Aval Kesari | Vegan Flattened Rice Pudding

aval kesari served in a small bowl with a spoon in it

Aval Kesari | Vegan Flattened Rice Pudding

Aval Kesari recipe is a sweet Indian vegan pudding made with poha during Janmashtami. This vegan dessert recipe is easy and quick to make. Serve this as neivedhyam for Janmashtami or as a dessert on any other festive occasion. It's a classic South Indian dish made vegan!

Course Dessert

Cuisine Indian, South Indian

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 20

Servings people

Calories 274.55kcal

Author Priya Lakshminarayan

Equipment

Ingredients

1 cup poha
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 cup water
Pinch orange color
¾ cup sugar
2 tablespoon vegan ghee
2 tablespoon sliced almonds
½ teaspoon saffron

Instructions

In a pan, add beaten rice, almond milk, and water. There is no need to soak the poha prior.
Add organic orange or yellow food color to the pan. Keep stirring on medium flame till the poha softens and thickens. This could take 5-7 minutes.
Gradually add sugar to it, stir and let this mixture come to a boil. Keep stirring on medium flame and it will begin to thicken.
This could take 8-10 minutes. There should be no lumps formed. Keep scraping the sides of the pan as you stir.
Once it stops sticking to the pan and comes together like halwa, add ghee and continue to stir it for another minute.
Chop some nuts and keep saffron strands ready. Take the pudding off the flame and garnish it with sliced almonds, and saffron strands.
Also add cardamon powder now, if you want. Mix it all well and take it off the flame.

Video

Notes

Make sure the poha or aval is fully cooked before you add sugar to attain a soft texture. Instead of sugar, feel free to use any other variety of sugar or jaggery.

The ratio of poha and milk/water is 1:2. feel free to use any variety of sugar like brown, jaggery, or cane.

Adding food color is optional. You can use natural colors like turmeric. Alternatively, you can skip adding it all together. As a result, the color of this Kesari will then be plain white.

You can also add ghee-fried cashews and raisins for garnish. If you are not vegan, use regular ghee. It will give it an aromatic Indian flavor.

Nutrition