aval kesari / poha kesari

Aval Kesari Recipe / Navrathri Specials

Aval or avalakki or atukulu or flattened rice is the main ingredient for the fourth day of our Navrathri festival. Today's recipe is aval kesari. This is yet another simple dish that can be prepared very easily. This is also one of the beginners dish.

Atukulu kesari is a perfect sweet for this festive season. Atukulu or flattened rice is very light on the tummy and is easily digestible. It is rich in carbohydrates and iron. The best feature of avalakki is it is fat-free. So it is a highly recommended guilt-free snack. You can also check my recipe for poha oats chivda which is yet another healthy guilt-free snack. 

Aval kesari is a slightly chewy sweet made with milk and sugar. It is similar to the paramannnam ( rice payasam ) that we generally prepare during Pongal. I have seen many people preparing this sweet with water, but I prefer to make it milk. This gives a lovely richness to the dish and makes it delicious 😋. The preparation of poha kesari is similar to that of poha payasam or poha kheer, excepting that we do not add any colour to the dish and the consistency varies for each dish.

You can add any kind of dry fruits as per your choice to get extra energy from them. I have added raisins, cashews, almonds and pistachios. But you could also include chironji seeds, dates or any other dry fruits as well.

Preparation

Soak almonds in water for 15 minutes. Remove the skin and set them aside. Heat a pan. Add flattened rice and dry roast on a low flame until crisp.

Once the aval has become crisp and you get a nice aroma from it, transfer to another plate.

In the same pan, put ghee.

Roast all the dry fruits that you wish to add. Keep them aside.

In the remaining ghee pour milk. Let the milk get hot.

Meanwhile, crumble the aval into tiny pieces with your hands. Alternately, you can also put in the blender.

Add the crumbled aval and mix well. All the milk will be absorbed by the aval and the aval become soft.

Once cooked and soft, add sugar and colour.

Mix well and sprinkle cardamom powder. Give a nice mix.

Add a little black pepper powder.

This gives a lovely flavour to the dish. This is purely optional. Now add the roasted dry fruits and mix everything well. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Ingredients

Aval ( flattened rice ) 1 cup

Milk. 1 1/2 cups
Sugar 1/3 cup
Cardamom powder 1/4 tsp
Black pepper powder  pinch
Kesar colour  pinch
Dry fruits  1/4 cup

Method

1. Soak almonds and remove the skin. Keep aside.
2. Dry roast aval until crispy. Transfer to another plate.
3. Add ghee in the pan and roast the dry fruits. Keep aside.
4. Pour milk in the remaining ghee and let it become hot.
5. Add crumbled aval and cook until soft.
6. Add sugar and colour and mix well.
7. Sprinkle cardamom powder and black pepper powder.
8. Put the roasted dry fruits and switch off the flame.
9. Serve hot, warm or at room temperature.

Notes

• The sweet tends to thicken upon becoming cold. So add hot or warm milk just before serving.
• You can also prepare aval kesari with water instead of milk. You might not get the richness when prepared with water.