The word Poha is quite popular among Indians called ‘Sira’ in Assamese. Have you ever heard of a dessert made of chira or poha or flatten rice whatever you say !! Why not try something new today ??
I have been eaten Sira pitha in every occasions since my childhood. In Assam we eat chira / poha with curd or milk and sugar or jaggery, this is the simplest way to eat. But my mother makes sweets out of this chira by adding few more ingredients. There are two varieties she makes , but with a little twist I made another variety which tastes exactly like gulab jamun.
This unique recipe grabs everyone’s attention when they heard about the chira / poha has been used to make this. The mixture of coconut and poha and fragrance of cardamom pods and sugar syrup enhance its taste more . Let’s go through the recipe and make this unique dessert first .
Ingredients:
2 cups flatten rice ( thin poha / chira )
3 tablespoons plain flour
1/2 cup freshly grated coconut / dried coconut flakes ( store bought )
1 teaspoon cooking soda
Oil for frying
For syrup :
4 cups water
1 1/2 cup sugar
6 to 8 cardamom pods
Method :
Wash and soak Sira / flatten rice / thin poha in water for 20 minutes . Now strain it and squeeze out the water. Keep aside.
In a bowl mix this poha with plain flour , coconut and a teaspoon of cooking soda. Now knead with hands and make small balls out of this mixture . You can give any shape you want
In a hot skillet, add oil and fry each balls till you get brown colour . Remove and let it cool down.
In another pan , make sugar syrup by adding water and water . Add cardamom pods for fragrance . Once syrup is done , soak each fried balls into it for 10 - 15 mins .
Remove from sugar syrup and serve hot .