Anarsa

Anarsa

Course	Dessert
Place of origin	India
Region or state	Maharashtra, Bihar
Main ingredients	Jaggery, rice, poppy seed, ghee
Cookbook: Anarsa  Media: Anarsa

Anarsa is a pastry-like snack commonly associated with the Hindu festival of Diwali^[1] in Maharashtra and Bihar.^[2] Its ingredients include jaggery (unrefined cane sugar), rice, poppy seed and ghee (clarified butter).

Anarsas are made from soaked powdered rice, jaggery or sugar. The rice is soaked in water for 3 days, with the water changed daily to mitigate fermentation. The rice is then dried, retaining a minimal amount of moisture, and ground into a fine powder. This is known as the pithi, and is mixed with an equal amount of sugar.

This mix can be stored for a long time at room temperature as long as it is sealed in an airtight container to prevent the moisture from soaking the sugar further. Whenever Anarsas are to be prepared, mash half inch piece of banana and mix into the previously prepared dough-balls. The banana ensures the sugar dissolves so be careful not to mix too much of banana. The resultant dough should be very soft yet retain shape. Small flat discs with about 2 inches in diameter are created by flattening a small ball of the dough over a layer of poppy seeds - just on one side. These disks are fried with poppy coated side first into hot ghee. ^[3]

Preparation

Anarsa is a pastry like snack commonly consorted with the Hindu festival celebrated for five successive days .^[4] 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 . Remove the Anarsa and drain the ghee by placing Anarsa in an upright position on flat area. Anarsa is made from soaked powdered rice, jaggery or sugar . The poppy seeds side of the Anarsa will have a kind of a mesh on it once it is blown . Keep pouring the warm oil on the center of the anarsa so that it gets uniformly brown .^[5]

References