Aval Payasam | Poha Kheer | Flattened Rice Pudding

Enjoy this festive season with this easy to prepare and delicious nuts-free flattened rice pudding, popularly known as aval payasam in Tamil! A perfect dessert for your festive feast!

The beginning of ashada month (month of the Hindu calendar corresponding to the June/July of English calendar) marks the beginning of the festive season. As we all know, the festive Indian meal is incomplete without a kheer or sweet pudding. So today, I am going to share a popular South Indian kheer recipe, and it’s the flattened rice pudding or the aval payasam.

In our house, we always make paal payasam (milk-based kheer), onion sambar, potato curry the day before Diwali. My mom usually makes the kheer either with rice or with flattened rice/aval. I have already shared the rice kheer, and now it’s time for this poha kheer.

Aval means flattened rice/beaten rice/ rice flakes in Tamil, and payasam means pudding. This aval payasam is quite famous across South Indian. In Telugu, we call this kheer as atukula payasam and in Kannada avalakki payasa. And in Malayalam, we call it as aval payasam only. I am sure, like other recipes; every household will have their version of this payasam. Now here is my version.

Let discuss the ingredients required and how to make this payasam in detail.

Ingredients Required for Aval Payasam & Substitutes:

• Aval | Flattened Rice: I prefer thick poha for this kheer. You can use either white or red poha, but thick ones work well for this recipe. Thin ones become bit mushy as it gets soaked in milk for a longer time. Also, for four cups of milk, I am using one cup of poha. You can add up to 1.5 cups of poha, but not more than that.
• Milk: I used 2% reduced-fat milk. For a creamier and rich version, you can use whole milk. Honestly, 2% reduced-fat milk or toned milk works perfectly fine. I haven’t tried this recipe with vegan milk options.
• Sugar: This payasam is similar to paal payasam, and my mom always uses sugar for paal payasam instead of jaggery. I used raw sugar for this kheer, but there is no harm in using jaggery as well. 
• Condensed Milk: I used ¼ cup of sweetened condensed milk. But this completely optional. If you are using whole milk or if you prefer subtle sweetness, you can skip this. Or you can use more sugar and skip the condensed milk too.
• Green Cardamom: It’s the flavor infuser, and I love the flavor of cardamom in my kheer. I used four green cardamoms crushed for this recipe. If you have cardamom powder, you can use about ½ tsp. 
• Edible Camphor: Yet another optional ingredient, but if you have it handy, please add it. I love the flavor of edible camphor/patchai karpooram in Tamil in sweet pongal and kheer. 

Nut-Free Kheer:

I am not allergic to nuts. I have mixed nuts kheer on my blog too. Then are you wondering why I kept it nuts-free? For paal payasam, I personally don’t prefer nuts and raisins fried in ghee. :-)

I feel that ghee (even though it’s minimal) alters the taste when combined with milk. As I mentioned, it’s purely my choice. You can fry ten cashews and ten raisins in 1 tbsp of ghee and add it to the kheer. 

How to Make Poha Kheer:

The recipe is super simple, and you can make this kheer in 30 minutes! Once the milk starts to boil, you can add the other ingredients one by one in 3 minutes interval. I do not roast the poha. I wash it thoroughly and let it soak in water for two minutes. Then drain it and add it to the milk. That makes it super easy right? You need to stir the milk often, and I won’t recommend leaving the kheer unattended for more than 5 to 7 minutes. 

Now without any further ado, here is the aval payasam recipe with detailed step-wise pictures.

• In a heavy bottom pot, add 4 cups of milk and bring it to a boil.

• When the milk starts to boil, reduce the heat to low and stir the milk. Keep a wooden spatula on top, as shown in the picture, to prevent the milk from overflowing.  It comes till the brim but rarely overflows. So far it has worked out for me. 

• Increase the heat to medium-low and keep stirring the milk for 5 minutes. Scrape the sides and collect the milk skin or the lactoderm that forms on the top and add it back to the milk. Keep stirring the milk so that it doesn’t get burned. Also, if the milk is over boiling and if you think, it is going to overflow, then reduce the heat to low and keep stirring. 
• Now add ¾ cup of sugar and mix. Gently stir the milk and let the sugar dissolve. 

• After about three minutes, add crushed cardamom.

• Then add ¼ cup of condensed milk. Mix and let the sugar and condensed milk incorporate into the milk completely. Keep stirring for every one minute for three minutes. (You can do this up to 5 minutes) During this process, scrape the sides and collect the milk skin and add it to the kheer again, as I mentioned before. 

