Aval Kesari | Poha Kesari | Poha Sheera | Easy Krishna Jayanthi Recipes

So as I told you yesterday, I had made Aval Kesari for Krishna Jayanthi neivedhyam day before yesterday. And as it goes, it should be posted here right? :) Have I told you friends that I am a certified Cuemath teacher and I take math classes for kids at home. So I gave the kids who came for class day before yesterday this kesari. At first I offered them by asking, 'Do you kids like kesari?' And the reply I got was 'Aunty, who is there who wouldn't like kesari'. That's the speciality of this sweet right. It pleases everyone and it's so easy to make too.. It can be done in less than half an hour and when those unexpected guests arrive it's a life saver, right ! So now let's see how to make this easy and tasty sweet.. 

Makes: 1 cup

I Took: 

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 20 minutes

I Used:

Poha/Aval/Rice Flakes	-	½ cup
Sugar	-	½ cup
Water	-	1 cup
Cardamom	-	1 no
Ghee	-	2 tbsp
Cashew Nuts	-	6-8 nos
Food colour	-	A pinch

The Way:

1. In a pan, dry roast the poha/aval for 4-5 minutes in low flame till they turn crisp

2. Transfer it to a plate/mixie jar and allow it to cool. Once completely cool, grind them to a coarse powder like that of sooji/rava/semolina consistency

3. Now heat ghee in the pan. Roast the cashews to golden brown colour. Then transfer to another plate and keep aside

4. In the same ghee, roast the powdered aval/poha. The ghee should get coated evenly in the poha

5. Now pour water and allow it to boil. Once boiled, simmer the flame and allow it to cook

6. Mix the colour in a tbsp of water and add it to the poha 

7. The poha would take around 5-7 minutes to cook. The test is to check the poha with wet hands. If it is not sticking to your hand then it is cooked (learned this tip from Jayashri's kitchen :)) and also all water should be absorbed and it would become a thick mass. You can cook the poha covered.In that case stir it in between so that it doesn't get burnt

8. Now once cooked add sugar and mix well. The kesari will again turn watery but don't worry

9. Keep stirring. Add the powdered cardamom and roasted cashew nuts

10. The ghee would start leaving the sides and the kesari is ready then !

Cheers,

Chitz

Aval Laddu | Poha Ladoo | Easy Krishna Jayanthi recipes

So friends, how did your Janmashtami celebs go this year? Mine was simple as usual with some homemade butter, sago kheer and aval kesari as neivedhyam to kutty krishna. This year I did not have a great mood to dress up little Dhruv like last year. U know why, we cut his hair last week :( I was saving the trip to the hair dresser so that I can tie his hair and dress him up like kutty krishna but he was getting very irritated with those particularly longer strands near the ears that we had to cut his hair. I lost all my enthu coz of that and so it was a simple krishna jayanthi yesterday with just homemade neivedhyam. 

Last year it was nice, we dressed him up in his dhothi and tied his hair and made him wear some of my jewellery and he was looking like a thoppa (paunch) ganapathy in a kutty krishna attire :) Maybe next year I should plan something different ! So now recipe of the day is a simple poha ladoo with just 2 main ingredients poha and jaggery. If you want you can use sugar in place of jaggery. Just replace jaggery with ½ cup sugar in the recipe. I love this one. Simple and easy to make. And for the past one week, this was satisfying my sudden cravings for a sweet or quick bite ! So off to the recipe..

