Aval thali- rice flakes recipes for Janmashtami

janmashtami rice flakes recipes
Krishna Janmashtami, Gokulashtami or Sri Krishna Jayanthi is the birthday of Lord Krishna.
It is celebrated on the Rohini nakshatra, Ashtami tithi of the Krishna paksha of a year. This is in the lunar Indian calendar. To approximate it to the Gregorian calendar, it will be between the months of August – September.

Offerings and naivedyam on Janmashtami 

Lord Krishna was brought up in a community where cow herding was the predominant occupation. Naturally, the best offering for this occasion, the Krishna favourite ones are deemed to be milk,  milk products, honey, butter and aval (or rice flakes). While milk and milk products are from the livelihood, the rice flakes ( in regional names-aval,poha, avalakki) are from the mythology of strong friendship.

Why is aval or rice flakes associate with this festival?

It is from mythology we learn that Krishna was so good at hand-pounded rice. The legend goes that his best friend Kuchela at his wretched levels of poverty had gone to see him with a few handfuls of aval wrapped in a nearly tattered piece of cloth. Krishna, who at that time ruled Mathura and had Lakshmi Devi(goddess of wealth)as his wife received and entertained his dear old friend with love and affection. When Kuchela hesitantly offered the humble rice flakes, Krishna took three handfuls and ate them. With these three handfuls of rice flakes, he bestowed riches upon his poor friend and family that they never had a hungry moment thereafter. 
srikrishna jayanthi sweets

Recipes with Rice flakes for Janmashtami

My mother and mother-in-law are ardent fans of Lord Krishna. The takeaway from all the mythology, I have grown up with, was the deep-rooted unjudgemental friendship. This is why I picked Aval as my key ingredient for this celebration. Over a period of time, there is a collection of rice flakes recipes on this blog that showcase this humble ingredient. Together they form the naivedyam platter that I offer (the image above) as aval thali. 
Here is a listing of these rice flakes recipes along with some more that you can add up to make this aval thali. 

1. Aval payasam – Coconut milk-based porridge that forms a significant, quick-cooking naivedyam. 

2. Gopal Kala or Dahi pohaA simple delicious combination of yoghurt soaked and tempered rice flakes carrying a savoury note.

3. Inipu aval kozhakattai– A zero oil,  steamed riceflakes dumplings made with coconut jaggery

4. Dates and poha ladoo – Ladoos are perfect jar snacks that you can make ahead for this festival. Try this naturally sweetened ladoo with red rice flakes.

5. Aval pongal – Red rice flakes simmered in fresh sugarcane juice and with the fragrance of cardamom is a delightful dessert to serve during this festival.

6. Jolada avalakki mixture or chivda – Crispy and spicy jar snack, made with sorghum ( jowar) flakes that you can make ahead and also enjoy with a cup of tea.

7. Millet Flakes upma – A perfect use of millet flakes, flavoured with methi leaves forms a great breakfast as well. 

8. Doodh pavva or Paal aval -A quick version of kheer, with hand-pounded thin rice flakes ( nylon poha) soaked in warm milk and topped with jaggery syrup.

9. Dahi Chura–  A soothing fruit and yogurt parfait made with seasonal fruits and yogurt soaked poha.

10. Aval nanachathu or vella aval -A no-cook recipe with rice flakes pounded with coconut and jaggery

11. Aval kesari – a sweet dessert made with coarsely powdered poha.

12. Aval kozhukattai- A steamed savoury dumpling made with brown rice flakes.

13 Avalakki sandige – crispy fried treats made with sun-cured avalakki.

poha recipes

Where to pick up some good rice flakes for Janmashtami recipes?

Since I live far away from India, my best location to stock up on aval in the Indian grocery store. If you are in India, there are plenty of varieties to choose from. Here is a link to Spirit of the Earth  (not affiliated)  whose passion has revived a number of indigenous varieties of rice and rice products. Try out the aval variety, Sivappu kurivikar,  from them which will be perfect for aval nanachathu, aval payasam or the poha ladoo.
Share with us your favourite aval variety or any special recipes that you male with them. 

To add to the platter for Janmashtami recipes

There are so many recipes that you can add to the Aval thali. Here we have added Paanakam, a jaggery based lemon drink.  You could add in some varieties of kheers, halwa, ladoos etc as well. In Kerala, you will see jaggery soaked plantains added to this platter.

Stay connected.

After all, festivals are the times to enjoy the cultural heritage we inherit. That also means you add in your own family traditions as the time is right. Share with us your traditions for the Janmashtami in the comments below. Share this recipe with your best friends who celebrate the festival too.  Tag us                     (#mildlyindian or @mildlyindian) when you make some of these recipes and do stay in touch. 
Poha thali for Janmashtami
Happy Krishna Janmashtami!!
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34 Comments
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Vanitha Bhat
5 years ago

Lovely collection of poha dishes!! Perfect timing! Bookmarking this for always!

Ashley
5 years ago

Thank you for sharing a little background on rice flakes. It’s interesting to know. Some of these dishes look really good!

Sujata Roy
5 years ago

Awesome collection for Shri Krishna Janmashtami. You combined all the recipes so beautifully. Great share 😊

Priya Suresh
5 years ago

Ultimate collection Seema, am sure these janmashtami recipes will be very handy for the festival.

Mayuri Patel
5 years ago

A lovely collection of rice flake recipes. While I’ve tasted some or made some,gopalkala and colada avakkali are new to me. Happy Janamashtami Seema.

Maria
5 years ago

Wonderful collection of recipes and very interesting background information! I think the spicy mix with nuts would be my most favourite one.

Soma Mukherjee
5 years ago

Wow such a lovely collection of sweet and savouries for Janmashtami festival loved the detailed write up .

Anshu
5 years ago

Such a lovely and exotic collection ….many of them are quite new to me. Would love to try them the coming festive season. Thanks for such a beautiful share!!

Nandita Gupta
5 years ago

What an array of dishes for janmashtmi. I only knew about a couple of these but here is a god number of variety.

Malini
Malini
5 years ago

Wonderful collection of recipes for Gokulashtami. All the dishes are so inviting, this post would be really helpful for budding cooks.

Poonam Bachhav
5 years ago

Such an inviting collection of rice flakes recipes Seema ! Happy Janmashtami to you. Your post would certainly have helped in planning for the festivity

Ritu Tangri
5 years ago

You have a good collection of poha recipes… Simple yet good…. Bookmarking some to try soon

Renu
5 years ago

Such tempting clicks, who would not want this on Janmashtami day. Awesome share

code2cook
code2cook
5 years ago

This is a beautiful collection of recipes. Perfect for the festival. Rice flake is really versatile to make many things out of it.

jagruti
5 years ago

What a beautiful collection of poha recipes, I can imagine Krishna having this dishes and of course me too! Just simple to make yet delicious results.

archana
archana
1 year ago
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Wow this Aval thali is so very tempting and perfect for the coming festive Krishna Janmashtami.

Mayuri Patel
1 year ago
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As such for Janmashtami, Gujaratis tend to make any milk based sweet, we have specific dishes. Those who fast make fasting recipes. This Janmashtami I am going to give one of your rice flake recipes a try. What a lovely compilation of rice flake recipes.

Priya Vj
1 year ago

Lovely and divine aval neivedhiyam for kutty krishnar.. he will surely be mighty pleased to enjoy all these delicacies offered to him

Kalyani
1 year ago
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what a lovely composition of Aval dishes for Janmashtami or otherwise 🙂 beautiful dishes, esp the gopalkala which is a must try now for me

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