• Meanwhile, rinse the thick poha and let it soak in water 2 minutes and then drain the water.
• Now add the drained poha to the kheer and mix.

• Add the edible camphor(crush it a bit), if using to the kheer, and let the kheer simmer for 5 to 7 minutes until the poha turns soft.

• Turn off the heat and let the kheer cool a bit. This step allows poha to absorb all the flavor from the milk. 

• Serve warm or cold. 

Recipe Notes-

I have included the substitutes on the ingredient list itself, but let me repeat the major ones here.

• Use thick poha for this kheer. You can use the red variety as well. Also, do not add more 1.5 cups of poha.
• Along with green cardamom, you can use one or two cloves. Also, you can add saffron strands for additional flavor.
• Edible camphor and condensed milk are optional. 
• Instead of sugar, you can use jaggery as well. 
• Even though toned milk works well for this recipe, you can use whole milk for a creamier and rich version.
• I did not add any nuts. But you can fry cashews and raisins in ghee and add it to the kheer.

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I am sending this post to Blogging Marathon 105 under the theme “Diwali Savories and Sweets”. Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#105

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5 from 4 votes

Aval Payasam | Poha Kheer | Flattened Rice Pudding

Festive special flattened rice pudding is popularly known as aval payasam in Tamil. Easy to make, delicious, and nut-free poha kheer recipe!

Cook Time30 mins

Total Time30 mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: TamilNadu

Servings: 8

Calories: 234kcal

Author: Srividhya G

Ingredients

• ▢ 4 cups milk I used 2% reduced-fat milk
• ▢ ¾ cup raw sugar
• ▢ 4 green cardamoms crushed
• ▢ ¼ cup sweetened condensed milk
• ▢ 1 cup flattened rice thick variety
• ▢ ⅛ tsp edible camphor a small piece

Instructions

• In a heavy bottom pot, add 4 cups of milk and bring it to a boil.
• When the milk starts to boil, reduce the heat to low and stir the milk. Keep a wooden spatula on top, as shown in the picture, to prevent the milk from overflowing. It comes till the brim but rarely overflows. So far it has worked out for me. But make sure to reduce the heat to low. 
• Increase the heat to medium-low and keep stirring the milk for 5 minutes. Scrape the sides and collect the milk skin or the lactoderm that forms on the top and add it back to the milk. Keep stirring the milk so that it doesn't get burned. Also, if the milk is over boiling and if you think, it is going to overflow, then reduce the heat to low and keep stirring.
• Now add ¾ cup of sugar and mix. Gently stir the milk and let the sugar dissolve.
• After about three minutes, add crushed cardamom.
• Then add ¼ cup of condensed milk. Mix and let the sugar and condensed milk incorporate into the milk completely. Keep stirring for every one minute for three minutes. (You can do this up to 5 minutes) During this process, scrape the sides and collect the milk skin and add it to the kheer again, as I mentioned before.
• Meanwhile, rinse the thick poha and let it soak in water 2 minutes and then drain the water.
• Now add the drained poha to the kheer and mix.
• Add the edible camphor (crush it a bit), if using to the kheer, and let the kheer simmer for 5 to 7 minutes until the poha turns soft.
• Turn off the heat and let the kheer cool a bit. This step allows poha to absorb all the flavor from the milk.
• Serve warm or cold.

Notes

• I have included the substitutes on the ingredient list itself, but let me repeat the major ones here.
• Use thick poha for this kheer. You can use the red variety as well. Also, do not add more 1.5 cups of poha.
• Along with green cardamom, you can use one or two cloves. Also, you can add saffron strands for additional flavor.
• Edible camphor and condensed milk are optional.
• Instead of sugar, you can use jaggery as well.
• Even though toned milk works well for this recipe, you can use whole milk for a creamier and rich version.
• I did not add any nuts. But you can fry cashews and raisins in ghee and add it to the kheer.

Nutrition

Calories: 234kcal | Carbohydrates: 30g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 15mg | Sodium: 65mg | Potassium: 213mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 30g | Vitamin A: 223IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 171mg | Iron: 1mg

I am not a nutritionist. The nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It varies depending upon the product types or brands.

Tried this recipe?Mention @vidhyasvegetariankitchen or tag #vidhyasvegkitchen

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Updates Notes: This recipe was originally posted in 2010 but now updated with new photos and fresh content.