My Culinary Trial Room

Monday, November 26, 2012

(Amma Cooks) Athirasam / Adhirasam - Diwali Sweet Recipes

Adhirasam is another traditional sweet which amma makes at home for every diwali. Its a long process atleast at our home as amma makes the dough way ahead of diwali and allows it to ferment atleast for 3 days, says the more it ferments, the tastier it turns up. When we were kids, appa usually gets this in 100s from a relative of us. I still remember the disastrous adventure that amma had in the kitchen when she attempted this for the first time. She went wrong with the jaggery syrup consistency and so the adhirasams disintegrated as soon as they were dropped into the hot oil and we were left with adhirasam thool. That was her first and last attempt.

My chithi makes perfect adhirasams and she never goes wrong. They come out whole and alive from the oil and they taste out of the world too. It was she who convinced amma to give it a second chance and under her watchful eyes amma tucked up her sleeves to give it a second try... She went good and succeeded atlast to get a batch of whole, crispy, yummy adhirasams and since then she has never turned back. She makes them for every diwali. She usually shapes them like medhuvadas but I have seen many recipes which look like discs too...

We like to munch on them when they are hot out of the oil. Warm, crispy on the out, soft on the inside is how we like it and so the first batch often disappears as soon as they are out of the kadai. They keep god for 7 to 10 days when stored in air tight containers.

~*What U Need*~
Rice flour – 2 cups
Jaggery – 1 cup, grated
Cardamom powder – 1/4 tsp
Water – to make a syrup
Ghee - 1 tbsp
Oil to deep fry

How I she Made it:
Take a heavy bottomed vessel, add jaggery, few tbsps of water and heat till the jaggery melts. Strain through a sieve to remove the impurities. Pour back into the kadai and boil till you get soft ball consistency (which means if you put little syrup in cold water, it will not dissolve and when you roll it with fingers you should be able to make a ball out of it. Remove from flame and add cardamom powder to it and mix well.

Sprinkle rice flour quickly little by little and stir to make a smooth and soft dough of chapathi dough consistency. Grease another bowl with ghee, transfer the mixture to it and pat the remaining ghee on top of it. Allow the mixture to rest for 1 or 2 days. The more it ferments, the tastier the adhirasam. The mixture keeps good for 1 week at room temperature.
Heat oil in a kadai, take a small lemon sized ball, flatten it on a greased plastic sheet into discs or you can also make them like vadas. Deep fry one by one over low-medium flame until they turn brown in color. Remove and drain the excess oil on kitchen towel. Bring to room temperature and store in air tight containers.

Enjoy these yummy adhirasams!!!

** My Notes:
** When you are ready to fry the adhirasams, check the consistency of the dough. When you make balls and flatten them, it should not break.
** If you think it has become very hard add a couple of tbsp of milk to the mixture and knead to a soft dough.
** We make adhirasams like medhu vadas but you can also make them like discs.

So thats it Folks...
With Love,