Tope – Chicken & Poha (Beaten Rice) Recipe

East Indian Tope, a marriage of our Portuguese cultural inheritance with our Maharashtrian Indian roots. It’s the perfect all-in-one meal at any time. Find out how to cook this yummy dish.

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It was my turn to help mom in the kitchen yesterday, and we were making Chicken Tope again after a long time. yeah, we like Mutton Tope too, but this time it was chicken. 😉 Just so you know, tope is pronounced as “toh-pay”. It’s a traditional Eastya dish that tastes even better than biryani, another rice dish that we love.

From the hall sis kept taking breaks from her work to scream, ‘Take pictures, take pictures of the chicken!’. We had already started chopping the onions and the chilies, so no pictures of that. Anyway, I managed to take a few pics in the middle of mess.

By the way, did you know that my friend Karen makes some great-tasting vegan BBQ chicken! It was the first I heard of vegan meat, but yeah, that’s a thing!

What Ingredients Do You Need for Chicken Tope?

Chicken, Poha (beaten rice), Onions, Green Chillies, Ginger, Ghee, Cinnamon powder and a few Cardamoms, Bottle Masala, Coriander leaves, Mint leaves and Sourlimes.

You will find Poha in the Asian section of your supermarket. (If you need more information about poha, you’ll find it at the bottom of the post here.)

How to make the East Indian Chicken Tope

We had already cut a whole chicken into pieces. So we sliced about half a kilogram of onions, along with 8 green chillies (we’re spicy like that, ha!) and ginger.

Mom then set me to heating 3 large spoons of ghee (the traditional Indian version of clarified butter) in the toap (vessel). We then added in the chopped onions and chillies, and fried it for about 5 minutes.

We chop the ginger fine and then crush it. The garlic cloves we just crush to release the flavor.

Next, we add in the crushed garlic and ginger to the onion mixture and fry for another 7 minutes.

Next comes 1 teaspoon of cinnamon powder and the crushed cardamoms.

We then added in the chicken pieces and about two and a half spoons of the East Indian bottle masala, 700 ml water, and left it to cook on a medium flame for about 10 minutes. The pic above is just before we add the water in.

Here’s one more closeup pic of the chicken! It would taste great as a stir fry on its own, but why leave it that way? So onwards to make the famous East Indian chicken tope.

While we’re doing that sis takes another break from her work to scream, ‘Pictures! Pictures!’ We scream back, ‘You come and take pics if you want!’ But she’s got deadlines and isn’t leaving the computer. So we feel sorry for her and take some pics. She’s lucky she has us, isn’t she?

After a bit, we add in the chopped coriander and mint leaves. Mom then sets me to squeezing the juice of 2 whole sourlimes in it and turn off the fire in a few minutes.

Once we’ve taken the chicken off the flame, we add in the poha and leave it be for some time.

After some time we see that the poha, which is a form of beaten rice has absorbed all of the gravy from the toap aka pot and grown to double its size.

We just stirred it once more and then garnished with some roughly chopped coriander before digging in. That’s it, quite simple and easy. Our delicious Special Chicken Tope was ready to relish!

What’s Perfect About This Chicken Tope Recipe?

• We love our chicken tope because it’s the perfect all-in-one dish.
• It’s similar to the Indian biryani but truly in a league of its own.
• It’s also perfect to carry for picnics and serve with a side of fresh tomatoes!
• Poha or beaten rice is healthier than regular rice.

Cooking Tips and Tricks

• To buy East Indian Bottle Masala, you can Whatsapp Jevayla Ye at +919175191561 (No email, no website) for international deliveries, and order using discount code Fugyeah10 for orders above 1 kg..
• You can replace the Sourlimes with Apple Cider vinegar. Use vinegar that’s only half the quantity of lemon juice.
• You can make this dish with Mutton too. All the steps are the same!
• Other chicken recipes you might try are kasuri methi, chicken tope, mustard chicken, chicken soup, giblet stuffing, and chicken gizzard.

Other recipes you might like

• Bombay duck pickle
• Paya Khudi – A curry of Goat Feet!
• The big list of Irish comfort foods
• Savory cottage cheese recipes
• Mustard Chicken Recipe with Red Wine

Well that’s it for my gluten free chicken tope recipe. Comment and tell me how much you liked it!

Here are the answers to a few questions we get asked about cooking a chicken tope

Just updated to add some info about tope and beaten rice or poha for some of my readers who haven’t tasted it before.

Is Chicken Tope the Same as Chicken Bhujing?

It’s similar in taste, but the method of preparation is different. While the tope starts off with a curry base, the bhujing that was invented in the Virar area in the 1940s starts off with a roast chicken. The chicken is skewered and roasted, the word here is bhujne, which lends the dish its name. It’s then put together with roast potatoes, poha and more. Both dishes taste amazing!

What Is Poha or Beaten Rice?

Beaten rice or flattened rice or poha is a rice that has been parboiled, then flattened by rolling and finally dried to produce flakes. The flakes can vary in texture and thickness, with different types being used in both sweet and savory Indian snacks and dishes. Originating in Maharastra, India, the most popular Indian snack is the namesake, the Maharastrian poha.

Beaten rice is an easy on-the-go snack. Just add the poha with any spices and leave it to soak in a pot of boiling water, and it’s done in 10 minutes. But of course, spend 10 or 20 more minutes with it and you can create a whole array of dishes, from chiwda to vadas, from pudding to pakodas.

How Are Poha Flakes Made? How Is Poha Made?

Poha flakes are made by parboiling rice, then rolling and flattening them out before leaving them to dry. Different levels of rolling and flattening will result in rice of differing thicknesses. We often use the finer poha in snacks and the thicker poha in breakfast or lunch/dinner recipes.

Beaten rice is a fat-free gluten-free food that’s easy on the heart and the stomach. You can find it in raw or pre-cooked form in the Asian/Gourmet section of Walmart and Amazon or any other supermarket worldwide.

I’ll come back with a recipe for another poha sometime soon. 😉