Makes: 8 ladoos

I Took: 

Preparation Time: 30 minutes

I Used:

Poha/Aval/Rice Flakes	-	1 cup
Jaggery	-	¾ cup
Cardamom	-	1 no
Ghee	-	¼ cup
Cashew Nuts	-	3-4 nos
Raisins	-	6-8 nos

The Way:

1. Dry roast the poha for 3-4 minutes in low flame. It will become crunchy. Then transfer it to another plate/mixie jar and allow it to cool

2. Add cardamom and jaggery to the cooled poha and blend to make a fine powder

3. Heat the ghee in a pan and fry the caashews and raisins. Once the cashews turn golden brown and the raisins turn big, switch off the flame ( I also remove the pan from the flame else the residual heat will keep it warm for some more time)

4. Add the powdered poha-jaggery mix to the ghee. Mix well. Make sure there are no lumps

5. Now make small laddus when the mixture is warm

Notes:

• I use organic poha and organic jaggery. So there is not much impurities in them. If using normal poha dust away those ones that are visible before dry roasting them

• Some use milk instead of ghee to make these ladoos. If then use warm milk else it will be difficult to shape the ladoos. If then the ladoos must be consumed within a day or two as they do not have a great shelf life

• Grind the poha to a fine powder else it will be difficult to shape the ladoo

• If more cashews or bigger pieces of cashews are used then also it will be difficult to shape the ladoos

• These ladoos stay good and fresh for a week and make sure you store them in an air tight container

• If using sugar instead of jaggery, the method is the same. Instead of grinding jaggery grind ½ cup sugar

Cheers,

Chitz

Aval Payasam | Poha Kheer | Easy Rice Flakes Payasam | Krishna Jayanthi Recipes

Rice Flakes Kheer with Sugar

With Gokulashtami nearing all of you must be gearing up to prepare all kinds of sweets, savouries and kheers right? So if you are a beginner like me in those areas, fret not ! I'm here to help you. I make some simple recipes that do not consume much time or doesn't burst or explode while preparing ;) You know what I'm talking about right ! Yes, the infamous seedai. I'm yet to experiment it. My mom is still scared to prepare them, so you can imagine my confidence level in that ! But like anything else, with good research and careful experiments there is nothing that can't be conquered in cooking as well, right :) 

So let's leave that aside for some other day and check how to make this yummy and easy to make kheer with poha or aval/rice flakes. I like to have this kheer the next day after refrigerating it for a day. It tastes very yummy then. Initially I used to make this kheer without grinding the poha. But then my hubby used to say, it just tastes like Aval in milk. Then after some googling I found that many grind the poha to use in the kheer. I tried that and the texture and taste was better then. So here's it now for all those beginners out there who are set to celebrating this year's Gokulasthami with some homemade sweets and savouries :)

Serves: 2-3 persons

I Took: 

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Cooking Time: 20 minutes

I Used:

Aval/Rice Flakes/Poha	-	½ cup
Ghee	-	2 tbsp
Cashew nuts	-	5-7 nos
Raisins	-	15-20 nos
Milk	-	2 - 2.5 cups
Sugar	-	¼ cup
Cardamom powder	-	Of 1 pod

The Way:

1. Boil milk in a saucepan and keep it aside. Heat ghee in a pan (I use a saucepan and the same is used for making the kheer as well). Fry the cashews and raisins and keep them also aside

2. In the same pan with the remaining ghee, fry the aval/poha for 2-3 minutes. Then transfer it to a mixie and allow it to cool

3. Once cooled, coarsely grind the poha. 2-3 pulse would be sufficient

4. Now add the ground poha to the same saucepan. Add the boiled milk and allow the poha to cook over low flame. It would take around 5-7 minutes for the poha to cook. As it is already ground it takes less time. If adding whole poha as such then cook for around 10-12 minutes

5. Mix it intermittently in between so that it doesn't get burnt. 

6. Once the poha is cooked add the sugar and cardamom 

7.If the consistency is too thick can add extra milk (around 1/2 cup or as per your need) Mix well and let it boil once

8. Toss in the roasted nuts and raisins. Give a quick stir. Switch off flame and serve warm or chilled as desired ! 

Notes:

• Some do not like to roast and grind the poha. If then just wash the poha and add to the milk in step 4

• The kheer thickens as it sits. So while serving adjust accordingly. If needed add little warm milk while serving

• I personally enjoy this kheer the next day after refrigeration. So if you are in for chilled kheer, try it that way !

Cheers,

Chitz