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.

NAVANAKKI HOLIGE

Navanakki or foxtail millet is one of the oldest millets known. It is a staple in south India, especially Karnataka. Variety of dishes like payasam, upma, dosa are prepared with navanakki.

Navanakki holige is similar to puran poli from Maharashtra. It is a parantha made from whole wheat flour or all purpose flour, stuffed with navanakki and jaggery filling, rolled and baked on griddle (tava) or deep fried.

Traditionally this sweet is prepared on special occasions and festivals.

Recipe for Navanakki Holige

Ingredients for Navanakki Holige

• All pupose flour or maida
• Navanakki
• Jaggery
• Cardamom powder
• Clarified butter or ghee
• Oil
• Rice flour or any other flour for dusting
• salt

How to make

Take maida in a mixing bowl. Add salt, oil and  water to it.

Knead a soft dough. Cover and keep aside for an hour.

Dry roast navanakki for 2 to 3 minutes on medium heat. Keep aside to cool.

Grind navanakki to a fine powder and sieve it.

In a pan melt jaggery with 2 tablespoon of water. Bring it to boil.

Add sifted navanakki flour. Mix well.

Cook for 2 minutes and remove from heat.

As the mixture cools it will take form of a soft dough.

Add crushed cardomom. Mix well.

Divide the maida dough into small equal portions. Shape them into balls.

Take a dough ball, roll it into a circle of approximately 4 inches. Place a portion of filling at its center.

Gently bring together the edges and press them together to seal it.

Dust some flour on the rolling surface to prevent it from sticking.

Gently roll it flat into an oval shape. Take care while rolling so that there are no holes. 

Deep fry till golden in colour and crisp.

Top it with a spoonful of ghee and serve it.

CHENNA KHEER

Lucknow, capital of Uttar Pradesh has extreme cold and hot weather. During summer weekend outings, we would stop by at this ‘Parag milk’ outlet (local milk dairy in Lucknow) which had a variety of milk products like dahi, flavoured milk and so on. That was where I tasted chenna kheer for the first time and it gained a special place in my heart since then.

I would describe chenna kheer as pure goodness or unadulterated love for milk. It tastes heaven as far as milk lovers are concerned.

Homemade chenna gives the best result, packed paneer or cottage cheese can also be used. Packaged paneer blocks can be grated or cut into minute cubes before adding to kheer. Refer to my previous post for homemade chenna. Cow milk or buffalo milk can be used.

One important thing to do is to put the chenna under running water to get rid of all the lemon juice or vinegar. If this is not done properly, there are chances of the splitting the kheer.

Recipe for Chenna kheer

Ingredients for Chenna kheer

• 1 + 1 litres of milk
• 80 gms khoya p
• 100 gms sugar
• ½ tsp cardamom (crushed)
• Juice of one lemon or vinegar
• Dryfruits (optional)

How to make

First put one litre of milk on medium heat. Bring it to boil and simmer till it reduces to half.

Meanwhile, heat another litre of milk for chenna. Refer previous post for how to make chenna at home.

Crumble the chenna and keep aside.

Once the milk is reduced, add the grated or crumbled khoya. Stir until the khoya combines well with the milk.

Add the chenna, simmer for 2 minutes. Dry fruits can also be added at this stage (optional).

Add sugar and cardamom. Simmer for 10 minutes.

Serve warm or chilled.

MAKHANA KHEER

Makhana or phool makhana or foxnuts are puffed lotus seeds. Rich in proteins and minerals, makhana when combined with milk makes creamy and tasty kheer. Kheer is an indian dessert mainly prepared in north India.

Makhana kheer is prepared while observing fast for nine days of navratre. Kheer is a dessert prepared on almost every auspicious occasion. Makhana kheer is one of the most popular kheer varieties.

The quantity of sugar is just enough as we like it less sweet. Adjust the sugar according to your liking. I haven’t used nuts in the recipe, feel free to add nuts as per your preference. Saute the nuts in ghee on low heat before adding to the kheer.

This dessert is extremely simple to make, rich and creamy in taste. The process is similar to any other type of kheer preparation.

Recipe for Makhana kheer

Ingredients for Makhana kheer

• ½ litre full fat milk
• 2 cups makhane or foxnuts
• 2 tbsp sugar
• ¼ tsp crushed cardamom or green elaichi
• 1 tsp ghee or clarified butter
• 2 tbsp cashew nuts (chopped and fried in ghee)

 How to make

Roast the makhanas in ghee on low heat until it slightly changes its colour. This will take 4 to 5 minutes. Keep stirring continuously as it tends to stick and burn very fast. Keep aside to cool down.

Roughly crush or break 1½ cups of makhanas in pieces. Preserve ½ cup whole makhanas.

Bring the milk to boil in a thick bottom pan. Let it simmer for 7 to 8 minutes on low heat.

Add the crushed and whole makhanas. Simmer for 5 more minutes.

Now add crushed cardamom and sugar. Stir till sugar dissolves completely.

Simmer for 3 minutes.

Garnish with fried cashew nuts or rose petals.