Indian cuisine · Desserts & Sweets

Adhirasam

Tamil Diwali pastry of rice flour and palm sugar syrup, deep-fried in ghee, crisp outside and chewy-soft inside.

Ingredients · for 6 servings

• 300 g rice flour
• 250 g palm sugar
• 100 ml water
• 4 cardamom pods
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds
• 2 tbsp ghee
• 1 pinch salt
• 500 ml oil for frying

Instructions

1. Warm the rice flour in a dry pan over low heat for 3–4 min, stirring, until lightly fragrant but not colored, then let it cool; finely grind the cardamom seeds in a mortar.
2. Chop the palm sugar coarsely and simmer with the water over medium heat for 8–10 min until the syrup forms threads – a drop in cold water must form a soft ball.
3. Pour the hot syrup through a sieve onto the rice flour, add cardamom, sesame seeds, salt and 1 tbsp ghee, and stir into a soft, sticky dough.
4. Let the dough rest covered for at least 4 hours, better overnight – only then does the pastry turn chewy-soft inside instead of crumbly.
5. Shape walnut-sized balls from the dough and flatten each with your fingers on a greased piece of parchment paper into a disc about 7 cm wide.
6. Heat the oil with the remaining ghee to 170 °C and deep-fry the discs one at a time for 2–3 min per side until golden brown, then press between two spoons to drain the fat, and let cool.