Red Aval Payasam (Red Poha Kheer)

Happy Krishna Jayanthi to all!

Krishna …. A character liked by all age groups, adorned worldwide and  linked with everybody’s life. Krishna is the eighth avatar of Lord Vishnu and  his birth is celebrated as Krishna Jayanthi/ Gokulashtami/ Janmashtami .

We all know Krishna is fond of butter, milk, sweets , aval and snacks like seedai, murukku etc. So it is a practice to offer these things  as “Nivedyam” on Krishna Jayanthi.

Today I prepared Red Aval Payasam as Gokulashtami Special. Very simple but delicious, healthy desert made with minimum ingredients.

Ingredinets:

• Red aval – 1/2 cup
• Milk – ½ litre
• Jaggery              - ¾ cup
• Grated Coconut – 2 tbsp
• Cardamom powder – 1 tsp
• Ghee – 1 to 2 tsp
• Cashews -few

Method:

First roast cashews with few drops of ghee  until golden brown colour and keep it aside. In the same pan, roast  aval till you get a nice aroma, cool it and grind coarsely. Boil milk in a sauce pan, add the ground aval and cook for 5 minutes. In the mean time,  powder the jaggery, add a cup of water and melt it and filter the impurities. Add this jiggery syrup to the aval-milk mixture, bring it to a boil . then add coconut, cardamom powder , add the balance ghee and give a nice stir and switch off.

Aval payasam is ready to offer to Lord Krishna!

Note:

1. You can use  raisins and other nuts as you wish.
2. I used thick aval for this recipe. If you use thin aval (Silky Aval), then you need not even grind.