Aval vilayichathu

Aval vilayichathu is one among my favorites. My grandmother used to make these for us to take with us while we travelled back after our vacation, so that we could have it in train. She used to make it with lots and lots of coconut in it. We used to love having it. The very thought of it is so nostalgic and mouthwatering. My aval vilayichathu would come nowhere close to hers.

Jacob doesn't like it, so this was made exclusively for me. I being a fan, thoroughly enjoyed it. I have always been a fan of it. There is another uncooked version called aval nanachathu, that I am fan of. While in hostel, we used to get it for evening snack and not many of us used to like it. However, I used to be a happy soul when it was served. And people who didn't like it used to donate their share. So I sometimes used to end up having some portion of the donated ones too :P. Here is how I make it.

Ingredients

1. 2 cups of Aval/ Beaten rice flakes / Poha
2. 1 1/2 cup of shaved Jaggery
3. Water as required
4. 1 1/2 cup of grated coconut
5. 1/2 tsp of cardamom powder
6. 1/4 tsp of Chukku or dry ginger powder
7. 1 tsp of Black sesame seeds
8. 2 tbsp of Chana dal/ chick pea
9. 2 tsp of ghee/ clarified butter

Method

• In a thick bottom skillet, add the jaggery and 1/2 cup of water and melt it . Once it melts, check its consistency. It should be one thread consistency i.e. if you take a drop of melted jaggery on your pointing finger and using your thumb touch it and pull apart gently, it should stretch in a single thread without breaking up. Be careful to not burn your fingers while you do it as the melted jaggery would be hot. Now strain the melted jaggery to ensure it is free of impurities. 
• Reheat the strained melted jaggery. Turn the heat to low. Add the grated coconut, cardamom powder and dry ginger powder. Mix it thoroughly so that the jaggery coats the coconut well. Add the rice flakes to it and stir it again well, so that the rice flakes get coated well with the jaggery coconut mixture. Let it cook for about 5-10 minutes while you keep stirring the mixture to ensure everything gets mixed well. By now, the extra water content would have been absorbed and the rice flakes would be soaked well in jaggery. Remove it from the heat.
• In another skillet, heat up the ghee and roast the chana dal and sesame seeds in it. Spread it on top of the rice flake mixture and toss it well to spread it evenly.
• Let it cool and serve it with banana.
• You could store it in an airtight container for a week or two. It is good option for tea time snack as well as for breakfast.

Tips

1. Use the darker version of jaggery to get a darker colour for the aval vilayichathu.
2. You could use white/red rice flakes to make it. I used white rice flakes in this recipe.
3. Try using freshly grated coconut which makes it more juicier and tasty. Also adding more amount of coconut would enhance the taste.
4. You could also roast some peanut in ghee and add to it, if you wish to.