The Best Adhirasam Recipe For You (2024)

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Adhirasam is a traditional deep-fried Deepavali snack from in Tamil Nadu . Learn how to make this for festivals and special occasions with video and step by step images.

This is a South Indian traditional sweet prepared for Diwali, pongal as well as for few other occasions.

Do check out my Deepavali Breakfast menu as well as traditional suzhiyan recipe in my website.

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Video
Ingredients
Step by step images
Top tips
My notes
FAQs
Recipe card

Adhirasam is my all time favourite. In my childhood, I used to like it made with sugar instead of jaggery.

My mom never forgot to make a special batch of adhirasam with sugar specially for me🙂.

So I always wanted to try out myself and make a step by step post detailed for keeping it as record and for the readers too.

To be honest, for past 4 years, for every diwali, I tried, tried and tried, but somehow I made some silly mistakes and flopped.

But each time I learnt my mistake. As we don't make adhirasam other than for Diwali, I had to wait for an year every time.

It is very easy to make for my mom and MIL, so it's all about experience. This time, I tried very carefully and followed my moms instructions.

And now I can also confidently make adhirasam every year. This post is sure a record for me.

I have updated this post with new pictures. Here are the old ones:

Video

Ingredients

Here are the basic ingredients needed to make adhirasam. For exact measurements, refer recipe card below.

I used maavu arisi (IR64) for this year's Diwali (2023) and there was a lot of difference in texture than when I used Sona masoori variety. This yields definitely softer adhirsam than that.

Rice - Raw rice - though any raw rice variety works, maavu arisi (IR 20 or IR64 variety) will be best to retain moisture and turn the adhirasam soft.

Jaggery - I use paagu vellam as much as possible. It is soft in texture, darker (reddish/ orange) in colour.

Dry ginger - Sukku for flavor as well as digestion.

Cardamom - For flavor.

Ghee - To grease

Step by step images

Let's see how to make adhirasam with step by step images. I have a short video too here.

1. Wash the rice firstly and soak for 3 hours.

2. After that, drain, spread in a white cotton cloth.

Do not let it dry for long time as it will give rubbery adhirasam. Moisture should be there if you touch the rice (few will stick to hands here and there). The idea is just to get rid of excess water.

3. Then grind it in 2 batches in a mixer to a flour.

4. Wipe down the sides to ensure even powdering.

5. After that, sieve it. My MIL and mom uses rava jalladai (sieve) for this, so I understand it's important for the some flour to be slightly on coarse side.

Tips

While making jaggery syrup,

Keep checking the syrup consistency by pouring in water kept in a small bowl.
At beginning stage, the syrup dissolves as you pour in water, then at next stage, it will lay a fine thread in the water, but gets dissolved when you touch.
After that comes the required consistency. Do not let it pass.

You can add syrup to the rice flour or rice flour to the syrup, it is fine whichever way you are comfortable with. In these recent days, I have started adding rice flour to the syrup.

13. Add dry ginger powder, cardamom powder and switch off the flame.

14. Add rice flour to it little by little.

15. Mix well as you add, without any lumps.

16. Add rice flour until you get this thick batter like flowing consistency.

17. Later after cooling completely, resting the dough for a day, it becomes thick like this. I kept it for 3 days in room temperature.

18. At the time of making, divide into equal sized balls, each of small lemon sized. You can use ghee when you roll as the dough will be slightly sticky.

Top tips

Too much water to the jaggery will take time to bring to the required consistency, but too very little water make the stages of syrup pass too fast and end up in past stage. This will make adhirasam dissolve in oil. Too much jaggery ratio makes the adhirasam dissolve in oil.
The dough should be very loose when you make adhirsam. If it is stiff, then your adhirasam will become hard and chewy. So you have to add a tblsp of milk and knead the dough well again and try making. This will ensure the adhirsam to be soft.
Keep the dough ATLEAST overnight at room temperature.
If you keep leftover dough in fridge, do not make immediately as you take out from the fridge. Bring to room temperature.
The rice while grinding should be moist, retain water, also the sieved flour should not get dry. Otherwise the adhirasam will get crispy, hard.

My notes

If you flatten thin, the adhirsam will turn very crisp, hard. So make it thick.
Cook in low flame to make sure it gets cooked evenly and also make sure not to over cook which makes the adhirsam harder.
Flip immediately once the it rises up after you add the adhirsam in oil.
Use ghee when flattening each adhirsam.
The jaggery syrup will be needed depending upon the quality of rice, some need more, some need less. So for safer side, make more.
In case, your adhirsam is chewy or hard, steam it for 3 minutes in idli plate/ steamer. It becomes soft. Just for troubleshooting.
Will add more tips as I remember or more from my MIL and mom 🙂
My MIL brings the syrup to loose ball consistency, put the flame to low and adds the flour and mix, switches off the flame. I add syrup to the floor off fire.

FAQs

Why adhirasam dissolves in oil/ adhirasam breaks in oil/ adhirasam splits in oil?

