The mouth-watering Anarsa!

On your way back home from your office, you catch a fleeting glimpse of the overcrowded roadside shops filled with bright, extravagant lamps and suddenly, the realization that the festival of lights is on it’s way dawns upon you. For some, Diwali means reckless spending of cash; for others, it’s an invitation to loads of calories. But for me, Diwali means nostalgia. The fragrance of freshly made snacks and sweets takes me back to my childhood, when my entire family used to gather at my grandpa’s place for diwali. Keeping all our worries aside, we would chat, burst firecrackers, play hide and seek and the most important thing, munch on my grandma’s delicious snacks all the time. Chivda, laddoos, boondi and what not! But of all those snacks, there’s a special one which I used to call ‘ the grandma special’, for obvious reasons! A perfect blend of sweetness and crispiness, ‘Anarsas’ are considered to be the trickiest of all the maharashtrian sweets. A small mistake in the dough-kneading or frying process and the anarsas will disintegrate into the ghee while being fried. But don’t worry, this is the recipe which was given by my grandma to my mom who, with her own new tips and tricks, gave it to me. Try this and you’ll end up  with a sweet you can’t get enough of!

Ingredients:

Rice- 4 cups

Powdered sugar- 4 cups

Milk- ½ cup

Poppy seeds ( Khuskhus)- As required

Ghee- 3-4 cups ( for frying)

Procedure:

Dough preparation- Soak the rice for 3 days,changing the water every day. After 3 days, discard the water and spread the rice on a clean, dry cloth for drying. Grind to powder and sieve. Add sugar to the powedered rice and keep it aside for 1.5-2 hrs. Knead the mixture by sprinking a little bit of milk every now and then. The dough is ready!

Frying process- Heat ghee in a pan with small diameter. Smaller pan ensures that the ghee does not spill over.  Take a clean plastic sheet and sprinkle some poppy seeds on it. Take a little bit of dough, roll it into a ball and flatten it out  on the poppy seeds. Shallow fry the anarsa with it’s poppy seed side up till it becomes golden-brown. Repeat this procedure for the rest of the dough. Let the anarsas cool down till they become crisp.

Note- While frying, keep pouring hot ghee on the top side of the anarsas to ensure that both the sides are cooked well.

Preparation time- 45 mins-1hr ( Excluding the dough preparation time)

To make- Approx 30 pieces . Don’t worry. They will be so delicious,you will finish all of them in one go and still crave for more!

Anarsas definitely require a lot of time and effort, but trust me, the reward is worth it! 🙂

Sanket R Deshmukh

An electronics engineering student. A passionate reader. An amateur artist. A keen follower of current affairs. :)

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