Aval laddu also called Poha Laddu are delicious ladoo or sweet balls made with thick poha or aval (flattened rice or parched rice), jaggery, cashews, raisins, milk and ghee. They make for an easy festive sweet.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 1 minutes
  • Cook time: 14 minutes
  • Total time: 15 minutes
  • Yield: 10 · 10 Aval Laddu
  • Category: Sweets
  • Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

  • 1 cup poha (- heaped, thick variety (flattened rice or parched rice), 100 grams)
  • ⅓ cup jaggery powder (or finely chopped jaggery or grated jaggery)
  • 3 to 4 tablespoons ghee (or add as required)
  • 1 tablespoon milk (- cold or at room temperature)
  • ¼ teaspoon green cardamom powder
  • 8 to 10 cashews (- optional)
  • 1 tablespoon raisins (- optional)

Method

Preparation

  1. Heat a pan. Lower the heat and add the thick poha in it.
  2. On a low heat roast the poha stirring often.
  3. The poha need to become crisp. If some of them become light brown its fine, but they need to be roasted or toasted well. Just break few poha/aval with your fingers and if they snap easily or break easily, they are done.
  4. Remove the poha/aval and add them to a grinder jar.
  5. Now add jaggery powder or finely chopped or grated jaggery.
  6. Grind to a slightly semi-coarse mixture, like that of fine sooji or rava.
  7. Remove this poha and jaggery mixture in a mixing bowl or pan.

Frying cashews and raisins

  1. Now heat 1 tablespoon ghee in a small frying pan.
  2. Add 8 to 10 cashews.
  3. On a low to medium heat, fry the cashews till they start to turn light brown.
  4. Then add the raisins the green cardamom powder.
  5. Fry till the raisins swell up. Stir often while frying.

Making aval laddu

  1. Now add the ghee+cashews+raisins+cardamom mixture to the ground poha and jaggery mixture.
  2. Mix very well with a spoon. Let this mixture cool down.
  3. Then add 2 tablespoon ghee which is in a semi-solid state. Mix thoroughly again.
  4. Now add 1 tablespoon milk. Mix again and start shaping the laddu. If you are not able to make the ladoo, then add ½ to 2 tablespoons more of the ghee. You have to keep on adding ghee till you can easily make the aval laddu
  5. Shape into small poha laddu and keep aside.
  6. Serve the Poha Laddu or Aval Laddu. Or store them in a container and refrigerate.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.