A desi twist on chex mix!
What is Chevda?
Chevda (pronounced Chay-vada) or chevdo is a very common snack food in south asian food. It is normally a spicy and tangy blend of rice flakes, split chickpeas, peanuts, almonds and cashews all tossed in a special spice mix. The best chevdas, in my humble opinion, are crunchy with a perfect balance of of sweet, salty and spicy!
Traditionally a chevda includes rice puffs, also called murmura, flatened rice flakes (poha), fried lentils, peanuts, and raisins. And is typically served as a tea time snack.
In this version I tried to stick to what I could find at a regular grocery store. So we are using cereals to emulate the rice puffs and poha textures. Ofcourse if you can find murmura and poha then for sure use those instead! It will be much more true to the original recipe.
Making Chevda from Grocery Store Ingredients
I was inspired to make this when I had a bunch of leftover cereal after a friend came over for a visit. We don’t really eat cereal in our house so I needed a way to repurpose them so they didn’t go to waste.
And so the chex mix chevda was born!
The best part about making your own chevda is that you get to control the flavours and oil level. Everyone has their own balance of sweet to salt to spice that they like. Personally, I like it subtly sweet and am a wimp when it comes to spice. Others like a spicier chevda without much sweetness at all. Play around with it and find your perfect balance.
Also feel free to switch up the cereals you use. Try adding plain cornflakes, or frosted flakes – I love the texture which is very similar to rice flakes (poha). Rice crispies are like rice puffs (murmura). Don’t like peanuts? Skip them or use cashews instead! Just keep the ratios about the same. You want about 8 cups of cereals and nuts for one batch of chevda. And yes it is a lot. But chevda is made for sharing!
Here’s a few more fun things to try in your grocery store/pantry friendly chevda:
- Potato sticks
- Ruffle potato chips
- cornflakes
- frosted flakes
- cheerios
- chex cereal
- rice crispies
- peanuts
- cashews
- channa daal
Just remember to pick a few things that are savoury and a few sweet to balance out the flavours. And bonus points if you get different textures going too!
It really is the perfect snack food. Try this in place of popcorn for your next movie night! 🙂
Chex Mix Chevda
Ingredients
- 2 cups honey nut cheerios
- 2 cups rice chex mix
- 2 cups rice crispies (or murmura – rice puffs)
- 1 cup peanuts, whole peeled
- 1/4 cup oil a neutral oil like canola or avocado oil is best
- 1 Tbsp mustard seeds
- 10-12 curry leaves
- 1/2 cup raisins
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 1-2 tsp kashmiri red chilli powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup pretzel sticks
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 250F. Place all the cereals and nuts in a couple of baking trays making sure everything is in a single layer.
- Bake for about 30 minutes until they start to turn golden brown and become fragrant. Remove from the oven and set aside.
- Once the cereals are done, in a very large pot heat the oil on medium. Add the mustard seeds and allow to cook for a few minutes till the seeds start to pop.
- Add the curry leaves, it will sputter quite a bit. Give it a stir and add the raisins, turmeric, red chilli, and salt. Cook for a few more minutes till the raisins start to plump up.
- Add the toasted cereals, nuts and pretzel sticks, stir well to coat the cereal well. Turn off the heat and allow to cool to room temperature. To speed this up you can spread out the chevda onto the baking sheets to cool down.
- Store in an airtight container for up to a month!
The Indian snacks are usually delicious and mouth watering preparations. Savouries like “Samosa”, “Aloo Tikki” and “Vada Pav” are easily prepared and are commonly served Indian snacks. The popularity of Indian snacks grew because of its easy process of preparation and that they can be prepared at any time. The crispness and tempting tastes of Indian snacks is liked by young and old alike. Snacks are generally eaten between meals. It is thought to be ideal to serve the appetizing Indian snacks while having coffee or tea.
https://www.indianetzone.com/38/indian_snacks.htm