15-Minute No-Fry Cornflakes Chivda with Peanuts, Cashews, Raisins and Curry Leaves
A one-pan cornflakes chivda recipe: crisp cereal flakes, pan-roasted peanuts and cashews, plump raisins and curry leaves in a sweet, salty, tangy spice coating.
- Prep
- 3 min
- Cook
- 12 min
- Rest
- 15 min
- Serves
- 8
15-Minute No-Fry Cornflakes Chivda with Peanuts, Cashews, Raisins and Curry Leaves is a vegan snack recipe made with plain unsweetened cornflakes, neutral oil, black mustard seeds. It takes 15 minutes of hands-on time, plus 15 minutes resting, serves 8, and each serving has 166 calories, 4 g of protein and 2 g of fiber.
Boxed cornflakes are already crisp, so this makai chivda skips the deep-frying and comes together in one wide pan with just 2 tablespoons of oil. The nuts roast slowly in the tempering oil, the ground spices bloom off the heat so they don't scorch, and the powdered sugar and chaat masala go on at the end, when they cling to the warm flakes instead of melting into sticky patches. Expect big, shattery flakes with a sweet-salty-tangy finish, which makes it a very different snack from thin poha chivda.
A base ingredient + texture (big, shattery sweet-salty cornflakes makai chivda with raisins and chaat masala, toasted in one pan in 15 minutes, instead of thin roasted poha flakes with coconut) take on our No-Fry Roasted Poha Chivda with Peanuts, Cashews, Coconut and Curry Leaves.
Ingredients
- 4 cups112 gplain unsweetened cornflakes, not frosted or honey-coated
- 2 tbsp28 gneutral oil
- 1 tsp3.3 gblack mustard seeds
- ⅓ cup48 graw peanuts, skin-on or blanched
- ⅓ cup45 graw cashews, halved
- 15 2 gfresh curry leaves, patted completely dry
- 3 tbsp27 ggolden raisins
- ½ tsp1.5 gground turmeric
- ¾ tsp1.4 gKashmiri chili powder
- 1 tbsp7.5 gpowdered sugar
- 1 tsp3 gchaat masala
- ½ tsp3 gfine salt, or to taste
Kit: wide heavy pan or kadai, large mixing bowl, flat spatula, rimmed baking tray
Tips
- Use the widest pan you own. A crowded pan forces hard stirring, which crushes the flakes into crumbs.
- Keep the heat at medium-low for the nuts. Peanuts that brown too fast stay raw-tasting in the middle and turn bitter outside.
- Dry the curry leaves thoroughly. Any moisture makes the oil spit and leaves the leaves chewy instead of crisp.
- Add the sugar off the heat. Over direct heat it can melt and glue the flakes into clumps.
- If you need this to be strictly vegan, check the cereal box: some fortified cornflakes use vitamin D3 from lanolin.
Swap ideas
- Use roasted unsalted peanuts instead of raw
- Saves about 3 minutes; add them along with the cashews so they warm through without over-browning.
- Swap the cashews for sliced almonds or pumpkin seeds
- Almonds give a lighter crunch, and pumpkin seeds make it cashew-free; either needs only about 1 minute in the oil.
- Use dried cranberries instead of golden raisins
- Adds a sharper, tarter chew; stir them in off the heat because they scorch faster than raisins.
- Add 1 thinly sliced green chili with the curry leaves
- Brings a fresh, sharper heat; fry until the slices are blistered and crisp so they don't soften the mix.
The numbers
Nutrition per serving
166kcal per serving
Everything else · 8 servings per recipe
- Saturated fat
- 1.2 g 6%
- Sugars
- 5.1 g
- Sodium
- 309 mg 13%
- Potassium
- 132 mg 3%
- Calcium
- 13 mg 1%
- Iron
- 4.7 mg 26%
- Vitamin C
- 0 mg 0%
- Vitamin B12
- 0.25 µg 10%
% Daily Value on a 2,000 calorie diet. Calculated from USDA FoodData Central values for each ingredient; optional ingredients are excluded. Estimates vary with brands and portions.
