Friday, January 6, 2023

Aval Vilayichathu

 

Aval Vilayichattu is a sweet dish made with flattened rice flakes, coconut, and jaggery as the main ingredients. This is commonly made as a snack item in Kerala. This dish is also made as a prasadam/naivedyam/offering to God. The food group(Sshhhh Cooking Secretly) I am part of, decided to make a "festive" theme as part of the December. With the Ayyappa season in December, I decided to make this dish which is perfect as an offering to the deity. 

Ingredients:

  1. Rice flakes/Aval/Poha - thin variety - 3 cups
  2. Coconut-grated - 1 cup
  3. Jaggery - grated - 1 cup
  4. Cashews - 3 tablespoon
  5. Raisins - 3 tablespoons
  6. Black sesame seeds - 1 tablespoon
  7. Roasted gram dal/Pottu kadala - 1/4 cup
  8. Cardamom - 5 no.
  9. Dried ginger - 1/2 inch piece
  10. Cumin seeds/Jeera - 1/2 teaspoon
  11. Ghee - 2 tablespoons
Method:
  1. Boil 1/2 cup of water and add the grated jaggery. Strain the melted jaggery if you think there are impurities in your jaggery. 
  2. Put the melted jaggery back into the pan. Add grated coconut and allow the liquid to evaporate. Boil for at least 5 minutes.
  3. Add the rice flakes to this and mix well. 
  4. In a small pan, heat a tablespoon of ghee and roast raisins, cashews, sesame seeds, and roasted gram dal. Add this to the rice flakes mixture. 
  5. Grind the dried ginger, cumin seeds, and cardamom into fine powder. Add this to rice flakes.
  6. Mix everything together and make sure all the liquid from the jaggery is evaporated. Add the remaining tablespoon of ghee and turn off the stove.
Allow the mix to cool before you eat. This tastes best when you eat it after a day. Aval vilayichattu stays good without refrigeration for a week. You can also store it in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 weeks. 

As part of "Sshhh Cooking secretly" challenge, a theme is selected at the beginning of the month by one of the participants. All the members are grouped in pairs. The participants will exchange 2 secret ingredients with their partners who are supposed to prepare a dish that matches the theme of that month. This month's festive theme is chosen by Priya Vijaykrishnan who blogs at Sweet Spicy Tasty. Do check out the recipe for Thiruvadhirai Kootu. 

Renu is my partner for this month. She gave me ginger powder and cardamom as my ingredients and I gave her sesame seeds and edible gum as her secret ingredients. Renu came up with a very delicious Gluten-free Bajra ladoo. Do check out her blog for a wide variety of healthy dishes. 


9 comments:

  1. This looks like an easy treat to make for the festives and with all the healthy ingredients. My kids would love eating this.

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  2. Wow Anu, this is an interesting festive recipe. Would love to try out this recipe for the upcoming festival.Almost looks like granola.

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  3. such a deliscious prasadam for Ayyappa season - I have eaten Aravana Payasam during the festitivites, and this is another keeper for sure - Kalyani

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  4. This is an easy and tasty snack that is great to make for many occasions. Thanks for sharing it. YUM!

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  5. What a simple but hearty treat! I'm sure my daughter and I would love these jaggery-coated rice flakes. Definitely trying your recipe soon. 🙂

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  6. This looks incredible. Adding black sesame seeds sounds interesting. Great for any occasion. A guilt free snack. - Preethi

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  7. Aval vilayichathu takes me back to childhood where we kids would eagerly wait for this Prasad to be served after ayyappa pooja.. never knew it is so simple to make at home .

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  8. We make this an offering during Krishna Janmashtami and it is a tasty one. I do not add sesame seeds, will do it next time.

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  9. Such an easy and tasty snack for many occasions. Thanks for sharing it.

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