Athirasam

Adhirasam is one of the traditional sweet which is made during diwali and also during marriage ceremonies. I personally feel diwali celebration will be incomplete without Adhirasam and Murukku. It tastes divine when u take bite of them together. Still remember my childhood how we use to grab them from big pots at Aaya’s house and fight with cousins for a bite. A special mention to be done when its made during marriage ceremonies. Adhirasam and Murukku will be made to the size of palm and will be given to the guests attending the ceremony. Though these practices are changing now with new sweets in gift wrapped boxes, i like those good old days of thamboola pai with Adhirasam and Murukku. Here is the recipe –

Ingredients :

1. Raw rice – 3 cups
2. Powdered Jaggery – 2 cups
3. Ghee – 2 tsp
4. Cardamom powder – 1/4 tsp
5. Water – as needed
6. Oil – for frying

Method :

Soak raw rice for 1 hour and dry it in cloth for 30 mins. Grind the rice to slightly coarse powder and sieve if needed. Keep the rice flour covered till jaggery syrup is ready.

In a pan, heat jaggery with water ( water used should be just enough to immerse jaggery ).

After it dissolves, strain it to remove any impurities and re heat the syrup with ghee and cardamom powder.

Start adding flour once the syrup reaches string consistency. Keep in low flame and stir continuously to avoid any lumps.

Bubbles appear as u stir and the dough starts to thicken. Turn off the heat and set it aside. For consistency check, try rolling the dough with ghee. U should be able to make long thread.

After resting time of 30 mins, start rolling them into lemon sized balls and flatten into patties of medium thickness ( Dough can be kept in air tight container for 2 days and used later for frying )

Heat the oil and keep at medium to low range. Fry one at a time.

After dropping in the oil, wait for one side to fully puff up and then turn to next side immediately.

Take it off once it turns golden color and bubbles settle down. Use another laddle to press and remove excess oil. Check if the laddles are greased each time to avoid adhirasam sticking to them

Adhirasams are now ready and can be stored for 7-8 days in air tight container

Note :

1. If the prepared dough is hard, use little water to knead the dough to smooth consistency
2. Adjust the amount of jaggery depending on your sweet preference
3. Rice flour texture should be like finer rava

 

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Badam Mysore Pak

Mysore pak , is a traditional sweet from South India. It was the preferred sweet for most during marriage functions and diwali festival. In olden days, there was only one variety and it required skilled person to make it. Right from preparation to cutting them in shapes, it required close monitoring all the way. There used to be jokes in magazines , like – wife throwing mysore pak at husband to knock him off, son in law breaks his teeth eating mysore pak at inlaws house. Quite funny but its true to the extent that, it can become hard like stone or crumble like sand if u miss the consistency.  Though it uses less ghee, it still holds its shape with koodu ( beehive ) texture and the bite simply melts in mouth.

Newer ones called ghee mysore pak have fastly replaced the traditional one. This is easy to make and u would never miss the texture and taste. There are so many flavours with ghee mysore pak including chocolate, milk, badam or almond and even horlicks.  This badam mysore pak recipe is also from this category with loads of ghee and indeed the calories too.

Mysore pak recipe inspiration is from Raji and Sharmi and i just added badam powder in proportion to adjust the quantity of ghee used. Thats the way , my badam mysore pak came into picture. Here is the recipe –

Ingredients :

1. Besan flour – 1 cup
2. Powdered almonds – 1 cup
3. Sugar – 1 1/2 cups
4. Ghee – 1 1/2 cups
5. Water – 1/4 to 1/2 cup

Method :

• Add a tsp of ghee in the pan and roast the besan flour till the raw smell leaves. Make sure not to brown the flour else the mysore pak will end up with brownish spots

• Dry roast the finely powedered almonds for a minute or two at low flame and leave it aside to cool

• Sift the roasted besan flour to avoid any lumps and do the same way for almonds powder as well

• Add sifted besan flour and almonds powder to 1 cup of melted ghee little by little and mix well for a pouring consistency

• In a heavy bottomed pan, add sugar and pour water just enough to immerse the sugar. Bring it to boil and get the one string consistency. Adjust the heat to low flame

• Now pour the besan ghee mixture into the syrup and stir well, till the syrup finely blends with besan ghee mixture

• Stir continuously and start adding remaining ghee little by little. Turn off the heat once bubble starts appearing and mixture stops sticking with pan.

• Stir again and pour down the mixture to a greased pan. Level it and when its warm, slice them into desired size and shape

Badam mysore pak is now ready to be served.

Note :

• I covered the mixture in greased pan with baking sheet and leveled it to get a smooth finish on either side
• Dont cook further after the mixture separates from the pan. It would result in hard texture
• For more sweetness , u can add another 1/4 cup of sugar