Learn how to make traditional South Indian sweet – Athirasam recipe with step by step pictures. Deepavali special Ariselu – tried and tested family recipe with important tips.
Today in the Deepavali sweet recipes, I am sharing a most requested recipe of all times – Athirasam or Ariselu. Traditionally, this rice and jaggery based sweet has a lot of significance – made for weddings, celebrations and festivals. My mother-in-law makes the best Adhirasam and Deepavali isn’t the same without a batch of her best sweets & savories. I have helped her, stood with her while she made this but I would have never made it in my kitchen if not for the recipe requests. This year, I wanted to make it on my own and called her up to ask for the recipe. She being the sweet person that she is, shared so many tips including the measurements and I just followed it to the T.
Athirasam Ingredients
Ariselu (in Andhra) and Adhirasam (in Tamilnadu) is made with two main ingredients. Rice and Jaggery. Though there are just two ingredients, it is technically difficult to master it. The quality and type of rice & jaggery play a huge role apart from the process itself. Even the smallest, slightest details matter a lot to get the perfect texture, shape and taste.
Rice – raw rice (also called maavu pacharisi, used for making batters) is used in the preparation of recipe. Although sona masoori or ponni rice variants should also work, I used dosa rice (raw rice but slightly bigger grains) based on my MIL’s and amma’s recommendation.
Jaggery – dark colored solid jaggery (also called as paagu vellam) should be used to get the recipe right. It gives a beautiful deep brown color to the adhirasam and helps in keeping the dough together when fried in oil.
Cardamom Powder & Dried Ginger Powder – both these powders add a lot of flavor to the dough and ginger powder especially helps in digestion since there is raw rice flour and jaggery and deep frying involved.
Tips and Important Notes for Perfect Athirasam
My mother-in-law was kind enough to share the detailed recipe over the phone and I just followed all her tips to make my Adhirasam perfect.
- Readymade rice flour (store bought or homemade) cant be used in this recipe. The rice should be soaked for an hour and then dried partially, before making the flour. The moisture in the rice is important to get the texture right.
- Rice flour should not be fine, but also not grainy. My MIL didn’t want me to sieve the flour, but mentioned that it has to be evenly coarse but not grainy.
- Jaggery syrup has to be cooked to a soft ball consistency. To test this, keep dropping a few drops of the syrup into a bowl of water. It should come together in the water, spread slightly when rolled between fingers, but it should not dissolve in the water. Refer the step-wise pictures for more details.
- You can not make the Adhirasam on the same day as making the dough. It should rest for 1 night or day at the minimum.
- Don’t mix the dough with your hands, use a wooden spoon. Else, there is a chance of rice dough fermenting and turning sour.
- If the dough has not set even after resting for a day, add 2 teaspoon of ready-to-use rice flour (homemade or store bought). If you add a lot, the texture wont be right.
- If the dough has become too tight, you can add 1 tablespoon water to bring it together.
- You can store the dough in an airtight container in fridge upto a week. Bring it to room temperature before making the adhirasam.
- Cook the athirasam on lowest heat, in a few seconds it will raise up and puff. Once both the sides are golden brown, drain off the oil. My mother-in-law uses a wooden press to remove the excess oil but know that it also reduces the sweetness a bit.
Storing and Serving Suggestions
Athirasam stays fresh for over 20 days stored in an airtight container at room temperature. You can also freeze them in individual zip-lock pouches. Serve with evening coffee/tea or as a dessert after meal.
Check out other traditional sweet recipes
How to make Athirasam | Ariselu
First soak 1 cup Raw Rice in enough water for just about an hour.
Drain off the excess water and dry the rice on a towel for just 20 mins.
When you touch or hold the rice with your hand, it should drop effortlessly but should have a little moisture.
Remove the rice into a blender and grind in regular intervals (pulses) to make a coarse powder – it should neither be fine nor grainy. No need to sieve. Keep it covered.
In a pan add ¾ cup grated jaggery and ½ cup water.
Heat on medium flame until the jaggery is dissolved.
Now strain the jaggery syrup to remove any impurities.
Add the strained syrup back to the pan and continue heating on low flame. Keep a bowl of water ready to test the consistency.
In about 3-4 mins, the jaggery syrup will begin to boil and thicken.
When you test it by dropping a few drops into the water, it dissolves immediately.
In the next 3-4 mins, the syrup thickens and the bubbles keep getting smaller.
When you test it in water, it should come together without melting and when you try to roll it between you fingers, it should form a loose ball. If it crosses this stage, you will get the dough texture right.
Remove from heat immediately and add ¼ teaspoon cardamom powder & ¼ teaspoon dried ginger powder. Mix well.
Now add the prepared rice flour.
Mix it with a wooden spoon until the rice flour and the syrup are mix well. It will slowly come together.
The dough will be loose and will not hold shape. Keep it covered and rest it for a day (or atleast a night).
Next day, the dough should tighten up and come together. Heat oil on low flame for deep frying.
Make lemon sized balls from the dough. Grease your palms/fingers with oil as needed.
