Adhirasam

The dough ferments for three to five days in the sun before anything is fried.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (ghee).

Ingredients

• 500 g raw rice
• 400 g jaggery
• 150 ml water
• 6 cardamom pods, seeds ground
• 1 teaspoon sesame seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, ground
• 2 tablespoons ghee
• oil or ghee for deep frying

Method

1. THE DOUGH FERMENTS FOR THREE TO FIVE DAYS IN THE SUN BEFORE ANYTHING IS FRIED. Its article says the whole preparation takes about a week and gives each stage. The rice is soaked, dried IN SHADE, and ground when it is three-quarters dry and still holds some moisture; jaggery is boiled to SOFT-BALL and beaten into the flour with cardamom to a thick dough; the dough goes into an earthenware pot closed with a thin white cloth and is left three to five days, put out in the sunlight by day. Only then is it fried. Nothing about that can be hurried, and a same-day version is a different sweet.
2. THE RICE IS DRIED IN SHADE AND GROUND WHILE STILL DAMP. Its article is precise and the reason is textural: flour ground from rice that still carries moisture is finer and softer, and sun-drying it hard first gives a gritty flour. Spread it on cloth indoors for a few hours, until it is dry to the touch but cool and not brittle.
3. THE JAGGERY GOES TO SOFT-BALL AND NO FURTHER. Boiled with the water until a drop in cold water forms a ball you can squash between finger and thumb, about a hundred and sixteen degrees. Taken past that the sweet sets hard; short of it the dough never firms up.
4. THE SYRUP IS BEATEN INTO THE FLOUR HOT. All at once, with the cardamom, worked to a thick dough. It will be soft and sticky and that is correct at this stage.
5. THE POT IS EARTHENWARE AND THE LID IS CLOTH. Its article says a thin white cloth over the top. Cloth lets moisture out while keeping flies off; a sealed lid sweats and the dough sours instead of ripening.
6. IT GOES OUT IN THE SUN BY DAY AND COMES IN AT NIGHT. Three to five days. The dough darkens and stiffens and smells of treacle.
7. THEY ARE FLATTENED ON AN OILED BANANA LEAF, NOT ON A BOARD. Its article says a small piece of oil-brushed banana leaf, pressed out with the fingers. The leaf lets the soft disc be lifted into the fat without tearing; greased baking paper does the same job.
8. THEY ARE PRESSED WITH A FLAT-BOTTOMED BOWL STRAIGHT OUT OF THE OIL. Its article says so and it is the step everyone leaves out. Pressing a hot adhirasam between two flat surfaces squeezes the fat back out, and without it they stay heavy and greasy.
9. SESAME AND PEPPER ARE OPTIONAL AND ITS ARTICLE SAYS SO. Sometimes coconut, cardamom, sesame, pepper or ginger powder. Cardamom is the one that is always there.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under India · All recipes