Andhra Ariselu Sweet - Adhirasam Recipe with Rice Flour

Ariselu is a traditional andhra sweet recipe. It is also referred as Adhirasam or Athirasa in Tamil and Kajjaya in Kannada. Most people feel it as a very difficult to make recipe. Hands on experience is mandatory. Even experienced people some times do make mistakes. It should be done carefully. If you know the key points where you need to take care then making Ariselu is not so tough. 

I used sesame seeds in this recipe, we can also use grated coconut.
It tastes even better than sesame seeds. After making Ariselu they are rolled in Khus Khus. Though it is optional, it looks good. Most common problem where people go wrong is, why Adhirasam will be crunchy instead of being soft and juicy. That is because of the flour used. Mill ground Rice flour should be used for making Adhirasam as the flour will be very very fine and also a bit moist enough which is a key point in making Athirasa. 

Ingredients for Andhra Ariselu or Adhirasam

1. Jaggery - 1/4 kg
2. Rice - As needed
3. Cardamom Powder - 1 tsp
4. Ghee - 1/2 cup
5. Sesame seeds - 4 to 5 tbsps
6. Oil - For Deep Frying
7. Water - As needed

How to make Adhirasam Recipe with Rice Flour

Preparation of Rice Flour:

1. Soak rice for atleast 2 to 3 hours.
2. After 2 to 3 hours, drain water from rice and dry the soaked rice on a cotton cloth for about 30 minutes.
3. Do not dry the rice completely, it should be moist enough but not watery. Grind it very very finely. It will be better if you get it grinded in the Flour Mill if available near by.
4. Otherwise grind rice in a mixer, sieve the flour and extract smooth rice flour from it. 5. Discard the hard rava which we get after seiving. Use this smooth flour for making ariselu
5. If you have any rice mill nearby then it is better to get the moist rice ground from there. Rice mill ground flour gives even smooth and soft ariselu than flour grinded in a mixer

Preparation of Jaggery syrup for Athirasa or Kajjaya:

1. Reddish and a bit soft jaggery suits better than hard yellowish or wheatish jaggery
2. Chop jaggery into pieces and put them in a pan, pour some water enough to soak jaggery. Heat it till jaggery syrup thickens

3. For making ariselu, consistency of the jaggery syrup is a hard round ball consistency and also you should be very careful till you get the required consistency
4. Take a small bowl of water, add a spoon of boiling jaggery syrup in the water. Try to roll the syrup you poured in water in the shape of a ball. If it doesn't take the shape of a ball, it means the syrup should be boiled further. Heat the syrup and check the consistency till you are able to roll it to a ball in the bowl of water
5. When desired consistency is achieved, immediately switch off the flame and add above said rice flour to this syrup, add cardamom powder, ghee, sesame seeds and mix well
6. Some people add ghee while making syrup itself. Mix well without any lumps. The dough will be a bit sticky. Don't add to much rice flour, it may turn hard. It should be soft and sticky enough

7. Cover the dough with a lid and keep it aside for atleast 1 or 2 hours
8. After the resting time, heat oil for deep frying in a pan
8. Take a ziplock cover, grease it with some ghee, take a small lemon-sized dough and flatten it as puri with your finger tips and fry it in oil. Flatten it a bit thicker than puris

9. It takes very little time to get fried so always keep low flame but enough hot

10. Once it turns brown, take out from oil, Squeeze excess oil from the adhirasam very lightly by pressing it between 2 laddles. Don't squeeze forcefully, ariselu gets dried and becomes crunchy which is not desired

11. Likewise make ariselu using the entire dough. Ariselu should be soft and very little crunchy.
12. Sweet and yummy Andhra traditional sweet ariselu are ready to enjoy.

Tips for Ariselu recipe:

1. Ariselu absorb heavy oil while deep frying so squeezing out excess oil is very much mandatory for good health. But don't squeeze complete oil as it becomes very crunchy and doesn't taste good.
2. I prefer you to observe someone making ariselu before your very first attempt bcoz the making turns out very difficult for a newbie. A crystal clear visual experience is mandatory.
3. Pressing them thicker than puris is mandatory also they should be pressed evenly. If you won't press evenly then when you put it in oil for frying it splits at the uneven side
4. Flour should be very fine there should not be any rava in the flour. If flour is not finely grinded properly and if it has little rava in it then when you put ariselu for frying then it splits and drowns in oil 

In short: Flour should be very very fine, moist enough, jaggery syrup should get hard and round ball consistency, while making Ariselu press them evenly they should not be uneven, press them thicker than puris, fry in very low flame, squeeze excess oil but not completely.