On a greased banana leaf/plastic cover (oil/milk covers work the best), pat it each ball of dough into a small circle of 3mm thickness. It should neither be too thin nor thick.
As the oil gets hot, gently remove the prepared adhirasam and drop it carefully into the oil. Don’t disturb it. You can fry two at a time depending on the size of your pan.
Slowly in a few secs, it will raise up and begin to puff.
As the bottom turns golden brown, gently flip it to the other side.
Cook until both sides are deep brown in color. Remove from oil and to drain the excess oil and to retain the shape, press it with a smaller spoon as shown below. Place on a kitchen tissue. Repeat this with rest of the dough.
Once at room temperature, store in airtight container for up to 20days.
Recipe Notes
- Athirasam/Ariselu might seem crispy right out of the oil but will get softer in a day.
- The texture, color and taste highly depend on the rice & jaggery quality.
Recipe Card
📖 Recipe
Athirasam | Ariselu
Equipment
- Fry Pan
- Thick Bottomed Kadai
- Blender
MEASUREMENT
1 cup = 250ml, 1 tablespoon = 15ml, 1 teaspoon = 5ml
Ingredients
- 1 cup Raw Rice Maavu Pacharisi/Dosa Rice
- ¾ cup Grated Jaggery Paagu Vellam
- ½ cup Water
- ¼ teaspoon Cardamom Powder
- ¼ teaspoon Sukku Powder/Dried Ginger Powder
- Oil to Deep-fry + extra to grease
Instructions
- First soak 1 cup Raw Rice in enough water for just about an hour.
- Drain off the excess water and dry the rice on a towel for just 20 mins.
- When you touch or hold the rice with your hand, it should drop effortlessly but should have a little moisture.
- Remove the rice into a blender and grind in regular intervals (pulses) to make a coarse powder – it should neither be fine nor grainy. No need to sieve. Keep it covered.
- In a pan add ¾ cup grated jaggery and ½ cup water.
- Heat on medium flame until the jaggery is dissolved.
- Now strain the jaggery syrup to remove any impurities.
- Add the strained syrup back to the pan and continue heating on low flame. Keep a bowl of water ready to test the consistency.
- In about 3-4 mins, the jaggery syrup will begin to boil and thicken.
- When you test it by dropping a few drops into the water, it dissolves immediately.
- In the next 3-4 mins, the syrup thickens and the bubbles keep getting smaller.
- When you test it in water, it should come together without melting and when you try to roll it between you fingers, it should form a loose ball. If it crosses this stage, you will get the dough texture right.
- Remove from heat immediately and add ¼ teaspoon cardamom powder & ¼ teaspoon dried ginger powder. Mix well.
- Now add the prepared rice flour.
- Mix it with a wooden spoon until the rice flour and the syrup are mix well. It will slowly come together.
- The dough will be loose and will not hold shape. Keep it covered and rest it for a day (or atleast a night).
- Next day, the dough should tighten up and come together. Heat oil on low flame for deep frying.
- Make lemon sized balls from the dough. Grease your palms/fingers with oil as needed.
- On a greased banana leaf/plastic cover (oil/milk covers work the best), pat it each ball of dough into a small circle of 3mm thickness. It should neither be too thin nor thick.
- As the oil gets hot, gently remove the prepared adhirasam and drop it carefully into the oil. Don’t disturb it.
- Slowly in a few secs, it will raise up and begin to puff.
- As the bottom turns golden brown, gently flip it to the other side. Cook until both sides are deep brown in color.
- Remove from oil and to drain the excess oil and to retain the shape, press it with a smaller spoon as shown below. Place on a kitchen tissue. Repeat this with rest of the dough.
- Once at room temperature, store in airtight container for upto 20days.
Notes
The texture, color and taste highly depend on the rice & jaggery quality.
I would be delighted to know if you have tried this recipe, don’t forget to share your feedback and comments below. If you have any questions, you can e-mail me! I am also available on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter 🙂
Sukanya
Hi
Am Sukanya… what if even after resting the dough didn’t tighten…cos few years back…got wrong at this stage n didn’t get it properly… got tempted by ur post n wanted to try now
Ramya
Hi Sukanya, if the jaggery consistency is correct the dough should set in a day. If not, you can add 2-3 tsp of rice flour (homemade or store bought). If you add a lot, sweetness may reduce.
Sukanya
Ok...thx Ramya let me try this n ll let u know
the result
Deepti Vivek
Are we supposed to leave the dough out will it mot get spoilt?
Ramya
Yes, we should leave the dough to rest atleast overnight. No, it doesn't get spoilt. The dough needs to be fermented to be able to make adhirasam.
Sai Kiran
The most popular food in south India is Ariselu, over 100s years we are well known about it, our grandmothers are more experts on this food recipe, nowadays - I'm not seeing the traditional way of making Ariselu by grandmothers.
At last, I have found an Ariselu Recipe in the mote by @Coockingfromheart - Thank you so much for the recipe.
I love Ghee ariselu most. Please give a small note about the ghee ariselu.
Thanks again.