Doughnut of South India – Adhirasam

Batter Process: 2 Days

Prep Time: 45 mins | Cook Time: 20 mins | No. of Sweets: 35 | Author: Mr. Sriram

South Indian’s traditional way of eat meals with a taste of sweet before going to the main course meals. My first Fusion Food blog with starts with a sweet which is an ancient recipe of sweet which has got a unique way of preparation and if we miss the exact consistency the whole process will fail. It’s called “Adhirasam” in Tamil (South Indian Doughnut).

Ingredients

Raw Rice – 750 grams
Jaggery – 500 grams
Cardamom – 10 peeled
Oil – To Fry

Method

Making Flour

Rinse and soak the rice for 4 hours.
After soaking drain the water completely and spread over a cotton cloth and make it dry. It takes up-to 30 minutes. Retain the moisture when it is dry.
Grind them into batches using the mixer grinder. The flour consistency should not be a fine powder.
Sieve the grind flour using the coarse sieve. The not grind rice will be filtered. Keep it aside.
Cover the flour and use the whole flour for making Adhirasam. Don’t keep the ground rice for future use since it has moisture.

Preparing Jaggery Syrup – Proper Consistency

Smash the jaggery or powder the jaggery using the hammer.
Mix jaggery with 1 cup of water and bring into boil. When the jaggery dissolves completely, then switch off the flame.
Filter the jaggery syrup with steel filter to remove the dusts.
Boil the jaggery again to get the consistency of soft ball. To test the consistency, take water in a small wide bowl and drop a tsp of syrup into it. If it does not dissolve into the water and you are able to make soft ball out of it then the consistency is perfect. Switch off the flame immediately.
Powder the cardamom with a grinder. Now put the powdered cardamom into the jaggery syrup and mix well.

Making Adhirasam Batter

Take the rice flour in a wide bowl, slowly pour the jaggery syrup in the rice flour.
Mix the rice flour and syrup well while pouring.
The batter consistency will be like a soft ball (Bonda in Tamil).
Close the lid and let it rest for 2 days at room temperature.
After two days, knead the dough with your hands. The consistency of the dough will become thick and will be like roti dough.

Making Adhirasam

Divide the dough into lemon sized ball. Take a thick plastic sheet or banana leaf and grease it with oil. Press the dough on the greased sheet with your fingers into a 2mm thickness circles. Place a hole at the center.
Heat the oil in a pan for deep frying the adhirasam.
Make 3-4 pieces and take each circle with your hand and dip it into hot oil. Heat the oil in a medium flame and the temperature should not be too hot.
Put 3-4 adhirasams at a time according to the size of the pan. When one side is cooked then turn it over to the other side. Cook till they turn into golden.
Remove from the oil and press the oil out completely and take it out from the oil and strain the oil completely and cover it with tissue to extract the excess oil.
Allow it to cool completely and store them in an air tight container.

Enjoy the Adhirasam – a delicious and divine South Indian Sweet.

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