Last month "Mother's Recipe" team contacted me and invited me to participate in a contest they are organizing for food bloggers across the country. The contest with name, "Mother’s Recipe: Innovative Recipe Challenge"made me curious. They said if I'm interested they will send me a hamper with assorted products and I've to come up with a recipe with my own twist and I've to blog about my experience with the product. I didn't have a slightest idea then that they are going to send me their ready-to-cook products.
Desai Brothers Limited owns & manages the 'Mother's Recipe' brand. They have business in India as well as in 40 countries around the world. Mother's Recipe, the market leader in Indian Pickles has a product range that now consists of Pickles, Condiments, Blended Spices, Papads, Appalams, Curry Pastes, Curry Powders, Ready to Cook Spice Mixes, Ready to Eat meals (Canned and Retort Packing), Mango Chutneys, Ethnic Chutneys, Canned Vegetables, & Mango Pulp.
![]()
So, few days back they sent me a lot of their ready-to-cook products like, Vegetable Biriyani, Kande Pohe, Upma, Garlic pickle, Paneer Butter Masala, Butter Chicken, Vermicelli Payasam etc. The best thing of these products is that these products are totally ready, has all the tempering, even contains oil and salt. In most recipes, you just need to add water. Personally, I don't like to use much these ready-to-cook products for my family, but sometimes they can be a lifesaver, so I thought to try all of them.
One fine morning, I gave a try to their Kande Pohe/Poha instant mix/Chirer Pulao. It just needs to add water and cook for sometime and it'll ready. As the contest is all about giving the recipe a twist, I planned to give it a healthy touch with South Indian flavour by adding vegetables and soaked moong dal to make it a filling and healthy. The products contains cumin and mustard seed, few curry leaves, some assorted spices too. So I didn't add any more spices, just tempered with more curry leaves, dry red chilli, coconut, cashew and peanuts, ginger and green chilli.
You Need : (serves 3-4 persons)
Mother's Recipe Instant Poha mix : 1 packet
Cashew and Raw peanuts : few
Vegetables : broccoli, capsicum, Potato, green peas(all chopped in smaller chunks)
Green Moong Dal : 1/2 cup, soaked overnight
Fresh coconut : some chopped and some in slices(for decoration)
Dry Red chilli : 1
Poppy seeds : 1tblsp.
Ginger : 1/2 ", chopped finely
Green chilli : 2, chopped finely
Curry leaves : 4-5
Oil : about 1 tblsp.+ 1tsp. (as product contains oil already, used this much just to stir fry veges)
Fresh Coriander leaves How To :
- Firstly, chop all the vegetables in small chunks except green peas.
- Heat oil in a pan, add raw peanuts first and fry them until they are fried, takes about 2-3 minutes, then add cashews and fry until they are brown. Keep them aside.
- In the same pan, add vegetables and in low flame saute them until they are just done, remove and keep the veges aside.
- In the same pan, add just 1 tsp. oil, fry the coconut pieces till they are brown, then temper with dry red chilli, ginger and green chillies, and lastly with curry leaves and poppy seeds. Immediately add whole packet of instant poha mix. Stir and mix everything, add fried vegetables, green moong dal and nuts, mix well everything and add as much water as mentioned in the packet.
- I didn't add any more salt as the product contains salt already and it was just right for me. If you need, add after checking. When all the water evaporates, sprinkle some fresh coriander leaves and serve immediately.
- Garnish with coconut slices and fresh coriander leaves.
Do checkout the Mother’s Recipe products at http://mothersrecipe.com/
Also visit their Facebook Page : https://www.facebook.com/imissmymothersrecipe?fref=ts
