Adhirsam (sweet of rice flour and jaggery)

First crush jaggery,measure and take it in a pan.Add water to heat it up,once jaggery is dissolved strain and set aside.

Now measure and take dosa rice. Frst rinse it three times, then transfer to a bowl,add water till immersing level.Soak for atleast 2 hrs.After 2 hrs spread it in a cloth and set aside for 30mins.

The rice should still have moisture content in it,when you press it with your hands it will stick.Now transfer it to a mixer jar and grind it to a semi fine powder.It should not be very fine like store bought flour,it should be slightly coarse.

Now transfer this to a siever then sieve it.Do not discar the coarse particles,grind it again and then sieve.Now take the flour, add cardamom powder to it.Mix well and keep it covered,and set aside.Now take jaggery syrup in a pan and heat it up.Keep stirring until it is thick.

Keep checking the syrup by poring it on a plate containing water.First the syrup will dissolve in water when poured.At one stage when add few drops of the syrup it will not get dissolved in water it will stand still.Now gather it with your hands, it will form a loose ball, it will be wobbly.

This is soft ball consistency, it will easily slide from our hands.If you pass this stage, the ball will become hard and your athirasams will become hard so do not heat it more.

Immediately switch off.Now add the flour and keep mixing.Mix it well without any lumps.It will be a little loose.Now transfer to a airtight container and set aside for a day in room temperature.You can keep this dough for about a week.But after 1 day keep refrigerated if you are planning to make athirasams later.Add a tsp of ghee and knead it once.Then pinch and roll into lemon sized balls.

When you want make athirasam take banana leaf,grease it with little oil / ghee, take a ball keep on the banana leaf and flatten it with your fingers like a chapati but it should be slightly thick.Heat oil(enough for the athirasams to immerse fully) in a kadai in parallel.

Oil should not be fuming hot,lower the flame when you drop the athirasam as it will get cooked quickly.Carefully drop one athirasam,it will first float on top.Do not add two at once.

Then slowly it will puff up,carefully flip over and cook in low flame till it turns brown on both the sides.Do not cook in high flame.Press it with a laddle to drain excess oil,Then drain in tissue paper.