Aval Nanachathu Recipe / Sweetened Beaten Rice Flakes / Sweet Poha.
Rice is a staple and an everyday food and has got numerous health benefits. This widely consumed staple food comes in different shapes and sizes. Aval is a flattened form of rice. Aval or Beaten Rice is of two types, brown and thick poha, which is made out of Matta rice that is par boiled brown rice. Its white counter part is the one I have used for this dish, which I always prefer to use for this. You can make Aval Nanachathu by using white or brown aval. I can have this drooling aval nanachathu any time of the day.. 
Beaten rice is also known as flattened rice or Rice flakes. It is known by various names in Indian states. Aval Nanachathu is an authentic healthy evening snack dish of Keralites.
I remember, this was one of the after school food for us in our childhood days, as it is so easy to prepare. The main advantage of this dish is, it doesn’t need any cooking, but just mixing all the ingredients is more than enough!!
Get more information on this from Here. See some more snacks and Appetizers of this blog like, Kappa Vevichathu, Kappa Masala / Seasoned Tapioca, Ethapazham Varattiyathu / Ghee Roasted Bananas, Chilly Frites / Spicy French Fries, Ethakka Appam, A Yummy Potato Treat, Avocado Dressed up in Mixed Herbs and some Non-Veg Appetizers like, Seer Fish Brochettes, Sausage and Vegetable Stir Fry, Kerala Style Nadan Chicken Fry, Egg Masala Fry..
Today I am sharing with you a very easy snack or ‘nalumani palaharam’ called Aval Nanachathu. Aval means, beaten rice and ‘Nanachathu’ in our language, Malayalam means wet. Here, we make it wet either with milk or water by adding jaggery and grated coconut. Coconut gives it juice and jaggery gives sweetness. Both together taste heavenly.
You can use cashews and raisins too, if you prefer. But I don’t think using cashews and raisins as an authentic aval nanachathu, the one we got to see since our childhood days. It brings back so much sweet memories. One Aval karan (the man who brings aval) used to come to our house from Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu. I still remember him, a short fat person who used to come in white Mundu (a garment worn by men around the waist in Kerala) and white shirt.
Aval is rich in iron, carbohydrates and fibre, hence it is a healthy food for kids and adults. It is good for weight loss, easy to digest. It is good for instant energy. As a whole, it is a wholesome snack.
We get to see this Beaten Rice in all Indian grocery stores. Whenever I see Ripe plantains in the supermarkets the first thing comes to my mind is to make Aval Nanachathu, since ripe plantains are the perfect match for Aval Nanachathu.
Here goes the recipe of Aval Nanachathu / Sweetened Beaten Rice Flakes..
Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Serves – 4
Ingredients for Aval Nanachathu:
2 cups Beaten Rice Flakes
1 cup Grated Coconut
½ cup grated Jaggery
2 crushed cardamom
One pinch of dry Ginger Powder (optional)
2 tbsp. Milk at room temperature
How to Make Aval Nanachathu / Sweetened Beaten Rice Flakes:
Take a big bowl. Add grated coconut, jaggery and cardamom powder. Add cardamom Powder, dry ginger powder and hot milk to dampen this. Squash aval once again with your hand for two or three minutes, until the mixture is well blended.
Serve Aval Nanachathu with sliced ripe plantains and a cup of tea or coffee.
My Recipe Notes on Aval Nanachathu:
1. You can even use melted jaggery for this. For this boil jagger with little water, strain it through a colander and then mix it with Aval.
2. Adding milk or coconut milk is purely optional. If the Coconut is fresh and is having good moisture, that would be more sufficient to get the desired wetness. If you wish it to be a bit soggy and soft, add very little warm milk.
3. You can use sugar instead of jaggery. Either way it tastes great. But I prefer to use jaggery as it is healthy.
4. Add more or less grated coconut and jaggery, it’s totally up to you.
5. Instead of milk, you can use luke warm water.
Serve Aval Nanachathu with ripe plantains.. 
Cheers..
Seena..
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കേരള അവൽ നനച്ചത് റെസിപ്പി.
Aval Nanachathu.
Description
Aval Nanachathu is a kerala snack or we can have it as appetizer too. Here beaten rice flakes or aval or poha is mixed with jaggery and coconut.