Sources: Cereal, corn flakes, plain (USDA FoodData Central, FNDDS), Oil, canola, Spices, mustard seed, ground, Peanuts, all types, dry-roasted, without salt, Nuts, cashew nuts, raw, Curry leaves, fresh (Nutridex; from Gopalan et al. 1980, Nutritive Value of Indian Foods, and Wu Leung et al. 1972, Food Composition Table for Use in East Asia), Raisins, dark, seedless (Includes foods for USDA's Food Distribution Program), Spices, turmeric, ground, Spices, pepper, red or cayenne (SR Legacy; used as proxy for pure ground red chili, since USDA 'chili powder' is a salted spice blend), Sugars, powdered, Chat Masala - National (100 g), Salt, table
Method
Measure everything before you turn on the heat, because the cooking moves quickly. Stir the powdered sugar, chaat masala and salt together in a small bowl, and put the cornflakes in your largest mixing bowl.
Set a wide, heavy pan or kadai over medium-low heat. Add the cornflakes and toast them dry, stirring gently with a flat spatula, until they smell toasty and feel very crisp, 2 to 3 minutes. Return them to the bowl.
Add the oil to the same pan and raise the heat to medium. Add the mustard seeds, and as soon as they start to pop (about 30 seconds), turn the heat back down to medium-low.
Add the peanuts and cook, stirring often, until they are a shade darker and smell roasted, about 3 minutes. Add the cashews and keep stirring until they are light golden, 1 to 2 minutes more.
Add the curry leaves (stand back, they spatter) and stir until they turn dark green and brittle, 30 to 45 seconds. Add the raisins and stir just until they puff up, 15 to 20 seconds.
Turn off the heat. Stir in the turmeric and Kashmiri chili powder straight away and let them sizzle in the hot oil for 10 seconds, until the oil turns deep orange.
Return the cornflakes to the pan, turn the heat to low and fold gently from the bottom up until every flake is evenly yellow-orange and no pale patches remain, 1 to 2 minutes. Lift and turn rather than stir, so the flakes stay whole.
Take the pan off the heat, sprinkle the sugar, chaat masala and salt mixture over the top and fold again to coat. Taste a flake and adjust the salt or chili.
Spread the chivda on a large tray and let it cool completely, about 15 minutes; it crisps further as it cools. Transfer to an airtight container only once it is cold.
Storage: Cool completely, then store in an airtight jar or tin at room temperature for up to 2 weeks. Keep it away from steam and humidity; if it softens, spread it on a tray and re-crisp in a 300°F oven for 4 to 5 minutes, then cool again before sealing.
Questions
- How much protein is in 15-minute no-fry cornflakes chivda with peanuts, cashews, raisins and curry leaves?
- Each of the 8 servings has 4 g of protein, 2 g of fiber and 166 calories, calculated from USDA FoodData Central values for every ingredient.
- Is 15-minute no-fry cornflakes chivda with peanuts, cashews, raisins and curry leaves vegan?
- Yes. It contains no dairy, eggs, honey or other animal products.
- How long does 15-minute no-fry cornflakes chivda with peanuts, cashews, raisins and curry leaves take to make?
- 3 minutes of prep and 12 minutes of cooking, so 15 minutes of hands-on time, plus 15 minutes of unattended resting.
- Can you make 15-minute no-fry cornflakes chivda with peanuts, cashews, raisins and curry leaves ahead?
- Cool completely, then store in an airtight jar or tin at room temperature for up to 2 weeks. Keep it away from steam and humidity; if it softens, spread it on a tray and re-crisp in a 300°F oven for 4 to 5 minutes, then cool again before sealing.
- What can I substitute in 15-minute no-fry cornflakes chivda with peanuts, cashews, raisins and curry leaves?
- Use roasted unsalted peanuts instead of raw — saves about 3 minutes; add them along with the cashews so they warm through without over-browning.. Swap the cashews for sliced almonds or pumpkin seeds — almonds give a lighter crunch, and pumpkin seeds make it cashew-free; either needs only about 1 minute in the oil.. Use dried cranberries instead of golden raisins — adds a sharper, tarter chew; stir them in off the heat because they scorch faster than raisins.. Add 1 thinly sliced green chili with the curry leaves — brings a fresh, sharper heat; fry until the slices are blistered and crisp so they don't soften the mix..
- Does 15-minute no-fry cornflakes chivda with peanuts, cashews, raisins and curry leaves contain gluten or tree nuts or peanuts?
- Yes — the ingredient list includes gluten, tree nuts and peanuts, in some cases as an optional ingredient you can leave out. Check the labels on the products you buy if you're cooking for an allergy.
Nutrition is calculated from USDA data for every ingredient — how we work it out.
Published October 20, 2026 ·Indian
