ADHIRASAM RECIPE - DIWALI RECIPES

     Adhirasam is my all time favourite. In my childhood, I used to like adhirasam made with sugar instead of jaggery. My mom never forgot to make a special batch of adhirasam with sugar specially for me. So I always wanted to try out myself and make a step by step post detailed for keeping it as record and for the readers too. To be honest, for past 4 years, for every diwali, I tried, tried and tried, but some how I made some silly mistakes and flopped. But each time I learnt my mistake. As we dont make adhirasam other than for diwali, I had to wait for an year every time.
     It is very easy to make for my mom and MIL, so its all about experience. This time, I tried very carefully and followed my moms instructions. And now I can also confidently make adhirsam every year. This post is sure a record for me. If you are also like me who loves adhirsam and want to make at home, I would recommend to buy jaggery (paagu vellam) that is slightly with red shade rather than yellow. Also raw rice (maavu arisi) from the local shops. But any jaggery and raw rice works for this recipe. Just saying if its available in your living area, then you can make best use of it :)

Ingredients (Makes 20 adhirasams)

Raw rice	1 & 1/2 cups
Jaggery	1 cup
Sesame seeds	1 tblsp
Dry ginger powder	2 pinches
Elachi powder	2 pinches
Ghee	1 tblsp
Oil	as needed for deep frying

 

Method

Wash and soak rice for 2 hours atleast. Drain, spread in a white cotton cloth for 30 mins. Grind it in 2 batches in a mixer to a fine flour. Sieve it (optional,if you know your flour is fine, then no need). While you sieve, keep the flour press. That is after you sieve, press it gently so that it locks the moisture and doesn't  get dried.Meanwhile, powder the jaggery and heat it with water just to immerse the jaggery. Once its completely dissolved, filter it to remove impurities. Again start heating the jaggery syrup. Boil in medium flame always and stir occasionally. Keep checking the syrup consistency by pouring in water kept in a small bowl. At beginning stage, the syrup dissolves as you pour in water, then at next stage, it will lay a fine thread in the water, but gets dissolved when you touch. After this, at one stage, the syrup gets thicker and when you pour in water, then it wont get dissolved and you will be able to gather it with your fingers and form a loose ball. This is called soft ball consistency and this is the stage, you have to put off the fire. Immediately pour it to the flour little by little. Add sesame seeds, elachi powder and dry ginger powder to the flour. You may need not all the sugar syrup for sure. So be careful after you add 3/4th of the syrup and keep mixing with a ladle or spatula. The dough will be gooey and on sticky side and it will be loose. Don't worry. After some hours, it will get absorbed and get stiff. Keep it overnight at room temperature in an airtight container. You can keep it as such for 2-3 days. If more than that, keep refrigerated. But let it be out overnight atleast for a day. At the time of making, divide into equal sized balls, each of small lemon sized. You can use ghee when you roll as the dough will be slightly sticky. Heat oil in kadai and once it is hot, reduce the flame to low. In a zip loc, grease it with a drop of ghee and flatten the dough thick. Carefully drop in oil. Once it rises up, immediately flip it and cook. Once it turns golden brown, drain from oil. You must use another laddle and press it to sqeeze out the excess oil as shown, as it may retain some oil in it. Repeat the process for the rest of the dough. Oil should always be in low or medium if needed.

     
       You can store the dough for months if keep refrigerated and use it whenever needed. Even fried adhirsams can be in shelf for a week.

Notes

The dough should be very loose when you make adhirsam. If it is stiff, then your adhirsam will become hard and chewy. So you have to add a tblsp of milk and knead the dough well again and try making. This will ensure the adhirsam to be soft. Keep the dough ATLEAST  overnight at room temperature. Do not take our from the fridge and make immediately. Bring to room temperature. The rice while grinding should be moist, retain water(need not drip) also the sieved flour also should not get dry. Otherwise the adhirsam will get crisp and hard.  Even the syrup consistency is very important. If sugar syrup passes the soft ball consistency, it will get hard or get dissolved in oil. Sieving is not necessary, but make sure it is powdered fine. If you flatten so thin, the adhirsam will turn very crisp. So make it thick. Cook in low flame to make sure it gets cooked evenly and also make sure not to over cook. It makes the adhirsam harder. Flip immediately once the it rises up after you add the adhirsam in oil. Use ghee when flattening each adhirsam. It will be sticky. The jaggery syrup will be needed depending upon the quality of rice, some need more, some need less. So for safer side, make more. So the given quantity will be more, so keep that in mind. In case, you adhirsam is chewy or hard, steam it for 3 minutes in idli plate/ steamer. It becomes soft. Just for trouble shooting. Will add more tips as I remember or more from my MIL and mom :)

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