Tamil
Adhirasam
- Duration: 30 minutes
- Serves: 2 to 4 people
-
Spice Level: Zero
Authenticity Slice
Good care needs to be taken to ensure that the rice flour does not dry out and clump up when it is being added to the jaggery syrup. It is a good idea to keep a small bowl of water at hand and add a few drops of the syrup to it. If the drops settle in the water and you are able to make a ball of the syrup that is the correct consistency.
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Trivia Tadka
Adhirasam is an authentic sweetmeat of Tamil Nadu that is specially served to mark festivals. The dish is popular mainly in the southern districts and in the Chettinad area of the state. Adhirasam is offered to deities during pujas conducted both at home and in temples. According to inscriptions dating to Krishnadevaraya’s time, the sweet was originally made using rice flour, jaggery, butter and pepper. At the annual festival of the Panchavarnesvar Temple in Nallur, an offering of 6,000 Adhirasams along with 6,000 vadas is made to the reigning deity. The entire lot is cooked in the temple kitchen, starting at sunrise and continuing till about 11 in the night, in time for the prayers that are conducted at midnight.
Ingredients
- Raw rice (3 cups)
- Jaggery (gud) (3 cups)
- Green cardamom (hari elaichi) (8)
- Water, for syrup (¾ cup)
- Desi ghee (1 tsp)
- Oil (750 ml)
- Ginger (adrak) powder (¼ tsp)
Method
- Wash the rice and soak it in water for an hour.
- Drain out the excess water and spread out the rice on a plate. Let it dry a bit under the shadows.
- When the rice is still a bit damp, toss it into a mixer-grinder and grind it to a fine powder.
- In a bowl, mix the jaggery with ½-a-cup of water and then put it to heat.
- Once the jaggery has dissolved, turn off the flame and strain the liquid to remove any dust particles.
- Further heat this jaggery water to form a thick syrup. To check if the syrup is of the right consistency, take a spoonful and pour it in some water. Ideally, the syrup should float up shaped like a ball.
- At this point, take the syrup off the flame, and add in the elaichi powder and ginger powder. Then, slowly start adding the rice powder to the mix.
- Keep stirring while adding the rice. The powder will get cooked in the heat of the syrup.
- Next, pour enough oil into a kadhai to allow for deep-frying and then add the ghee to it. Heat the kadhai on a medium flame.
- Take a plastic paper sheet and smear it with oil. Take a small ball of the dough and using your palms, flatten it on the plastic paper till it is shaped like a roti.
- Deep-fry these in the oil.
- Remove when done and drain out any excess oil.
- Serve hot, and store the remaining ones when they have cooled down in an airtight container
