A few years ago when my (adult) daughter started eating Cheerios regularly, I came up with the idea of making Chuduva (a spicy savory snack mix) with them.  At that time, Multi Grain Cheerios contained 100% of the RDA of iron per serving*… and since my daughter had an iron deficiency during her pregnancy it was the perfect snack for her. She was also told that having Cheerios with milk slows down the absorption of iron so she had been looking for creative ways to eat them.

I still make Cheerios Chuduva regularly (except with regular Cheerios which has less sugar than Multi Grain) as my retired husband likes to munch on something during the day – its still one of his favorites!

*Now the recipe has changed and it only has 45% of the RDA of iron per serving, similar to regular Cheerios.                                                          

Ingredients

8 cups Cheerios

2 tablespoon oil

2 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 sprig curry leaves (optional)

3 whole red chillies

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper ( red chili powder)

2 cups potato sticks

1 cup dry roasted unsalted peanuts (any type of nut will work)

1/2- 1 cup raisins (optional)

 Preparation

Heat oil in a large wok, add the cumin seeds, red chilis and curry leaves. Stir till the cumin seeds start to brown. Add the turmeric, salt, and cayenne pepper. Stir and add the raisins. Stir for 30 seconds and add the cheerios, potato sticks and peanuts.

Continue to stir on low heat until the mixture is well mixed for about 3 minutes. Let cool and store in an airtight container.