Taak Pohe

Buttermilk Pohe

This was, may be still is, my brother's signature dish for afternoon snack. He started cooking very early. My parents were very firm about the fact that they will teach all the survival skills to both of us. That included me learning to help my father in electrical/mechanical work around the house and my brother helping my mom in cooking. Other household chores were equally distributed. I started helping my mom out when I was in 5th grade so did my brother. But he started venturing into cooking elaborate dishes earlier than me. He started experimenting with various international cuisines after he started sailing and soon realized that he loves Maharashtrian way of cooking more than anything else. Very soon he started replicating various sabjis that mom, aunts, grandmas cook to the dot. He still cooks daily when he is home.
Preparation

When we were young he would make this almost every evening and mastered art of making it. I now don't remember how he came up with the recipe and why. Whenever I make it, it reminds me of the time we spent fighting making snacks.

Here is the simple recipe -

1 cup thin pohe
1.5-2 cup buttermilk
1 green chili
salt and sugar for taste
chopped cilantro
1 tbsp peanut powder
1 tsp oil
cumin seeds, mustard seeds, turmeric powder for tempering

Buttermilk Pohe

Preparation -
Chop chili and cilantro. Add 1 cup buttermilk to thin pohe and add salt and sugar immediately. In a small kadhai heat oil and add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and turmeric powder. Add green chilies once mustard seeds start sputtering. Turn off the heat and mix tempering,chopped to the pohe and buttermilk mixture. Add more buttermilk if the mixture is thick.

Tips -

1. I make buttermilk using 1 part of yogurt to 2 parts of water and mix sugar, salt to the buttermilk to avoid forming lumps of sugar and salt.
2. If you want to make it with thick pohe, pohe that we use for kande pohe, you will have to use more buttermilk about 3 cups or so instead of 2 cups.