Anarsa

Anarsa is a pastry like snack commonly consorted with the Hindu festival of Diwali in Central & Northern India. It is the most scrumptious sweet dish.  It is considered to bear one of the difficult procedure when making it, but trust me, if you follow a few secret tips which I discovered last year, you can become the master of this recipe. This recipe needs preparation beforehand but is worth the feat.

Ingredients:

2 Cups rice (the older the better)
1 ¼  Cup jaggery finely grated
Ghee for frying ( Clarified Butter)
2 Tbsp poppy seeds
1 Tbsp milk

Instructions:

1. Wash the rice until the water becomes clear. Now soak it in water and set aside for 3 days. Change the water every 24 hours.
2. After the third day drain the rice and spread it on a cotton cloth and let it dry nicely in sun. Later, grind this to a fine powder and sieve it through a fine mesh or muslin cloth.
3. Add the grated jaggery and mix nicely. Press the mixture nicely and keep it covered for 3-4 hours.
4.Knead this mixture into a pliable dough sprinkling a little milk if required.

5. Take a plastic sheet and sprinkle the poppy seeds on it. Apply some ghee to your hand if the dough is sticky. Make small lemon sized ball from the dough and press it lightly on the poppy seeds and make flat round shape.
6. Heat the ghee in frying pan. Fry the Anarsa in the Ghee with the poppy seeds side up on medium flame or else the Anarsa will break.Keep on splashing ghee over the upper side of the Anarsa with the ladle without disturbing the Anarsa. Fry till the Anarsa is golden brown. The poppy seeds side of the Anarsa will have a sort of a mesh on it once it is fried.

7. Remove the Anarsa and drain the ghee by placing Anarsa in a vertical position on flat tray. Allow it to cool for 5-6 hours or till crisp.
8. Store it in an airtight container.

Let me know about your views / suggestions and how it turned out... enjoy!!