Anarsa - A traditional Maharashtrian delicacy made of rice flour and jaggery is a recipe prepared to celebrate diwali. This crispy crunchy pastry like snack is prepared in Uttar Pradesh also during festive occasions. Preparing the dough for anarase is a lengthy process, but the end result is worth trying.
Ingredients:
· Rice – 1 cup (preferably use old rice)
· Water - 2 cups
· Jaggery – ½ cup (grated)
· Oil for frying
Method:
· Wash the rice 3-4 times and soak the rice for 3 days.
· Continue doing this all the 3 days, wash the rice well and change the water daily.
· After 3 days you may feel that the rice has little smell, it’s absolutely fine.
· Drain all the water from rice and spread it on clean and dry cloth and let it dry completely. This may take 3-4 hours.
· Put the rice in the blender jar and grind it. Sieve the rice flour through a strainer.
· Blend the flour again that remains after the rice flour is sieved.
· Now add jaggery. Preferably avoid using the one that is used to make chikki. Mix jaggery well with rice flour.
· You can add this mixture into a blender jar and blend it once more.
· Pour the the mixture in a mixing bowl.
· Now cover and keep it aside for 2 hours, after some time rice and jaggery will release the moisture and we can prepare nice dough out of it.
· After 2 hours you can blend it once more in a blender jar.
· In case, If the mixture is dry, you can add 2-3 tsp milk to it and make the dough. Don’t add too much water.
· Now knead it and make a thick dough.
· Cover and keep it overnight so that it is nicely fermented. In case it’s not fermented well, let is rest for 1 more day. Cover and keep.
· Once the dough is fermented well make small balls out of the dough. Grease bit ghee or oil to hand and roll it into a disk with hands only.
· Set the oil kadai and let the oil boil.
· You can spread the poppy seeds on the parchment paper and put anarsa small ball over poppy seeds and roll out using your fingers (grease the fingers with ghee).
· Don’t keep all the anarsase ready. When you fry one anarase, roll out another one.
· While frying, oil should not be too hot. Keep the heat on medium to low flame.
· While dropping the anarasa in hot oil, make sure that the side having poppy seeds faces up.
· Sprinkle a little oil over it continuously and fry on low heat for 4-5 minutes.
· Fry until they turn nice golden brown in colour.
· Remove from oil and put it on the tissue paper.
· Fry all the anarase in the same way, once cooled store these in an air tight container.
· Enjoy these crispy and crunchy anarase with your family and friends.