Ariselu / Athirasallu / Athirasam ~ ICC Feb 2010



Oh boy!! This is the only word that comes to my mind at the end of this month's ICC. When Srivalli, who initiated Indian Cooking Challenge announced this month's challenge I was both over-whelmed and under-whelmed at the same time. Overwhelmed, because Athirasam as we call it Tamil is definitely one of my favorites. Under-whelmed, as all of us know, it is one of the difficult sweets to make. I am a great fan of the Kalyana Athirasams, the ones that come along with Murukku in the "Seer" in our marriages. In fact, Amma saved some from the Sashtiapdhapoorthy (60th Marriage day) of her sister and passed it on to me when Mom-in-law came here to visit us.. So that explains my love for this wonderful sweet :)

I immediately called up to check with Amma to get her inputs. She only asked me, "Are you sure you are going to do this?" This was enough to scare me once again and I was contemplating till last week how am I going to do this. Then finally, I decided.. Chalo, what's wrong in trying!!

First attempt was a total mishap with all the dough turning into hard bits with no scope for correction. Amma suggested that it could be because of the wrong consistency of the Jaggery and that I be a little more vigilent next time. Yes, vigilent I was, the second time. This time I took out the Jaggery at the right time, and I was finally able to make something that came close to be called Athirasam.

I made use of the second recipe given by Srivalli and found it simpler than the first one.

Ariselu / Athirasallu / Athirasam
This method yields about 8

Ingredients Needed
Rice Flour - 1 glass (standard measurement)
Jaggery - 1/2 glass
Coconut,grated - 2 tsp
Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp
Water - 1/2 glass
Sesame seeds - 1 tbsp

Oil for deep frying.

Method to prepare:
1. Grate the Jaggery and add water just enough to cover it.
2. Cook it on high and removed the scum.
3. Then add the cardamom powder.
4. Once it starts boiling, add the grated coconut. You will see lot of bubbles coming out.
5. At this stage, add the Rice flour slowly and stir it together well. You will know when the consistency is correct, so till then you got to keep adding the flour.
This dough can be stored and used whenever you want. If it becomes too hard, just add about 2 tsp of water along with 2 tsp of sugar.
6. Get it to boil, while you keep stirring it. The mix should become soft again. When you handle it, it should come together as a soft dough. Divide it to equal balls.
7. Heat a kadai with oil to deep fry these. In a greased plastic sheet, pat them down to equal sized discs. Press down the sesame seeds over the top.
8. Once the oil is hot, gently drop these into them.
9. Fry on both sides. Since the sesame seeds are just pressed over the top, they will get into the oil. If you want to avoid this, try adding to the dough.
10. Once they are golden brown, remove and drain them on a kitchen towel. They will be soft when you remove them, will become crunchy once they are cooled.

Update: Some of my blogger buddies have passed on TOFAS which I'll update soon. Please excuse me for my laziness! :(


See you all soon with another interesting post. Till then, Happy Cooking and Happy Blogging!

30 comments:

Ash said...

I have always loved this delicacy too...My mom never made it, but during Diwali, one of my neighbor aunties prepared it, which I savored to the core...... AWESOME ATHIRASA.... Yours Look good too.... U r lucky to be able to savor it... I am happy that u r at least..... I would only imagine the taste...... ;-)

Ash...
(http://asha-oceanichope.blogspot.com/)

Kanchan said...

Cool , this is my favorite too! I guess this is similar to what we call in marathi as "Anarse" !

Loved this version too !

Aruna Manikandan said...

I love Athirasam a lot!!!!
But haven't tried so far :-)

Sushma Mallya said...

i used to have this before but didnt know how to make this one till now...thanks for the recipe rohini,it looks very delicious..

Latha said...

Yummy adhirasam....Great rohini, You could make lovely adhirasam in your second try itself :).

Cool Lassi(e) said...

Dear,
Good to see a post from you after long. And Kudos to you for not giving up after the mishap first time. The Adhirasam looks heavenly for someone who is a big fan of it. The vella Adhirasam is what I love too.
How are your dutch classes coming along?

Nithya said...

Wow.. I love Adhirasam too :) Its one traditional dish that amma keeps making often. :) Yumm.. Nice clicks dear. :)

And yeah buddy, I moved to the new domain name through blogger only. I chose godaddy as my provider.

Hey dear just send me your mail id na. I could not reply back to your comment directly. So just ping me in fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com. Let me add you in my gtalk as well. :)

Anonymous said...

I also found the second recipe easier.

The first recipe was a disaster even for me... dough became very hard as it the dough cooled and could not even break it... I think it was the syrup consistency that messed up the dough

Niloufer Riyaz said...

Nice click! for me too the second recipe came out handy

Srivalli said...

Great to have you join us..glad you liked it..:)

Simplyfood said...

These look very delicious and beautifully made.

Nithu Bala said...

Hey Rohini, athirasam is my favou too but never tried..your athirasam looks good dear..

Ms.Chitchat said...

One of my favourite. Rightly said, we get to eat only as kalyana batchanam. Never tried at home. Urs have come out well.

Unknown said...

Ahaa! Arumaiyana athirasam! Supera irrukku rohini! I am drooling over it just thinking about how tasty it will be..

Rachana said...

Wow!! the athirasam has come out really well and beautiful clicks too Rohini:)

Saraswathy Balakrishnan said...

hey have came out really nice..i have being try to make them but get the right consistence at all..

Unknown said...

Kudos. Athirasam looks great Rohini. Couldnt do this months challenge due to exams :(

Monika said...

u know this was the first time I eat them when I made them ;-)

they are nice

Anu said...

Lazy nu solitu athirasam lam pani kalakuringa... athirasam looks perfect and tempting..

Unknown said...

this is a tough one and yours look perfect n delicious..

Sanjana said...

I've never heard of this but my, my, my it sounds delicious! As is anything with sesame seeds and jaggery!

Anonymous said...

இது வரிக்க ஒரு அம்பது தரம் அதிரசம் ட்ரை பண்ணிருப்பேன் ரோஹிணி.ஒரு தரவ கூட ஒழுங்கா வரல எனக்கு.ரொம்ப அழகா பனிருக்கீங்க.பாக்கவே வாய் ஊருது.

Hari Chandana P said...

WOWWWWWW... Looks soo delicious and perfect.. thanks for sharing.. :)

San!!! said...

One of my favs,i get to eat athirasam only during diwalis so i will be wanting n desperately waiting for diwali during childhood days.Git to have hands on them soon.They are so adorable rohini.Can u pass me some pls?

Padmajha said...

Loved the challenge rite!!!I tried the same method and we enjoyed it...Yours looks lovely...

lata raja said...

I love adhirasasms and just like you will want everyone to save a piece for me...until I learnt to make them. Now I can do them just like that.
You have done this very well. BTW what about the first dough? Appdiyae saaptrikkalaam thaanea?

Deepa G Joshi said...

hey that looks so good. lecker..

Parita said...

Looks good!

ruchikacooks said...

Thank you :)

I made the second one too..Pagu with athirasam is tough, even amma has trouble with it sometimes. Now that was a real cooking challenge right?

Urmi said...

Looks spicy, delicious and yummy. Wonderful presentation.