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.