Can I tell you something? I made this dish not because of my desire to eat it. Honestly, I don't even like it very much. I know this is not a good introduction for a recipe post, but please hear me out.
December is almost here and that means Christmas is not far away. During Christmas and Easter time, I like to make some traditional dishes and this year I zeroed in on this traditional recipe.
I’ve already posted Avalose Podi recipe, but it’s not the traditional one. I’ve been getting requests for the traditional recipe for quite sometime. It being Christmas time and all, I thought it’s a good time to share this recipe. At my place, Avalose Podi is synonymous with my Amma's sister, Kochuvava Chechy. She makes it regularly and is an expert at it. So I asked Amma to get the nitti gritties of the whole process from her.
Even though I’m not a big fan of Avalose Podi, I did enjoy making it. As always, trying something new is exciting. Also, it did bring back many memories. As soon as I started roasting it, there was a sudden overflow of memories, it almost felt like a powerpoint presentation of my childhood holidays.
I remember my grandma’s kitchen where group of ladies including my aunts and house help sat together and took turns to roast the avalose podi in big “uruli”. I remember running through all that buzz of activities in the kitchen along with my cousins and trying to sneak into the store room in between to snack on Achappam, Chips etc;
Now, in the interest of being completely honest, I’ll tell you this… I did enjoy eating it this time, a teeny tiny bit ;) Maybe because of all the elbow greasing I did, for roasting it or maybe I enjoyed it because I got to be a child again by reliving the process of making “avalose podi”.
Now coming to the recipe, it tastes exactly like what I used to have at home. It’s a simple recipe, but it’s a lengthy one, mainly because of the various steps and the resting time. But if you like Avalose Podi, it’s a recipe worth trying and if you are on the lookout for some homemade Christmas goodies to gift, it fits the bill pretty well.
Btw, have you soaked your fruits for the Christmas Cake? How about Wine?
Here is the recipe…
Grind the rice, without water to a coarse powder (refer notes)…
Sieve the ground rice and if there are lumps, grind it again…
Add coconut to the ground rice and mix it with your fingers…
Add cumin seeds and salt and mix well. Bring the mixture together and cover and keep it for 1-1.5 hrs…
Take a wide, deep and heavy pan. Roast the mixture on low heat till it becomes golden brown. You need to stir continuously to ensure even browning of the mixture. It will take around 35-45 mins on low flame…
Ingredients
- 1/2 kg Raw Rice (pachari)
- 4 cups Grated coconut
- 1/4 tsp Cumin seeds / jeera
- 1 1/4 tsp Salt
Instructions
- Wash the rice under water, till the water runs clear. Soak the rice in water for 2 hours. Drain the water and keep aside the rice in the strainer for 30-45 mins.
- Grind the rice, without water to a coarse powder (refer notes). Sieve the ground rice and if there are lumps, grind it again.
- Add coconut to the ground rice and mix it with your fingers. Add cumin seeds and salt and mix well. Bring the mixture together and cover and keep it like that for 1-1.5 hrs.
- Take a wide, deep and heavy pan. Roast the mixture on low heat till it becomes golden brown. You need to stir continuously to ensure even browning of the mixture. It will take around 35-45 mins on low flame.
- Remove from fire and let it cool. Pulse it in the mixie for a few seconds to remove the lumps.
- Store in an airtight container. You can keep it at room temp for 2-3 weeks.
- Serve it with sugar and banana.
Notes
Also, if you dont have a big pan to roast the mixture, roast it in two batches.
While roasting the mixture, it may become clumpy and crumbly initially, but it will be ok after 5-10 mins of roasting.
Thank u for the avalose podi recipe. I want to know whether chaakkari can be used for making it
Hi Maria,
Saw you recipe of Avalose podi. Mom asked me to post a thank you note here.Nowadays everything have gone automated. You give rice and coconut to the flour mill and you get equally good Avalose podi. Once again a big thank you for reminding our childhood days.
Hi Maria,
I am a great fan of Indian dishes (everything Indian to be precise :-) ), and this seems to be another great thing to discover… definitely on my to do list. Thank you and have a pleasant week !