Easiest dessert I’ve ever made and tasted nothing less than delicious…
It was one hot Monday, I am glad this day is getting over…Here is a super easy summer dessert that I whipped in less than a minute. My motto for cooking has always been “keep it simple and keep if fresh”. I always try not to complicate my cooking and not to feel stressed out in the kitchen. And I get along very well with simple and fresh ingredients.
I made this dessert last week to satisfy my hubby’s dessert craving. He was all set to go to a nearby store and to buy a huge pack of ice cream, my goal was to stop him from getting that. Without even knowing what I was going to make, I convinced him that I would make him the best dessert. I knew it he wasn’t going to wait for too long, so I had to rush. Oh well, looking into the pantry I had to ignore all the ingredients that had gluten in it like crackers, biscuits, all purpose flour etc etc. The only gluten free ingredients I found was rice flakes. Grabbed it and first thought was to make dates and rice flakes balls. I had already tried it and had blogged the recipe, so I had to ditch my first thought. Second thought was to combine rice flakes, banana along with jaggery, which is a common evening snack in my hometown. Since, I am not a huge fan of that snack, I had to ditch that too.
After ditching a few ideas, I finally settled down on this fruit rice flakes. I first had to wet the rice flakes and combined it with fruits like strawberries, dates and toddy palm seeds.
Toddy palm seeds??? How many of you have tried this fruit? What are they? Well, they are the fruits of palmyra palm. Palm trees are abundant in South India, especially in Tamil Nadu. This fruit is found in abundance in Tamil Nadu, if you have visited Kanyakumari (Cape Comorin) you would have seen these being sold by the street vendors. They even make delicious sharbath or juice with this. I am a die hard fan of these and when ever I had visited Tamil Nadu, which is the neighboring state, I made sure to buy these and the juice. The fruit has a very distinct and refreshing taste, it’s sweet and resembles to jelly. The juice made of toddy palm seeds are perfect thirst quenchers in Summer, hence when you visit Tamil Nadu in Summer you could get hold of this pretty easily.
You must be thinking, where did I get this in North America? In US and Canada, this can be found at Asian super market, I don’t think you’ll find the fresh ones, it’s canned. During my last grocery shopping at the Asian super market, I bought a few cans of toddy palm seeds. I wasn’t expecting the canned ones to taste exactly like the fresh ones, but it tasted so fresh and I was truly blown away by the taste. Here is the picture of the canned toddy palm seeds. If you haven’t tried it, I truly recommend you to buy it, you’ll love it to the core. You can have it just like that.
So for making this dessert, I even added chopped toddy palm seeds. This dessert tasted very delicious, refreshing, and it did satisfy my hubby’s dessert craving. He loved it like anything and Yes, he did enjoy not 2, 3,4 but 5 bowls of this dessert…
Fruit Rice flakes (with toddy palm seeds)
Ingredients
Serves: 5 to 6 small bowls
- Rice flakes, white color or Aval- 1 1/2 cups
- Water, to wet rice flakes- 9 tbsp
- Strawberries, chopped small- 3
- Dates, chopped- 5, large
- Toddy palm seeds, canned- 3 chopped
- Honey- 1 tbsp
- Condensed milk, sweetened- 2 tbsp or according to your sweet level
Instruction
- In a bowl, wet the rice flakes with water, I had to use 9 tbsp water for 1 1/2 cups rice flakes. Make sure not to wet it too much. The amount of water varies with the thickness and the variety of rice flakes you are using.
- Chop the fruits into small pieces.
- Combine the wet rice flakes with strawberries, dates, toddy palm seeds.
- Drizzle honey over it and add condensed milk, mix it well.
- Serve in a dessert bowl and enjoy.
Tips:
- Canned Toddy palm seeds are available in most Asian super stores and some Indian stores.
- If you are in India, make a trip to Kanyakumari, you could see these being sold every where there in Summer.
- If you don’t have toddy palm seeds, use apple or other fruits.
- Rice flakes, white color or Aval- 1½ cups
- Water, to wet rice flakes- 9 tbsp
- Strawberries, chopped small- 3
- Dates, chopped- 5, large
- Toddy palm seeds, canned- 3 chopped
- Honey- 1 tbsp
- Condensed milk, sweetened- 2 tbsp or according to your sweet level
- In a bowl, wet the rice flakes with water, I had to use 9 tbsp water for 1½ cups rice flakes. Make sure not to wet it too much. The amount of water varies with the thickness and the variety of rice flakes you are using.
- Chop the fruits into small pieces.
- Combine the wet rice flakes with strawberries, dates, toddy palm seeds.
- Drizzle honey over it and add condensed milk, mix it well.
- Serve in a dessert bowl and enjoy.
If you are in India, make a trip to Kanyakumari, you could see these being sold every where there in Summer.
If you don't have toddy palm seeds, use apple or other fruits.
