അവ്വൽ നനച്ചതു - poha(beaten rice) with jaggery and grated coocnut

Avval Nanachathu, poha soaked in coconut and jaggery syrup, is a teatime snack in Kerala. We have this with chopped ripe banana. I love anything with jaggery-coconut combination and hence this is my favorite.

 INGREDIENTS 

1. 2 cup avval, red or white(75-77 gms gms.) 
2. 1 cup loosely packed shredded coconut(80 gms.)
3. 1/4 cup tightly packed(40 gms.) jaggery boiled with 2 Tbsp of water  
4. 2 Tbsp of grated jaggery(optional, only if you have a very sweet tooth like my husband😉)
5.  salt - 1/8 tsp 

METHOD

• Scrape the jaggery using a knife and boil it with water and salt into a syrup. Adding the salt while boiling the jaggery is important otherwise the salt won't dissolve in later stages.
• When the jaggery syrup cools down, sieve it.
• Into a bowl, add the jaggery syrup and coconut. Mix well.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Stir till the coconut and jaggery syrup is mixed well. Then add the avval to this mixture. Gently mix the avval with the jaggery mixture. Be careful to maintain the shape of the avval. Hence gently mix  avval without breaking it down. 

                                                

       

• Then add the grated jaggery and gently stir.

          

          

                                                       

                                                                                                             

            

• The coconut-jaggery mixture can be made ahead. Once the avval is added, serve immediately. If it sits for a while, the avval will soak up all the jaggery and the whole thing tastes less sweet. Serve with chopped banana.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  NOTES

• Adding the scraped jaggery was my husband's idea. Its nice to get to bite the jaggery in between. 
• After the avval is added the dish should be served immediately. I like the chewiness of the avval as soon as it is added. Also as the avval sits, it becomes soft and shrinks in size and the whole dish becomes less sweet because the avval sops up all the jaggery syrup.