Ariselu- ICC cooking challenge February 2010

Ariselu -ICC cooking challenge February 2010- A famous Andhra traditional sweet dish made from freshly pounded rice flour, jaggery (Gor) and delicately flavoured with sesame seeds and cardamon powder. It is deep fried to a golden brown colour and served crisp.

I tried the second recipe which was provided by -Srivali and her mum of Cooking 4 all seasons.


Recipe 2 -This method yeilds about 8.

Ingredients :

Raw Rice -200 grams (Once pounded you will need I glass for recipe)
Jaggary - 1/2 glass
Coconut grated - 2 tsps
Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp
Water - 1/2 glass
Sesame seeds - 1 tbsp
Oil for deep frying.

Method for pounding the rice flour:

1.Soak rice for 6 hrs and then shade dry it. (Meaning it should not become dry but should still have some wetness in the rice. )You can either grind this to fine powder using your mixie or give to mill. The rice flour should have that texture of soft and wet feeling when you take a handful and also it should kind of retain your fist shape. This is very important because if the flour is very dry it wouldn't turn out well.

Method to prepare Ariselu:

1.Grate the achu vellum(jaggery)and add to water just enough to cover them.
2.Cook on high and remove the scum.
3.Add the cardamom powder. Once it starts boiling, add the grated coconut. You will see lot of bubbles coming out.At this stage, add the freshly pounded rice flour slowly and stir it together well. You will know when the consistency is correct, so till then you got to keep adding the flour to make asoft dough.

(The beauty of this dough is, you can store and use whenever you want. If it becomes too hard, just add about 2 tsp of water along with 2 tsp of sugar. Get it to boil, while you keep stirring it. The mix should become soft again. When you handle it, it should come together as a soft dough.)

4.Divide it to equal balls. Heat a kadai with oil to deep fry these.
5.In a greased plastic sheet, pat them down to equal sized discs. Press down the sesame seeds over the top.
6.Once the oil is hot, gently drop these into them. Fry on both sides. Since the sesame seeds are just pressed over the top, they will get into the oil. (If you want to avoid this, try adding to the dough.)
7.Once they are golden brown, remove and drain them on a kitchen towel.They will be soft when you remove them, will become crunchy once they are cooled.

You may like:
ICC cooking challenge January 2010