Huli avalakki

Looks yummy doesnt it?? Hmmm.. wanna know how its done? Well.. read on then! Enjoy your huli avalakki. 🙂

Ingredients:

1. Poha ( Aval, Avalakki) – 1 cup
2. Sambhar powder ( Mom made or MTR rasam powder will work fine! ) – 2tbsp
3. Jagggery – 2 tbsp
4. Tamarind – lemon sized or tamarind paste – 2 tbsp

For the seasoning:

1. Mustard seeds – 1/2 tbsp
2. Hing or Asaefotida – a pinch or two
3. Til seeds or ellu – 1/2 tbsp
4. Curry leaves – a bunch
5. Groundnuts – a handful or more if you like!
6. Red chillies – 3 to 4 broken into half
7. Turmeric powder – a pinch or two
8. Channa dal – 1/2 tbsp
9. Urud dal – 1/2 tbsp
10. Dried coconut – 1 tbsp

Method:

1. Add the sambhar powder along with jaggery, tamarind and salt in a small pot. Mix it with 2 cups of water and heat it. It need not necessarily boil but the jaggery should melt and the tamarind should become pulpy. This mixture should be a little strong in taste as you will be adding this to soak the poha.
2. Next, take the poha and blend it coarsely with a mixer. Make sure not to powder it! You can skip this step if you want, but the poha when broken into smaller chunks absorbs more of the spices and retains it better.
3. Mix the poha with the sambhar powder, jaggery and tamarind mixture. Make sure that there is enough water to soak the poha. It will absorb the water very quickly so be careful in this step. Add enough water and let the poha soak for at least 20 – 25 minutes.
4. Now, take a pan. Add oil, add a little extra oil since poha gets dry and tastes bland! After oil heats up, add in this order – mustard seeds, groundnuts, fry till groundnuts get crisp then add hing, chana dal, urud dal, curry leaves, till, turmeric and then the red chillies.
5. Then mix this seasoning with the poha, heat it up a little bit. Add the dried coconut and mix well.
6. Your poha is now ready! yay! 😛

Guten apetit!