Mar 15, 2010

Athirasam for Indian Cooking Challenge


I like to thank all my friends for wishing Harish
for his exams.The practical exams ends out very
smoothly.Ofcourse the real testing is shecduled from
next tuesday.Ok..

This month's ICC Athirasam is a bit easy for  me.I
used to make this atleast once a month as Athirasam
is one of Harish's fav sweet.My neighbour used to say
those who are making perfect athirasams should be
given golden bangle.A little bit of error in the rice flour
and jaggery totally make athirasam collapsible.

Ingredients

Raw Rice - 200 gms

Paku Jaggary - 250 gms

Sesame Seeds - 2 tsp or less

Gasa gasa or Poppy Seeds - 1/4 tsp

Cardamom powder - a pinch
Method to prepare.

Soak rice for 6 hrs and then shade dry it. Meaning it should not become dry but should still have some wetness in the rice. You can either grind this to fine powder using your mixie or give to mill. The rice flour should have that texture of soft and wet feeling when you take a handful and also it should kind of retain your fist shape. Hope you understand what I am saying. This is very important because if the flour is very dry it wouldn't turn out well.
Have all the things ready when you put the jaggary for cooking.

Take water that is enough to dilute jaggary. Dissolve the jaggary. Remove any impurities that may be present. Then again cook till the pakam is ready. The consistency here is also very important. Hope you know that pakam is calculated as threads.
This is how we check the thread consistency, when the jaggary starts boiling and becomes thick, carefully take a small bit and touch it between your thumb and Index fingers. A thread will be formed when you take your fingers away from each other.

Likewise when the syrup becomes thick, you can find 3 threads being formed. So after 3 thread consistency the jaggary is really cooked well and it become thick. When you take a bit and put it in water, you should be able to make a ball of it. This is when you know the pakkam is ready.

Remove from fire, and add poppy seeds, sesame seeds and cardamom. Mix well. Then slowly add the rice flour and keep mixing well. The consistency is very important, so you need to add the flour little by little. Mix till you get a chapati dough consistency. End of this, you may still have some flour left out.

Divide into lemon size balls. Grease a plastic sheet and your fingers. Place the ball on the sheet, and pat it down to a poori size.

Heat oil for frying and slowly drop these discs into the hot oil. You can simmer for a while until you know the inside is cooked. Turn to the other side and cook till its golden in colour. If you are cooking alone, you can roll out one by one and cook. Else it might get burnt. Once done, remove and drain on a Kitchen towel.



18 comments:

ruchikacooks said...

Lovely! I made them too..yours looks like how my mom will make ;)

Srivalli said...

Good to know about Harish Kamala. And of course for you Athirasam is like back of your hand..still so glad that you made it. Do pass on my best wishes to harish.

Champa said...

Looks very well done.

Anonymous said...

Your Ariselu came out perfect! I think you do deserve a gold bangle for making perfect athirasam!

Finla said...

I have had this in my sisters place her MIL make this and i ised to eat them few at once. I have not had this in 18 yrs.

Cham said...

U ve attirasam recipe i guess...
This one looks perfect!

Simplyfood said...

My 1st time here these look lovely and delicious.

Monika said...

urs look so lovely may be I shld have used the first recipe

Laavanya said...

I've tried adhirasam just once and it was a flop.. got way too oily and didn't taste good. Yours look soo good. It's my husband's favorite too and my paati makes it really well.

Good to see you back in action Kamala. Thanks for asking abt me.. am doing good.. yes still busy wth the 2 little ones.. the baby is still not sleeping through the night so very tiring but otherwise all is good.

Nice to hear that your son's exams went well... best wishes for the upcoming ones.

Latha said...

Athirasam looks lovely. Very well done.

Padmajha said...

Rightly said-it is indeed a trick dish and those who succeed need to be gifted a golden bangle!!Best of luck for Harishs upcoming exams...

lata raja said...

Hi was off for a while. Hence very late in saying how wonderful your adhirasams have turned out.

FoodLovers said...

looks perfect

Nirmala said...

Wishing Harish all the very best Kamala! Will talk to you when you visit Chennai. We shall try our best to meet in person too!

Srividhya Ravikumar said...

looks delicious.. do drop in at my site whenever.. following you

Srividhya Ravikumar said...

looks delicious.. do drop in at my site whenever.. following you

Srividhya Ravikumar said...

looks delicious.. do drop in at my site whenever.. following you

Anonymous said...

sounds good!!!!(: