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Thursday, September 6, 2007

Mosaravalakki & Sihi Avalakki

I am posting a couple of poha (beaten rice) recipes from Karnataka. A few poha dishes are usually prepared on Krishnastami day, Lord Krishna's birthday. Butter, yogurt, milk, poha are said to be his favorites and hence delicious dishes with some of these ingredients are prepared on the auspicious day. While sihi avalakki is a sweet dessert prepared using poha, mosaravalakki is prepared using yogurt and poha. I had posted previously some other dishes like Paalakaayalu, Rava laddu, Gojjavalakki which are prepared on Sri Krishnastami.

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SIHI AVALAKKI

Sihi - Sweet and Avalakki - Poha in Kannada.
My mom usually used to make this sweet version of poha for a quick, evening snack. This actually needs no cooking. You just mix up all the ingredients and end up with a dessert after a few minutes of waiting.


Ingredients to make sihi avalakki:
1 cup thin poha
1/2 cup powdered jaggery
1/2 cup grated fresh coconut
1/2 tsp cardamom powder
A few raisins

Note: This dish is subtly sweet. You can increase the amounts of coconut and jaggery according to your tastes.

Preparation:
Usually, thin poha (paper avalakki) is used to make this sweet dish. If using thin poha, mix all the ingredients lightly in a bowl, cover and let it rest for some time for the flavors to blend. The coconut moistens the poha and makes it softer.
The thick variety poha (gatti avalakki) available here in USA is lot different than the one we get in India. It becomes kind of mush with little soaking. I sometimes substitute 'this' thick poha to make this sihi avalakki. If using this poha, wash it twice with water to remove any impurities and drain all the water. Cover and leave it for five minutes. Then add all the remaining ingredients and let it rest for 10 minutes for the infusion of flavors.

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MOSARAVALAKKI

Mosaru is curds / yogurt and Avalakki is poha in Kannada. Mosaravalakki, as the name suggests is poha mixed with yogurt and is well popular in Karnataka. This also needs no cooking unless you are planning to make the dish more colorful and spicy. Though thick yogurt (the kind which you can slice with a knife) is preferred to make this, I have opted for home made yogurt using 1% milk. You just add yogurt and a dash of salt to the (well soaked and water drained) poha and you end up with a no fuss kind of quickie breakfast. Or for a flavorful tindi (that's what you call breakfast in Kannada), add some seasoning to the poha - yogurt mixture as below.

Ingredients to make mosaravalakki:
2 cups poha
1.5 - 2 cups of yogurt
Green chillies - 1
Grated ginger - 1/2 tsp
Freshly grated coconut - 4 Tbsp
Mustard seeds, chanadal & urad dal - 1 tsp each
Few curry leaves
Chopped cilantro
salt to taste
Oil - 2 / 3 tsp


Preparation:
The thick variety poha is used to make this dish. The poha available in India (as I have seen in South) needs more soaking (10 - 15 minutes). The variety available here in USA needs no soaking. Wash the poha twice and drain all the water. Let it sit covered for five minutes. Then add yogurt, coconut, ginger, cilantro and salt to the poha.
Mean while heat the oil in a small pan and add chanadal, urad dal and musatrd seeds to the oil, in that order. When the dals turn red, add green chillies and curry leaves. Saute for a few seconds more and turn off the stove.
Add this seasoning to the poha yogurt mixture and mix well.
Serve immediately. If using later, refrigerate it to avoid the yogurt go sour.

I am sending this to two events.
It goes to 'Sri Jayanthi' event hosted by Latha of 'The Yum Blog' & also to 'RCI - Karnataka' hosted by Asha of 'Foodie's hope'.

Post a Comment

20 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey Suma,
Nice entry..like them both, they look so delicious.

TBC said...

Beautiful, Suma!
I thought the first pic of curd-poha was actually curd-rice.
My mom too makes something similar to Sihi Avillaki... I don't know what we call it in my language but I know it tasted real good.
Nice entries.

Pooja V said...

hey
excellent post n recipes are v nice. I love yogurt in any n everuthing. Just loved poha+ curd. Yummy !

FH said...

YAY!!! Thank you Suma, great entries. Mosaravalakki is so North Karnataka.Sihi Avalakii looks great too,I used to make it in B'lore,never made it here! Got to try it again:))

Tee said...

I love Mosaravalakki! Its always our dinner option when we are not that hungry...so soothing too!
I have no tasted sihi avalakki, but it looks delicious! :)
Great entry!

Sreelu said...

Suma I love Mosaravalakki I usually add really sour curd.sihi avalaki was given at prasad in a temple near by. thanks for the recipes

Namratha said...

I love Sihi Avalakki and really feel like having some now! Lovely recipes:)

Kribha said...

Nice recipes. I do not know that many dishes using 'aval'. Yours look delicious.

Rajitha said...

the one with the yogurt looks perfect for hot summers or an easy fix when i crave curd rice!

Anonymous said...

I love mosaravalakki very much. I make it at home when we intend to eat light dinner.

Prema Sundar said...

All these recipes are new to me and the yogurt with poha is really tempting.loved ur badam milk too.

archana said...

We too make the curd and poha during Janmashtami. , call it Gopalkala :)Pictures look gr8 :)

sra said...

Suma, mosaravalakki is new to me, I'll surely try this out!

Finla said...

good recipe, but i have nevr seen
phoa in the super maket here.
Which is a pity

Padma said...

Avalakki is new to me...both are so unique, yeah we too offer poha with jaggery for Sri Krishna on this day, great entry

Sharmi said...

loved the sweet poha. looks so yum. have to try it.

sreesha said...

yesterday had mosaravalakki.. 'lakki' to have it..
great blog! u can run a fantastic hotel..

Archana said...

These look yum

Bhama said...

Thanks Suma. I tried these dishes many years ago. It was a good refresher to learn these receips again.

Unknown said...

Tried this today for janmashtamii, turned out great! My little one loved it. Thanks for wonderful recipe :-)