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Don’t worry if you have not heard of a laddoo / laddu made with Aval or Poha. I had not heard of it either, till I made this one. I was looking around all the South Indian cookbooks I have for any new Diwali recipes that I can try for this year and accidentally came across this one. It is from the book “Cook and See”, the English version of “Samaithu Paar” by Meenakshi Ammal. There are three volumes to this book and I love them to pieces as there are so many recipes that are very unique to the TamBrahm community that I belong to. Several such dishes, I have only heard of before and never even tasted.

I go through this book every once in a while, find some interesting recipe, ask Amma about it the next time I talk to her. Some of those are new to Amma also. And she in turn checks with her Amma, my Paatti, about it.

I saw this Aval Laddo recipe in the Laddoo section and was intrigued by it. I had Aval. I had Sugar. I had ghee. I decided that I should make this once and see how it tastes. If it tastes good, it opens the venue for several other laddoo experiments like oats laddoo. Maybe? Or it that a firm nay?

So anyway, I decided to make this while I was waiting for the chana dal that I had cooked for making okkarai to drain properly. Of course, I had to change up the way it was described in the book and even decided to add some coconut to it.

The recipe called for just roasting the aval and grinding it. But from what I know, Aval is home to many dust particles and other impurities it may collect on the way, so I always wash it well before using. So, I washed the aval and then I dry roasted it in a pan. Only thing, I had to roast for a much longer time as I had to get all the moisture out because I did not want it to get all mushy when I ground it. I wanted it to be as powdery as it could be.

The picture below shows the aval and coconut mixture after it was roasted completely. Each aval flake should be separate.

And that is how it looks like (picture below) after it is ground to a coarse powder. Mix it up with some powdered sugar, ghee, powdered cardamom and roll them up into balls. Tah-dah! You Aval Laddoos are ready!

Aval Laddoo / Poha Laddo with Coconut ~ Beaten Rice and Coconut Balls

Ingredients

Aval / Poha / Beaten Rice (the thicker one) – 1 cup
Grated Coconut – 1/4 cup
Powdered Sugar – 1 cup
Ground Cardamom – 1 tsp
Ghee – 1/4 to 1/2 cup

Instructions

Wash the aval and drain well.
Dry roast the avail in a heavy bottomed pan on medium to high heat, till each flake is separated and there is minimal moisture in it.
Add the coconut and continue roasting, till the coconut turns light brown.
Transfer to a bowl to cool.
Once cooled, grind it in a food processor or blender to form a coarse powder, similar in texture to fine bread crumbs.
Dump this into a mixing bowl. Add sugar and cardamom. Mix well.
Add the ghee, little by little, while mixing it into the aval/sugar mix. Add enough ghee to form a loose dough and you can hold it together with a little pressure.
Make key lime sized balls with the mix and store in an airtight container for a day or so. Keep refrigerated if you want to keep it for a longer time.