Anarse

No Diwali is complete without Anarse at our home. We are also content with store bought if it is not possible to make at home. My grandmother used to start her Diwali preparations 4 months ahead by making the anarse dough. Her quantities were huge, considering she had 12 siblings, 6 children their respective in-laws. Also she used to prepare the rice flour using the stone grinder. Patience !!! The one virtue I am in awe of people.



Coming to my tiny winy proportions, let us get on with work.


Ingredients (Makes around 20-25)
2 cups Basmati Rice 
2 cups Grated Jaggery
2 tbsp Clarified Butter/ Ghee
2- 3 tbsp Poppy seeds 
1/2 ripe banana (optional)


Method
1) Wash the rice under running water until the water becomes clear. Soak it in water and set aside. The rice should be soaked for 3 days ,changing the water every 24 hours. 
 2) Drain the water and let it dry under a fan (dont put under dun light directly- if u r lucky to get some in ur balcony). Roast the rice until the raw smell goes away - about 10-15 minutes for this quantity.
 3) Grate the jaggery and measure up to 2 cups.
 4) Using the ghee mix the rice flour and grated jaggery to form a stickly crumbly dough. Do not use any water.
 5) Wrap the dough using a plastic cling film and set aside until you want to use them. You can use it right away after 30 min or setting aside. The dough would stay good without refrigeration upto 3 months and 6 months in refrigerator.
 6) Knead the dough using tip of your fingers. To make it pliable use some ripe banana.
 7) On a flat surface, place a plastic sheet and grease it with ghee. Put some poppy seeds on it.
 8) Take a small ball of dough about the size of beetlenut (supari). Gently using the finger tips flatten in on the poopy seeds.
 9) You can cover the dough on top and also flatten it to get a thin roll.
 10) The surface will appear smooth when you use the plastic cover to roll it.
 11) Gently remove the plastic and drop the anarsa with the side covered in poppy seeds facing you. The oil temperature should be low to medium hot. Do not flip over the anarsa at any point, gently throw some oil on the top surface using a spatula.
 12) Remove when the below surface becomes golden, the color will change to copper red when you remove from heat so watch carefully lest it burns.




Your anarse will become crunchy when it cools down. To think of it , this is a durable maharashtrian version of Kerala's Adhirasam (Updated based on dear friends feedback).

Comments

Srivalli said…
Actually it's not exactly uniappam I guess, but athirasam..very nice to know that you also make this for Deepavali. .:).

Hope you enjoyed this edition!
Archana said…
Looks like you and I have the same taste when it comes to sweets. My MIL used to keep this powdered dough regularly and fry them whenever needed. Needless to say I ate them heartily. Never did I try making these.Thanks.
One question can you make the rice flour inthe mixer? She made it in the khal batta
I am hosting a new event which I am calling Back to our Roots. Do check out my event and send me your entries from 15/10/11 to 30/11/11.
Priya Suresh said…
Looks fabulous, the same as our South Indian Adhirasam..feel like having rite now..
Yumm Athirasam recipe Dear.Luks delicious and Super Good.Luv it.
Harini said…
Athirasam indeed!! Its been years since I had one of those!
Mélange ! said…
That's nice one..Addictive.
Vardhini said…
Nice one .. Was fun to run the marathon with you. :)

Vardhini
Event: Halloween Fiesta
something new to me...looks good!
layaa said…
Looks like our adirasam...bt method differs....lovely...
Anonymous said…
Hey Hi I tried following this but when I add jaggery and Ghee, it doesn't come to sticky dough, its much dryer then what u showed in photo , any suggestion for that ?
Hi Anon,
Thanks for trying this recipe...if the dough tends to become dry, you can use a ripe banana and mash in a piece at a time to get the required stickiness...hope this helps, the other option is to leave it at room temperature for a while as the jaggery may have solidified quite a bit. Also try mashing using ur palms to loosen up the dough a bit

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