Simple sweet recipe with flattened rice and jaggery popularly known as vella aval or sweet poha. A recipe that you can make in less than 20 minutes flat!
1cupflattened rice; aval/poha use the thick variety
¾cupjaggerypowdered
¼tspcardamom powder
2tbspcoconutgrated
2tbspwaterplus ½ cup to sprinkle on poha
Instructions
Wash the flattened rice thoroughly and drain the water.
Now sprinkle ½ cup of water and let it sit for 8 to 10 minutes. A minimum of 5 minutes is sufficient.
After around 3 or 4 minutes, you can start to prepare the jaggery water.
In a heavy-bottomed pan, add 2 tbsps of water and the powdered jaggery. Simmer this mixture till the jaggery melts and mixes well. Add the cardamom powder and coconut and mix and then turn off the heat—no need to simmer till any sugar consistency.
Now add the aval to this jaggery water and gently mix. Cover and let it sit for 5 minutes. The aval will absorb all the jaggery water. And that's it.
Notes
You can use white poha as well, but make sure to use the thick variety.
I did not include any nuts or raisins. I just used a few slivered almonds to garnish. But You can add cashew nuts and raisins fried in ghee.
While cooking the jaggery syrup, you can also add ½ tsp of ghee. But I did not add any and kept it vegan.
Adjust the jaggery amount as per your preference.
Tips for getting perfect vella aval-
Do not soak the poha. Wash and sprinkle water. Let it sit for 5 minutes and at the maximum 10 minutes but not more than that.
Do not overmix the poha also mix it very gently. Soaked upma tends to break, but when you overmix, it becomes a mush.
You don’t need to cook the aval, letting it sit with water sprinkled and then in the jaggery water, make it soft.