Sweet poha with milk and jaggery

This sweet has two shapes and one short ingredient list. The warm version roasts rinsed flakes in ghee and simmers them in milk to a pudding that thickens as it cools; the cold version skips the stove and lets the flakes soak in cold milk, like a bowl of cereal. Both are sweetened with jaggery, which melts into warm milk without a separate syrup.

The ratio that works is one cup of thick poha to two cups of milk, with jaggery at three tablespoons; the pudding thickens as it sits, so keep extra hot milk by the stove to loosen it at the table. Roasting the flakes first is what keeps them whole in hot milk; skipped, they can turn mushy.

Jaggery gives the deeper, molasses-like sweetness that suits this bowl, and white sugar can stand in one for one. Cardamom is the classic scent; raisins, cashews and grated fresh coconut are the usual extras. Use thick poha for the warm version, and thin flakes only for the cold one, because thin poha turns to paste in hot milk. For more sweet ways with the flakes, see the poha recipes roundup.