Aval Kesari or Avalakki Kesari Bath or Atukula Kesari is a South Indian style dessert made with beaten rice, sugar and ghee. This halwa is so quick to make and requires a very few ingredients. This can be served as a naivedyam during festivals such as Gokulashtami, Ganesh Chaturthi and Navratri. This can also be served as a dessert or sweet snack on any occasion.
Few More Halwa Recipes on the blog:
- Semiya Pineapple Kesari
- Godhuma Rava Kesari
- Orange Rava Kesari
- Pineapple Kesari
- Paal Rava Kesari
- Beetroot Halwa
- Carrot Coconut Milk Halwa
Few Tips to Make the Best Aval Kesari:
- Do not use thin poha or paper poha to make this poha halwa.
- Make sure you grind the roasted poha to get the rava like texture. Do not powder them.
- Make sure the poha or aval is fully cooked before you add sugar to attain soft texture.
- You can use saffron instead of food color to enhance the flavor. Soak a pinch of saffron in warm water and use.
Atukula Halwa or Poha Sheera Recipe with Video below:
Aval Kesari Recipe - Poha Halwa Recipe
A quick and easy South Indian halwa recipe made with poha, sugar and ghee. Krishnashtami special recipe
Ingredients
- ½ cup Poha
- ½ cup Sugar
- 4 tbsp Ghee
- ½ tsp Cardamom Powder
- 8 Cashewnuts
- 8 Raisins
Instructions
- Dry roast the poha over a low-medium flame for 3-4 minutes and let it cool completely.
- Grind the roasted beaten rice into a coarse powder.
- Heat two tablespoons of ghee in a pan and add the cashews. Fry until light golden color.
- Add raisins to it and continue roasting till golden brown color. Remove them from the pan and set aside.
- In the same ghee, add the ground beaten rice / poha and roast for 2 - 3 minutes.
- Pour 1 cup of hot water to the roasted poha and mix well without any lumps.
- Add 2 tablespoons of ghee to it and mix well.
- Keep stirring and cook until the mixture is thick and poha is completely cooked.
- Add sugar, cardamom powder and food color or saffron to and mix well.
- Keep stirring and cook for about 5-8 minutes or till you get the halwa consistency.
- When the mixture thickens and leaves the sides of the pan, add the fried cashews and raisins and combine well.
- Remove from the flame and serve warm or cold.
Video
Nutrition values are estimates only.
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How to Make Avalakki Kesari Bath Recipe with Step by Step Photos:
- Take poha in a pan and keep roasting for 3-4 minutes. No need to change the color.
- Turn off the flame and let it cool completely before grinding.
- Transfer the cooled poha to a blender or mixie jar and grind it into a coarse powder. It should be similar to rava.
- Keep this aside.
- Heat two tablespoons of ghee in a pan and roast cashews to light brown color.
- When the cashews are lightly browned, add raisins and continue frying till golden brown color.
- Remove them from the ghee and set aside.
- In the same pan, add the coarsely ground poha.
- Roast the poha in ghee for about 2-3 minutes.
- When the poha is roasted, pour one cup of hot water to it and mix everything well without any lumps.
- Add the remaining two tablespoons of ghee to it and mix.
- Keep stirring and cook until the poha is completely cooked and thick.
- When the poha is fully cooked and soft, add sugar, cardamom powder and food color or saffron to it. Mix well.
- Keep stirring and cook for 5-8 minutes until the mixture is thick and leaves the sides of the pan.
- When the halwa is thick, add the fried cashews and raisins. Mix everything well.
- Turn off the flame and serve warm or cold.
I’m really interested in making this recipe. I have had halwa twice now once was pineapple and the other was blueberry. I loved both of them, and have been wanting to learn to make it myself. So I wanted to know if I could add fruit to this recipe, and how would I go about doing that using fresh or frozen fruit?
You can use fresh or frozen fruit. Pineapple would work well for this recipe. Just cook 1/2 cup of finely chopped pineapple in 1 cup of water for 3-4 mins and pour it into the roasted poha (instruction number 6). You don’t need to make any changes to the recipe. Please give it a try and let me know! Thank you! 🙂