Aval Payasam | Poha Kheer - Cooking From Heart

I consider it a crime not sharing a sweet recipe every few days! I have a huge sweet tooth and I have taken after my mom. We both would assess the sweet levels in anything sweet and promptly call it not too sweet for us – yes we are sweet like that 😀 Since I love sweets any time of the day, I am always in the lookout for some easy to do desserts.

Payasam or Kheer is the simplest Indian sweet that can prepared very easily at home with the simplest of ingredients. While our personal favorite at home is the Semiya Payasam, there are many other types of Kheer that can be easily prepared too!

Today’s share is one of the easiest Kheer recipes called Poha Kheer, a Kheer made out of Poha. Poha (in Hindi) or Aval (in Tamil) or Atukulu (in Telugu) is nothing but flattened rice. There are two types of poha – thick, hand beaten rice flakes or the paper thin rice flakes. As the rice is flattened and made into rice flakes, it takes far too less time to cook and very easy to use as well.

As I had some thick poha at hand, I used the same for my Kheer. I slightly fried the Aval/Atukulu in some ghee until nicely aromatic and cooked in milk until soft before adding sugar. Finally added in some more milk, golden fried cashews and cardamom powder. That’s all – a quick dessert is ready. I like to have to warm, straight out of the pot but this kheer tastes wonderful when chilled 🙂

To make Aval Payasam | Poha Kheer

Servings: 2
Time: Cook Time – 20 -25 mins
Difficulty: Easy
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What I used –

Thick Aval/Poha, ½ cup
Boiled Milk, 2.5 cups
Sugar, ¼ cup
Condensed Milk, 1 tablespoon (optional)
Green Cardamom, 1 or 2
Ghee/Clarified Butter, 1 teaspoon + 1 tsp
Cashews, 6-8

poha-kheer-1

How I made –

1. In a pan, heat 1 teaspoon of ghee. Add cashews – fry until golden. Set aside. In the same pan, add the remaining 1 teaspoon of ghee and fry the aval/poha until nicely toasted and aromatic on low flame. Should take about 3-4 mins.

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2. Add 1.5 cups of milk and keep the pan covered. In 7-10 mins, the poha/aval should be soft and cooked. If the aval/poha needs more cooking, add ½ cup of milk and continue to cook for another 5 mins. Add sugar and mix well. Once the sugar dissolves, it would leave water. Cook for another 5 mins.

3. Once the aval/poha mixture is thick again, add coarsely crushed green cardamom/powder. On a low flame, add the remaining milk and mix well. Keeping the heat low, bring it to a boil. Add the tbsp. of condensed milk and mix well. Switch off the heat and add fried cashews.

Serve hot or chilled.

Note –

Instead of the thick poha, thin or paper poha can be used. It does not require more than 5 mins of cooking time totally. Cooking it for longer than that can turn into a pulp.
Add sugar only after the poha/aval is completely cooked. Also, keep the flame low while adding milk or else it can get curdled.
Adjust sugar quantity as per liking.
Additional to cashews, pistachios or almonds can also be used.

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Taking this yummy treat to Fiesta Friday #137. The co-hosts this week are Loretta @ Safari of the Mind and Natalie @ Kitchen, Uncorked 🙂