Walk Down The Memory Lane with A Traditional Bengali Snack Chirer (Flaked Rice) Polao

An old family photo!

Our home was a bustling place. With all the varied members of a medium sized joint family residing within its folds, the poor house did not have much choice!

Families of three brothers (my grandfather's and his two brothers') stayed together in our sprawling house. In 1970s India, families believed in staying together and the great Indian joint family was very much the norm.

My grandfather had two more brothers, one lived in another city. So he and his family would come to spend the summer holidays with us. During the summer vacations the house would be bursting at seams. But for me it was a treat. Mostly my mother was too busy to notice what I was upto. Also it meant more uncles and aunts to pamper me!

The ladies dressed up in lovely saris for some occasion!

My mother keeps reminiscing about those happy days, soon after her marriage. She got married when she was just eighteen years old. She says when she joined the family, most of her sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law were still living at home.These are all my father's cousins. Most of them were still in college. My mother was studying herself. Soon they were fast friends, hanging out together, going for shopping, movies, eating street food on the sly.

There was always something or the other happening in the family. There were the usual birthdays, marriage anniversaries, celebration of various festivals, picnics, day trips and summer trips. Apart from these, there were impromptu chats (adda) happening all over the house, in the balcony, the staircase, the kitchen, the roof. There was never any fixed time...sometimes late at night, other times during the afternoon. All it needed was for my mother and a couple of my aunts to gather. Their laughter would resonate throughout the house. Often the uncles joined in, teasing them mercilessly, but that did not faze them. My family was also pretty active culturally, they were always singing, acting in plays, dancing, painting, stitching or knitting.

A recipe which was popular during those days. Chire or Flaked Rice is one of the many derivations of rice. Other popular one being Puffed Rice with which the rice cakes are made. Flaked rice is popular in many parts of India. It is used to make Poha in northern and western India. Presenting to you the Bengali version Chirer Polao. This is my mother's recipe. This is different from other versions because it is sweeter in taste, filled with seasonal vegetables.

Like I mentioned in the 'About Me' section I am a ghoti, originally from the western part of Bengal. The speciality of our food is that all our savoury dishes have sugar/jaggery. We believe that a little sweet fine tunes the savouriness of a dish and brings in a better balance. This dish is a classic example of this tradition of cooking.

As a child I remember eating this snack mostly during winters. My mother loves making it in winter so that she can add all the winter veggies like carrots, green beans, peas and cauliflowers.

This is served for breakfast or a late afternoon snack to the children after they return from their schools. Also served to guests as snack.


What You Need For The Recipe:

i. 2 cups of flaked rice

ii. Whole garam masalas-- 2/3 whole peppers, 2/3 cloves,

 2/3 cardamoms, 1 inch of cinnamon bark 

and a couple of bay leaves, slightly crushed

iii. Handful of cashew nuts and raisins. 

Soak the raisins in a little water to fluff them up

iv. Seasonal vegetables like carrots, green beans, cauliflower

 (one fourth of a large one), chopped as shown in the picture

Half a cup of peas

v. One medium potato chopped

vi. One medium onion chopped

vii. A couple of green chillies, 

snapped in the middle

viii. Half a tea spoon of garam masala powder

ix. One tea spoon of sugar

x. Salt to taste

xi. Half a tea spoon of ghee/ clarified butter (I skip this)

xii. Chopped coriander to garnish

xiii. I almost forgot, 2 tea spoons of oil,

vegetable or sunflower

How To Make This Dish:

Wash the flaked rice and drain the excess moisture. In a pan, heat the oil, add the whole garam masalas and the potato cubes. Fry till the potato pieces turn light brown, add the onions and fry till the onions turn light brown, by now the potatoes should be turning golden/darker brown. Now add the rest of the seasonal veggies and the cashew nuts and fry for 2 to 3 minutes more. 

The vegetables frying

Add the salt which will help to soften the veggies. After this add the drained flaked rice and mix everything well. Put the lid on and let it cook on low medium heat for a couple of minutes. If it becomes too dry add a few drops of water. Stir occasionally. 

Flaked rice cooking with the veggies


Once everything is cooked, the flaked rice should be fluffed up and soft, the potato cooked and the vegetables should have a little crunch still left in them, remove from heat. Sprinkle the garam masala powder and the sugar. Mix again thoroughly. The sugar will melt in the heat. Do not add sugar before the flaked rice is cooked, since that will hamper the flaked rice from softening. You can add the optional ghee/clarified butter at this stage. Sprinkle the fluffed raisins. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve.
At this stage your house will smell of garam masala, ghee and all things nice :-)

 Enjoy your chirer polao with gorom cha (hot tea)!