Athirasam Recipe (A Traditional South Indian Diwali Sweet)

Adhirasam is a delicious and crisp sweet dish that is made from rice and jaggery. This deep fried sweet is very famous in southern india and even Sri Lanka. The Athirasa makes for a wonderful dessert topped with rabdi or can even be eaten as a part of a filling breakfast or even make it for the festival of Diwali. Course : Dessert Ingridients : 1-1/2 cup Rice 1 cup Jaggery 1/4 cup Fresh coconut , grated 2 teaspoons Black sesame seeds 3 Cardamom (Elaichi) Pods/Seeds 1/2 teaspoon Black pepper powder Salt , a pinch 2 tablespoons Coconut Oil Oil , for deep frying Instructions Start the preparation of Athirasam Recipe (A Traditional South Indian Diwali Sweet), by washing and soaking the rice for 2 hours. In a small pan, roast the black sesame seeds on medium heat until they splutter. Add in the grated coconut and roast well till it turns golden brown. Once done, keep it aside.Now blend the soaked rice, cardamom and black pepper powder into a mixer with little water to make a thick batter. Grind everything together till they form a smooth paste. Keep this aside as well.Next, in a heavy bottomed pan, add the jaggery, black sesame seeds, grated coconut and around 3/4 cup of water and boil them on medium heat till all the jaggery dissolves. Once the bubbles start to form, add the ground rice paste and cook it for a few minutes. Keep stirring the mixture well on low heat until all the water evaporates and the contents of the pan resembles a chapathi dough consistency. They should come out from the sides of the pan smoothly.Once done, take the pan off the heat and allow the athirasa dough to cool down.To prepare the athirasa dough balls, grease the palm of your hand with oil and shape the dough into lemon sized balls. Press these onto a plastic or banana leaf in the shape of large round circles of thickness around 3-4 mm.Deep fry these dough circles in a deep-bottomed pan till they turn golden brown, stirring them evenly on both sides.When the Athirasa is cooked, drain from the cooking oil and place it on kitchen paper to remove the excess oils.The Athirasa can now be stored in an air tight container and eaten either immediately or even during the week.Serve Adhirasam/Athirasam Recipe (A Traditional South Indian Diwali Sweet) for a snack along with South Indian Filter Coffee Recipe during evenings.