Aval Kesari - Poha Kesari

Aval Kesari is an easy to prepare sweet using poha/rice flakes. It requires lesser ghee when compared to rava kesari. I usually prepare vella aval(aval with jaggery). I came to know about this version with sugar through food blogs. Since aval is a favourite of lord krishna, aval kesari is a perfect neivedhyam dish for janmashtami/krishna jayanthi. I prepared this today on account of aadi month friday.

Aval Kesari Recipe

Serves  :  3 - 4 people

Ingredients

• Aval / Poha (I used slightly thick variety)  -  1 cup
• Sugar  -  1 cup
• Water  -  2 cups
• Ghee  -  3 tbsp
• Cashew nuts  -  as required
• Raisins  -  as required
• Cardamom powder/Instant badam mix  -  a pinch
• Food colour  -  little (I used saffron food colour)

Method

1. Clean the aval to remove dirt particles, if any.
2. Take 1 tsp ghee in a pan and fry the cashew nuts and raisins till golden brown.
3. In the same pan, add another 1 tsp ghee and roast poha till a nice aroma arises. Do not over roast it.
4. Powder the roasted poha in mixie to a coarse consistency like rava.
5. Boil 2 cups of water and once it starts boiling, add the powdered poha and cook till soft. To check if poha is cooked, touch with your hands and if it does not stick, it means poha is cooked.
6. Once poha is cooked, add sugar, food color(mixed in little water) and mix well. It will form a liquid mass initially but will eventually blend and form a solid mixture.
7. Once it becomes thick, add the cardamom powder, remaining ghee along with the fried cashew nuts and raisins and cook till it leaves the sides of the pan.

Notes

• To speed up the cooking, boil water in parallel and use for cooking the poha.
• Adjust ghee according to your need.