A Snack for the pack- Sweetened Poha

A sweltery evening in Cochin can make one ravenous for sure. Somehow the heart doesn’t crave for something chilled. It makes you crave for a hot cup of tea and some uber sweet snack. Atleast my heart did.

My mum had just returned from work and I was already at her pallu pestering her to make something for me. At this she was quick to respond that, since I am into food blogging and all that jazz, I should make something and give her.

Well that made sense.

So I started to think hard about what I can make.  Then I remembered a conversation I had with my twitter friends in the morning about sweetened poha and lo behold, I knew exactly what was in order.

It is called Aval Kozhachathu ( spelling courtesy, my mum) which is flattened rice or poha in jaggery and grated coconut. It is extremely filling as it is laced with cashews and golden raisins. The whole house was filled with the comforting aroma of ghee ( clarified butter) and cardamom. Incidently, it is my dad’s favourite snack and if he hadn’t been suffering with diabetes, he would have had it every evening. So the entire pack – my hubby, my daughter, my dad, my mom and myself included concurred that “Aval Kozhachathu” it  was.

The Recipe for Aval Kozhachathu(korr-a-che-thu)

Preparation time  5 minutes

Cooking time :10 -15 minutes

Serves :4 Adults and 1 baby

Ingredients:

2 cups flattened rice/poha/aval ( Note that it is brown in colour as opposed to the white variety found usually)

1 and half cup of grated coconut ( Since I am in Kerala, I had access to freshly grated coconut and it would taste better if the coconut used it freshly grated. But it would important to note that coconut powder, coconut milk CANNOT be a substitute here)

1 and a half cup of jaggery, grated for ease of cooking ( Note the colour and shape of jaggery found in Kerala)

1-2 tablespoon of ghee ( clarified butter)

handful of cashews and golden raisins

chopped ripe bananas ( optional)

1 tsp of cardamom or 5-6 cardamom pods

Method

1) Prepare the ingredients by grating the coconut, grating jaggery and breaking open the cardamom pods ( keep the pods though for enhanced flavour)

2) In a pan add 2 Tbsp of ghee ( clarified butter) and fry the cashews, raisins and the cardamom first

3) Add the grated jaggery and keep stirring. The jaggery would start melting quickly and if it doesn’t add a tablespoon or 2 of water to quicken the process. Make sure that it doesn’t burn.

4) Add grated coconut and keep stirring.

5) While the jaggery is still melting, you should sprinkle water on the flattened rice/aval/poha and let it soak for a bit. Take care to not make it very soggy. Just the right amount of sprinkle and you would know.

6) Add the poha/flattened rice/aval to the mixture in the pan and stir well. Keep stirring so that it doesn’t stick or get burnt.

7) You can add chopped bananas because they taste absolutely fantastic with the fare, but I skipped it because, even without it, it would be extremely filling.

8) Ta-da, we are done!!

Everybody had a generous helping while my hubby and I shared some love from a single bowl

 

Am sending this to The Kerala Kitchen event hosted by Magpie’s Recipes. Hope they like it.