Dahi Chura / Dahi Choora ~ A Bihari Breakfast

A few decades ago, a teenager was visiting his brother in Bangalore and was having a gala of summer vacation. The above mentioned brother's colleague happened to visit their home once and saw the kid. The colleague thought that the kid was probably bored sitting at home and invited him over to his house for a weekend breakfast. That colleague incidentally happened to be a Bihari and the kid got all excited for the invite. He was up and ready when Sunday dawned and tagged along his cousin too to the host's house which was near by, expecting a wonderful meal from another cuisine.

To their dismay, they were the ones to wake up the host and hostess. The kids were now in a fix and they did not know whether to stay or run back home with an excuse. However the sleepy eyed host opened the door and dragged them inside. After what appeared to be some agonizing moments, the 13 & 9 year old got a call from the hostess for the breakfast. Their embarrassment had turned into bewilderment seeing their breakfast platter. Bowls of uncooked poha served along with some yogurt and sugar on side. They somehow finished their breakfast with a smile plastered on their faces and ran back home.

Those two kids survived the ordeal, to share the story with mirth decades later and one of those kids also happened to live in Bihar for a while. My husband shared this experience with me when I asked for Bihari recipes while doing the Indian odyssey themed blogging marathon and BTW the older kid in the story was my husband. I did dalpuri at the time and this dahi choora remained back in my mind. And I meant no offense in any way while sharing the above anecdote.

And though I did not know it at the time, I happened to meet the said Bihari friend at Bangalore airport while I was flying to USA for the first time, with an infant in tow 17 years ago. When my husband was mentioning his name while narrating the incident, it clicked that he was the same person who helped me at the airport on my Brother-in-law's request. Phew, small world. :)

I am used to sweetened milk poha (I have to yet post the recipe) and dahi poha in a savory version and so the recipe did not come as a shocker to me but generally speaking, a breakfast based on uncooked poha is unheard of in most of the parts in southern India. Where as this dahi choora based on yogurt and flattened rice flakes happens to be a very common breakfast / snack served in Bihar. Dahi is yogurt in Hindi while the uncooked flattened rice flakes are called chura in Bihar and hence the name of  the recipe. Actually I found the recipe very cool and to me it sounded like an Indian version of cereal flakes. This is a quick, no cook recipe yielding a complete meal with no fuss and no mess, besides being very convenient in the morning rush hours. The addition of fruits is optional but makes the dish wholesome.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup thin variety flattened rice / poha / chura
1 cup yogurt
Jaggery / Honey / Sugar to taste
1/2 cup chopped fruits of choice (Optional)

Method:
* Wash rice flakes thoroughly with water in a colander. Drain and leave aside until they soften. Fluff the flakes well with a fork.
(The poha variety I get softens in under five minutes. It must be possible to mash a flake with the gentle pressure between the thumb and the fore finger.)
* Whisk the yogurt well with the sweetener of your choice. Add chura and fruits if using to the yogurt and combine well.
* Serve immediately.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 56.

Comments

An InLinkz Link-up