My family loves to munch on a spicy snack while watching TV. A favorite is the spicy snack mixes you get at Indian stores. Unfortunately, those snack bags cost a lot and are full of fried ingredients. This is a great cost effective (price per ounce) way of recreating that fun and spicy snack mix without all the fat and calories.
To make about 4 1/2 cups of cereal , you will need 4 cups of dry cereal. The best cereals to use have no sugar like plain cornflakes, cheerios, chex rice cereal, rice crispies. I used a high fiber cereal here as well. You can use as many kinds of cereal or just two kinds if it's more cost effective for you.
You will need the following seasoning and spices:1 tsp mustard seed
1 tsp cumin seed
1/4 cup of curry leaves (torn apart)1 tsp garlic powder1 tsp red chili powder (or to taste)1/4 tsp turmeric1/4 tsp sugar1/2 salt tsp (or to taste) pinch Asafoetida (this is an Indian ingredient used a lot in cooking) You can omit if necessary.
3/4 tsp mango powder (substitute well ground citric acid if mango powder is not available).
1/2 cup raw peanuts
** mix all the dry spices
(highlighted above) in a bowl and have it waiting for the final step
Optional Ingredients:2 green chilies minced (optional)
1/2 cup raisins (optional)
Heat 1 tbs of oil (I used canola) in a large frying pan on medium-high heat. Add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and curry leaves to fry in the hot oil for about 30 seconds.
Add raw peanuts and fry until slightly golden (for about 1-2 minutes (careful not to burn the ingredients).
Add your four cups of cereal and toss with all the frying ingredients so the oil coats the cereal.
Quickly sprinkle in the dry spice ingredients and toss with all ingredients until all the cereal is well coated. Turn heat off stove and get cereal chivda out of pan into a bowl to cool to room temperature. ** Careful not to burn **
Note: All the ingredients taste great right out of the pan except the peanuts. You have to let the peanuts reach room temperature to become crunchy again.
Makes 4 1/2 cups or more... You can store in an air tight container or ziploc bag. Enjoy.
