ARISELU WITH JAGGERY

Ariselu is a festive sweet prepared during Makar Sankranti, Dusshera and Diwali. This indian sweet is from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana. Similar preparation is made in Karnataka called as kajjaya and in Tamil nadu it is called as adhirasam. The maharashtrian sweet dish, Anarsa has similar taste, but the procedure varies.

Whenever I go to my parents, I take ariselu from Hyderabad for them. Maa loves ariselu which is not available in Pune. This time I have decided to make them at home and take it for her.

Ariselu is made with rice flour and sugar or jaggery. In this recipe we are going to use jaggery. The rice is soaked overnight, drained and then grinded into flour. The flour has to be sieved to get a fine texture. We will be using 600 grams of sieved flour. I soak a little more rice than required for the recipe. The rest is reserved in case we require it later and the rice granules in the sieve can be reused in other dishes.

Recipe for Ariselu

Ingredients for Ariselu

• 750 gms rice
• 350 gms jaggery (crushed or grated)
• 2 tbsp ghee
• 2 tbsp sesame (lightly roasted)
• ½ tsp crushed cardamom
• Oil for deep frying
• ¼ cup water

How to make

Rinse and soak rice for 8 hours or overnight.

Drain the water. Let the wet rice sit in the sieve for 10 minutes to get rid of the excess water.

While the rice is still wet, grind the rice in batches and sieve simultaneously. 

Approximately 50 to 100 gms of rice will remain back in the sieve which can be used to make kheer or dal khichdi. The flour will weigh approximately 600 grams.

Now melt the crushed jaggery with water in a pan.

Bring the syrup to boil. When the syrup begins to bubble,take some syrup and put it in a bowl of water. If the syrup doesn’t spread and forms into a soft ball, the syrup is ready.

Add ghee and sesame to the syrup. Mix well.

Now add in the flour to combine well.

Take a portion and try shaping it into a ball. If it doesn’t lose its shape it is ready to be fried. In case the dough starts spreading and losing its shape add more flour to it.

Take a two folded butter paper or a thick plastic sheet. As the dough has ghee there is no need to grease the sheet. Dip you fingers in ghee and spread it on your palm. Now take a small portion of dough, roll it into a ball, keep it on the butter paper and lightly press with fingers to shape into a circle of 3 to 4 inches of diameter.

Deep fry on low heat. Approximately it takes 4 minutes to fry one ariselu. 

Press it between two slotted spoons to get rid of the excess oil.

ANARSA (AUTHENTIC RECIPE FOR ANARSA)

 

Anarsa is a festive snack from Maharashtra prepared during Diwali. This delicious sweet is made from rice and jaggery and deep fired in desi ghee or clarified butter. This recipe is considered to be quite intimidating by many but it is not true. You should surely try it once to believe it.
Different recipes for anarsa are available. Anarsa can be prepared with jaggery as well as sugar or both can be used in half proportion. Results are assured if the given recipe is followed as it is.
This is my all time favourite sweet. Though it has a high calorie count, believe me it is all worth it.

My grandma used to make anarsas that were crispy from outside and soft from inside. This particular recipe is passed on to me from my mother. She says I make better anarsas than her. These words from her make me feel great.

Recipe for Anarsa

Ingredients

• Rice – 250 gms,
• Jaggery – 250 gms,
• Poppy seeds – 50 gms,
• Ghee for deep frying.

How to make

Wash the rice and drain the water. Soak the rice in water for 3 days. Change the water every 24 hours at the same time of the day.

On the 4^th day drain the water completely. By now rice may have a sour smell which is a good sign. Transfer the rice on a clean cotton cloth and let it day (in shade only).

Crush or grate the jaggery and keep aside.

Grind the rice to fine powder and sieve it to get a fine powder. This process of grinding and sieving the rice should be done as fast as possible because we require the rice powder to be little moist when we mix the jaggery with it.

Now add the grate jaggery to the rice powder and mix well with hands to from a dough.

Keep this dough in an air tight container for 4 days.

On the 5^th day the dough is ready to use.

Spread some poppy seeds on a plate. Heat some ghee for deep frying.

Grease your palms with ghee. Take a lemon size portion of the dough and roll it between the palms to form a ball.

Place the ball on the seeds and press it lightly with tip of the index fingers to from a thick puri.

Slide one anarsa (poppy seeds side up) at a time into the medium hot ghee.

Put some hot ghee over the anarsa with a slotted spoon. This is done to ensure that both the sides of the anarsa are cooked evenly.

Fry till golden brown for a minute. Drain the excess ghee and remove in a serving plate lined with paper towel.

Tips

• After 4 days if you feel that the dough is very dry, you can add one teaspoon of mashed banana or milk. More can be added if required.
• Anarsas should not be flipped while deep frying.
• Avoid using very moist jaggery for this recipe.