Jaggery ratio is more in the dough. At times, this happens if you use too less water and syrup past the stage. My mom in law and mom says 'paagu murugiduchu'
How to fix this? Add some more homemade rice flour or wheat flour and try again. But this will affect the end result - crispy or harder/ chewier adhirasam.
To use this dough in other ways, make nei appam. Add mashed banana, wheat flour mixed together. Incorporate to the adhirasam dough, keep aside for 30 mins or so and make batter. Pour as nei appam in ghee or paniyaram pan.

Why Adhirasam is crispy, chewy or hard?

If the rice flour gets too dry and not enough moist.
Maavu arisi is very good at retaining moisture and gets cooked in syrup to give soft adhirasam.
While our eating rice, sona masoori or any raw rice that is higher in quality, needs more water content and takes a while to gets cooked (try heating up a bit while mixing the dough in lowest flame, taking care not to let burn the dough or over cook)
How to fix this?
This cannot be fixed but the fried adhirasam can be steamed in idli plate for a while just before serving.

What to do if adhirasam dough is loose?

Add more fresh rice flour and mix to get desired consistency. The dough usually thickens as it cools and set for a day. But if it is still too runny, use fresh rice flour until the dough thickens.

It is always better to reserve little rice flour and little jaggery syrup to ensure this doesn't happen.

What to do if adhirasam dough is hard?

If the dough is hard or if the dough is too tight to pat, then add some milk and knead the dough.

Recipe card

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5 from 22 votes

Adhirasam recipe

Adhirasam is a traditional deep-fried Deepavali snack from in Tamil Nadu . Learn how to make this for festivals and special occasions with video and step by step images.

Course Snack

Cuisine Indian

Prep Time 3 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Resting time 1 day day

Author Raks Anand

Servings 20 Adhirasams

Cup measurements

Ingredients

1.5 cups Raw rice pacharisi, refer note 1
1 cup Jaggery
1 tablespoon Sesame seeds Optional
⅛ teaspoon Dry ginger powder Sukku
⅛ teaspoon Cardamom powder
1 tablespoon Ghee
Oil as needed for deep frying

Instructions

Make fresh rice flour

Wash the rice firstly and soak for 3 hours.
After that, drain, spread in a white cotton cloth.
Do not let it dry for long time as it will give rubbery adhirasam. Moisture should be there if you touch the rice (few will stick to hands here and there). The idea is just to get rid of excess water.
Then grind it in 2 batches in a mixer to a flour. Wipe down the sides to ensure even powdering.
After that, sieve it. My MIL and mom uses rava jalladai (sieve) for this, so I understand its important for the some flour to be slightly on coarse side.
I return the remains of the first batch after sieving, to the mixie to grind along the second batch of rice.
While you sieve, keep the flour gently packed and covered in moist towel.
That is after you sieve and transfer the flour to a container, press it gently so that it locks the moisture and keep covered always so that flour doesn't get dried.

Making jaggery syrup

Meanwhile, powder the jaggery and heat it with water just to immerse the jaggery.
Once its completely dissolved, filter it to remove impurities. Again start heating the jaggery syrup.
Boil in medium flame always and stir occasionally.
Keep checking the syrup consistency by pouring in water kept in a small bowl.
At beginning stage, the syrup dissolves as you pour in water, then at next stage, it will lay a fine thread in the water, but gets dissolved when you touch.
After that, at one stage, the syrup gets thicker and when you pour in water, then it won't get dissolved and you will be able to gather it with your fingers and form a loose ball that stays in hand.
This is called loose ball consistency (in Tamil, thakkali pazham padham) and this is the stage, you have to put off the fire.
Add sesame seeds if adding, cardamom powder and dry ginger powder to the flour.
Add rice flour gradually as you mix without any lumps. Mix well to get it smooth.
The dough should be pouring consistency.
After few hours/ overnight, it will get absorbed, get thickened and firmer.
Keep it overnight (2 -3 days if possible, for better result) at room temperature in an airtight container.
If more than that, keep refrigerated. But let it be out overnight at least for a day.

Deep fry

At the time of making, divide into equal sized balls, each of small lemon sized. You can use ghee when you roll as the dough will be slightly sticky.
Heat oil in kadai and once it is hot, reduce the flame to low. In a ziploc, grease it with a drop of ghee and flatten the dough thick. Carefully slide in oil.
Once it rises up, immediately flip it and cook. Once it turns golden brown, drain from oil.
You must use another ladle and press it to squeeze out the excess oil as shown, as it may retain some oil in it.
Repeat the process for the rest of the dough. Oil should always be in low or medium if needed.

Video

Notes

Note 1 : When I tried first, I use sona masuri rice. It yielded less amount of flour. So I used 1.5 cups of rice. Later when I tried with maavu arisi (IR64) raw rice, it yield more flour. So please note depending on the rice variety, the quantity you add to jaggery syrup will vary. Reserve flour accordingly.
In my updated steps, the method is adding rice flour to jaggery because of that.
Fermenting the dough (keep it in room temperature for 2-3 days helps softer results)
Make sure not to miss syrup consistency.
Check under Top tips section above for more tips.

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