Spiced Puffed Rice in Instant pot

We Indians love our Bhel aka Puffed Rice aka Murmura aka Puffed Rice Chivda This Spiced Puffed Rice is a easy snack to make at home for tea time or snack time. It is mildly spiced and great for kids too. Making it at home gives us so much space to add the ingredients we like and make it healthy and tasty.

Even though puffed rice is rice , it is very light airy and crunchy so easy on tummy. Doesn’t make you bloated or heavy after having it. With this snack you can make bhel puri also with few more ingredients, but here I will show you basic Spiced puffed rice for snacking.

I remember in my childhood like when I am 7,8 years old, on the streets a man used to come on a bicycle with big woven baskets on either sides of his bicycle containing heaps of puffed rice. Almost a gallon sized container used to cost just 5 Indian rupees (now 1 USD = 68 Indian rupees, approx). My grandmother used to take a container and it would last 1 or 2 days. It was a simple evening snack then, just roast it on stove and eat it plain. My grand mother also used to make puffed rice sweet balls with jaggery or sugar syrup, those are also so yummy. Now the prices have gone up and people selling on bicycles are too rare to find. Everything is commercial and available at stores. Those were the golden days 🙂 

Here I combine few spices which not only add color and flavor but also helps in digestion and boosts immunity. Hing or asafoetida helps in digestion and turmeric is good for immunity.

I also added few nuts, cashews and peanuts for added protein and healthy fats. You can add other nuts also but almonds/walnuts tend to go bitter after roasting so I just prefer cashews and peanuts. You can also add raisins if you wish to.

Some people add garlic, green chilies, red chilies and dry coconut to the puffed rice. You need to fry them well in the beginning so that they will not spoil fast. But I prefer to just add red chili powder for the color and hing instead of garlic as it is easier and less time to prep.

This Spiced puffed rice is a great on the go snack, travel snack, makes fun food gifts to friends, office snacks etc. This is a great snack for those who are on weight loss as it is very nutritious and the calories eaten are justified with balance of carbs,protein and fat. 

Just don’t try to eat all of it in one go, it is very tempting to eat and eat and eat so do portion out and enjoy.

You can add in more ingredients like sev, boondi, fried poha etc but I made it simple here to avoid any extra calories but its totally your choice.

For stove top :

Follow the same instructions below in a wide deep pot on low to medium heat.

For Instant Pot : 

It takes less than 15 mins to make this easy snack including prep time.

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Watch the video recipe here for easy step by step instructions