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Anarsa

It is rolled in white poppy seeds and fried poppy-side down first.

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

Ingredients

Method

  1. IT IS ROLLED IN WHITE POPPY SEEDS AND FRIED POPPY-SIDE DOWN FIRST. Its article names four ingredients -- jaggery, rice, poppy seed and ghee -- and then gives that one instruction about the frying, which is the whole craft of it. The seeds toast in the first few seconds of contact with the hot ghee and set into a crust; turned the other way up, they steam on top, go soft and fall off. One sentence in the source and it decides whether the sweet works.
  2. THE RICE IS SOAKED FOR DAYS, WITH THE WATER CHANGED OFTEN. Its article says a few days with frequent changes of water. Three days, changed twice a day. The point is a long, controlled soak without the water going off, and a stale soak smells of it immediately.
  3. THEN IT IS DRIED AND GROUND FINE. Drained, spread to dry, and ground to a fine powder.
  4. THE JAGGERY IS WORKED IN DRY, NOT AS A SYRUP. Its article says the flour is MIXED WITH JAGGERY to make a dough. Grated jaggery rubbed into the flour by hand until the moisture in it brings the dough together. No water is added.
  5. THE DOUGH IS RESTED AND IT SOFTENS AS IT SITS. A few hours covered. The jaggery goes on drawing moisture out of itself and a dough that was crumbly becomes workable.
  6. THE DISCS ARE PRESSED THIN BY HAND. Thin enough to cook through in the time the poppy crust takes to colour, and no thinner or they break lifting. Its article quotes a size that is a typo in the source, so this page gives none.
  7. THE SEEDS GO ON ONE SIDE ONLY. Pressed into the disc so they stay put. Both sides coated and there is no plain face to finish on.
  8. THE GHEE IS MODERATE AND THEY ARE NOT CROWDED. Two or three at a time. They are fragile and a crowded pan means knocking them into each other.
  9. THERE ARE TWO SHAPES AND ITS ARTICLE DISTINGUISHES THEM. Rounder and ball-shaped in Bihar, flatter in Maharashtra. It also gives a variation with banana worked into the rice flour base.

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.

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