I have always loved the serendipity of hearing or reading about something for the first time, and then suddenly seeing it everywhere. This was the case for me with poha, which I first heard about during one of my binge watching sessions of The Great British Menu, and then consequently saw it pop up in a novel as dinner and in a newspaper column as the writer's Proust madeleine moment. Intrigued by the idea of parboiled, flattened rice, I easy invested in a bag on Amazon, and was pleasantly surprised at how well this dish turned out, and how easy it was to make, not to mention fast to the table. I mean, a gourmet tasting dish in 12 minutes and 48 seconds, what's not to like? And if crab meat is not in the budget, this would be great with grilled fish, or even with flaked salt cod as a kind of surrealistic, reinvented Kedgeree.
3 cups poha
8 oz crab meat
4 Tbsps butter
1/2 onion, diced small
1 Tbsp ginger, cut into thin batons and then diced finely
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 Tbsp chopped preserved lemon
1 Tbsp chopped coriander
1 lemon
1 Tbsp dry white wine
Salt
Measure the poha into a bowl and cover with cold water. Set aside.
Chop your vegetables, pick over your crab meat for cartilage.
Melt one tablespoon of butter in a skillet. Add the crab meat, the white wine, one teaspoon of the ginger and cook over medium heat until the wine is absorbed and the crab is warmed through. Scrape into a bowl, cover and set aside.
Drain the poha and set the colander in the sink to further drain as you get on with the next step.
Melt the remaining butter in a pan along with the onions and the ginger. Cook until the onions are starting to soften and turn translucent. Add the turmeric and the chopped preserved lemon to the pan and stir to combine.
Add the poha and stir to combine with the now bright yellow butter mixture. Cook, stirring constantly so that it doesn't stick, until the poha is a consistent golden color, the butter is absorbed and the poha is piping hot. This will only take a couple of minutes.
Turn off the heat, scrape the crab back into the pan on top of the poha, place a dish towel over the pan and cover with a lid. Leave for 2 minutes for the poha to steam. The dish towel is not an absolute necessity but it helps to remove any condensation during the quick steam process.
Roughly stir the crab meat into the poha and portion the poha risotto into 4 bowls. Give each bowl a quick squeeze of lemon juice and top with a quarter of the chopped cilantro.
Inspiration recipe on how to cook poha, here.
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