Atirasa(m)/ Kajjaya
Athirasa - Also called as kajjaya or athirasam is a dessert prepared with rice and jaggery. It is popular sweet for Diwali in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Though the ingredients are simple, it requires lots of patience to make this. Especially to achieve the paakam (consistency) of jaggery. I have given some tips at the end based on the experience especially the mistakes I made.
Ingredients
Rice - 1 and 1/2 cup
Jaggery - 1 cup
Dry ginger powder - 1 tsp
Cardamom powder - 1 tsp
Sesame seeds - 1 tbsp
Ghee - 1 tbsp
Oil - as needed for deep frying
Method
Soak the rice for 2 to 3 hours. (Use dosa rice). Drain the water and spread the rice in a thin muslin cloth. The rice should have moisture content. Transfer the rice to a blender and grind it into coarse powder. The powder should not be very fine. Keep it aside in a vessel.
In a kadai take jaggery and powder it. Add water and mix. Heat this jaggery syrup. Keep stirring till the jaggery syrup is thick. Keep checking the consistency of the syrup. Transfer a drop of syrup to water,it will not dissolve. When you slide with your fingers a ball can be made. This is soft ball consistency and this is the perfect consistency for athirasam. If the syrup is heated further, the Kajjaya will become hard. So immediately switch off the flame.
Mix the rice flour with the jaggery syrup. Mix it well without any lumps. It will be a little loose. Add the dried ginger powder, elaichi powder and sesame seeds Transfer this into a airtight container and allow it to fermentation for 1 day. After 24 hrs the mix will be tight. Not too much tight though. Take a small portion, roll it into a lemon sized ball. Grease your hand with ghee and flatten this. It should not be too thin. You can flatten the mix on a plantain leaf or milk cover as well.
Heat oil in a kadai. Heat it. The oil should not be too hot. Slowly transfer the flattened mix to oil. It will float on top. Gently press it and flip over. Fry till both sides are reddish brown. Press with a laddle to remove the excess oil. Frying should be done in low or medium flame only.
Allow it to cool and serve. It tastes better when it is cool.
1. The rice should be paccharasi (dosa rice or ration rice)
2. Keep checking the jaggery syrup.
3. If the mix becomes too tight after fermentation, you can add milk, spoon by spoon and make it to the desired consistency
4. If the mix is too loose, you can add a tsp of rice flour not more. If it is still loose, better to soak rice again and grind it to powder.
5. The rice should have the moisture when you are grinding it.
Ingredients
Rice - 1 and 1/2 cup
Jaggery - 1 cup
Dry ginger powder - 1 tsp
Cardamom powder - 1 tsp
Sesame seeds - 1 tbsp
Ghee - 1 tbsp
Oil - as needed for deep frying
Method
Soak the rice for 2 to 3 hours. (Use dosa rice). Drain the water and spread the rice in a thin muslin cloth. The rice should have moisture content. Transfer the rice to a blender and grind it into coarse powder. The powder should not be very fine. Keep it aside in a vessel.
In a kadai take jaggery and powder it. Add water and mix. Heat this jaggery syrup. Keep stirring till the jaggery syrup is thick. Keep checking the consistency of the syrup. Transfer a drop of syrup to water,it will not dissolve. When you slide with your fingers a ball can be made. This is soft ball consistency and this is the perfect consistency for athirasam. If the syrup is heated further, the Kajjaya will become hard. So immediately switch off the flame.
Mix the rice flour with the jaggery syrup. Mix it well without any lumps. It will be a little loose. Add the dried ginger powder, elaichi powder and sesame seeds Transfer this into a airtight container and allow it to fermentation for 1 day. After 24 hrs the mix will be tight. Not too much tight though. Take a small portion, roll it into a lemon sized ball. Grease your hand with ghee and flatten this. It should not be too thin. You can flatten the mix on a plantain leaf or milk cover as well.
Heat oil in a kadai. Heat it. The oil should not be too hot. Slowly transfer the flattened mix to oil. It will float on top. Gently press it and flip over. Fry till both sides are reddish brown. Press with a laddle to remove the excess oil. Frying should be done in low or medium flame only.
Allow it to cool and serve. It tastes better when it is cool.
1. The rice should be paccharasi (dosa rice or ration rice)
2. Keep checking the jaggery syrup.
3. If the mix becomes too tight after fermentation, you can add milk, spoon by spoon and make it to the desired consistency
4. If the mix is too loose, you can add a tsp of rice flour not more. If it is still loose, better to soak rice again and grind it to powder.
5. The rice should have the moisture when you are grinding it.
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