Recipe: Meera Sodha’s Pomegranate & Fennel Seed Poha

Written by
Meera & Mom
Author Meera Sodha with her mum, Nita Sodha, making chapattis. (Photo by David Loftus) (The original image is no longer available, please contact KCRW if you need access to the original image.)

Untitled-1Meera Sodha tells us that real Indian home cooking is wholly different than what’s often served in many of the curry houses across the UK. Born and raised in Lincolnshire, she grew up on her mother’s steady Gujarati diet of dishes cooked with love, instinct, fresh produce and local meats procured from their neighborhood markets.

Made in India: Recipes from an Indian Family Kitchen is a collection of Meera’s family heirlooms in the form of recipes passed down through generations, from one woman to another. Some of the dishes in her book are ancient family recipes; many have been shared by her mother; and others are recipes shaped by her own experiences and travels through India.

Meera tells us that she first had this poha for breakfast on a rooftop in Udaipur, Rajasthan, after a weary, overnight train ride across the desert from Jaipur. Afterwards, she asked Chef Suresh to teach her the recipe and was surprised to learn just how easy this Pomegranate and Fennel Seed Poha was to prepare.

Poha is a cook’s secret weapon. It’s essentially rice that has been beaten and flattened, which reduces its cooking time to just five minutes. You only need to rinse it in cold water before using it into your dish. Both poha and sev (fried chickpea noodles) can be found online or in an Indian grocer’s shop.

This particular dish makes an excellent brunch or lunch.

Meera Sodha’s Pomegranate and Fennel Seed Poha (Photo by David Loftus)