4 teaspoon 

Salt to taste

Oil-1/4 a cup

                                                                                                        

 How to prepare:

1. Heat two tablespoons of oil in a pan and add the ground nuts. Fry them for a minute on a low flame and add the roasted chana dal, cumin seeds,  broken dry chilly and curry leaves. Fry them for a few seconds.
2. Transfer them into a bowl and add the remaining oil to the same pan. Add the flattened rice and fry them on a medium flame.
3. Once the flattened rice puffs up, add turmeric powder, salt and fried ground nut mixture to the pan. Stir the contents well and turn off the stove.
4. After they cool down, store them in an air tight container.

 Note: You can also add azwine, cashew nuts and golden raisins to this mixture. And you can also deep fry the flattened rice.

Tomato Rice

Tomato rice is a simple, one pot meal dish which goes well with papad and onion raita. It is easy to prepare and also easy to carry as a lunch box meal for school going children or office going adults. Tomatoes contain lycopene (antioxident), vitamin A and vitamin C and are low in calories.
Let's see how to make tomato rice :)

                                             

What you need:

Rice-4 cups (I used sona masuri rice)

Tomatoes-4 big sized

Chopped onion-1 medium sized

Green chillys-5

Chopped coriander leaves-1 cup
Cumin seeds-1 teaspoon

Cinnamon stick-1

Cardamom-2

Cloves-5

Ginger garlic paste-1 teaspoon

Bay leaves-2
Turmeric powder-1/4 teaspoon
Chilly powder-1/4 teaspoon
Coriander powder-1 teaspoon
Salt to taste

Ghee-2 tablespoons

Oil-2 tablespoons

                   
                                                                                                                                                                                                              
                                                              

Preparation: 

1. Wash and soak the rice for ten minutes. Chop the tomatoes and green chilly into small pieces. 

2. Heat the ghee and oil in a cooker and add bay leaves, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and cumin seeds. After a few seconds, add the chopped onions and the cut chilly and fry for two minutes on a medium flame. 

3. Now add tomato pieces and ginger garlic paste. Saute them for two minutes and add chopped coriander, turmeric powder, chilly powder, coriander powder and salt. 

4. Mix them well and add the soaked rice. Fry them for a minute and add eight cups of water. Close the lid and pressure cook it for three whistles.

5. Once the pressure go off, open the lid and mix the rice carefully without mashing it.

Serve it hot with papad and onion raita.

Note: You can also add cashew nuts and increase the quantity of turmeric powder and chilly powder (reduce the green chilly) to make it look more colourful.