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Athirasa is a traditional deep-fried sweet dish from Karnataka prepared from freshly milled rice flour, coconut, jaggery and oil. Getting the right consistency of the dough is the key in making this dish. There are variations of this from other South Indian states – Adhirasam in Tamil Nadu and Ariselu in Andhra Pradesh.
Ingredients:
Rice –Â 500gms
Jaggery – 400gms
Coconut, grated –Â 4 tbsps
Pepper Powder –Â 2 tsps
Cardamom Powder –Â 1 tsp
Oil –Â 250 ml
Ghee – 2 tbsps
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying
Thick Plastic Sheet – 1
Method:
- Wash rice and soak it in water for 15mins.
- Drain out all the water and blend it into powder. (You do not have to wait for the rice grains to dry!).
- Sieve the powder through a fine sieving dish.
- Again blend the remains in the sieving dish until it filters through the sieving dish.
- Repeat this until all the rice powder filter through the sieving dish.
- Add pepper and cardamom powder, mix well.
- Blend coconut into fine powder without adding any water.
- Take jaggery in a broad vessel, add 1/2 cup water and let it boil until it forms a single thread consistency.
- Immediately, add powdered coconut and turn off the heat.
- Add rice powder,ghee and oil. Mix well.
- The dough thus prepared should not stick to your finger when touched and should have consistency of soft chapati dough.
- Heat oil in a pan.
- Take a thick plastic sheet and smear some oil.
- Make a lemon sized roundel with the dough, place it on the plastic and slightly press with your palm (smeared with oil)Â to make small disc of about 1cm thick.
- Carefully drop this disc in oil and fry until the bottom it brown.
- Now turn the side and fry until the other side is brown.
- Remove from oil and place it in kitchen tissues as this normally absorbs good amount of oil.
- Repeat the same for remaining dough.
- Once cooled store in air tight container.
P.S: If the consistency and the dough mix is not right, the discs will break when dropped in oil. So take care while preparing with the quantity and consistency.
