Athirasam

This year on the occasion of Diwali – Festival of light,  try preparing delicious athirasam at home.  Athirasam also known as kajjaya is a traditional sweet of India. In Southern states of India this sweet is popular. It is made of rice flour and jaggery. It tastes very delicious and popular amongst all age groups.

Ingredients:

1. Raw Rice – 1.5 cup
2. Jaggery- 1 cup
3. Water – 1 cup
4. Cardamom powder – 1 tsp
5. Sesame seeds – 1 tsp
6. Ghee – 1 Tbsp
7. Oil – For frying

Method:

1. Soak raw rice for least 2 hours. After 2 hours drain the water and spread soaked rice on paper towel or clean think cloth. Let excess water drain.
2. Grind rice to powder form with cardamom. Sieve and keep it aside
3. Powder jaggery and dissolve in water. Filter jaggery to remove impurities.
4. Boil jaggery to get a soft syrup consistency. To test the consistency, take a cup of water and add little boiled jaggery into it. If you can collect jaggery from water, then it is the desired consistency for athirasam. This is the important step of preparing athirasam.
5. Add hot jaggery syrup to rice flour mix. Mix both well. There should not be any knots. Cover the athirasam base with paper towel or plate for few hours.
6. After few hours knead the mix and store in a cool place for a day.
7. After a day knead the mix again and prepare small lemon size balls.
8. Apply little oil on banana leaf and flatten the balls using your fingertips.
9. Apply sesame seeds on both sides of flattened athirasam mix.
10. Heat oil on medium heat and gently slip the flattened athirasam mix inside hot oil. Fry the athirasam till it turns golden brown color.
11. Remove athirasam and place on paper towel to remove excess oil.

**Do not use newspaper to remove excess oil as newspaper ink will stick to athirasam and not good for health.

Cool and store athirasam in an airtight container or serve hot athirasam on festival occasion.