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Bihari desserts are in a league of their own. Their desserts can be deep-fried and crispy with minimum ingredients required to make it. Gur Anarsa is one of those desserts that is so straightforward. It takes soaked rice flour, jaggery, sesame seeds and a vat of oil to deep fry, and bring out these crispy sweet treats that are appropriate for any time of the year. Most people prepare this dish during festivals like Holi, Diwali, and so on and serve them as offerings to the Almighty. It can be best described as a rice biscuit and people have taken liberties with the ingredient list and made regional variations that are popular too. In Maharashtra, the anarsas are made flatter compared to the rounded, more disk-shaped anarsas in Bihar. In Tamil Nadu, Adhirasam is a dish that's similar to an anarsa, except the fact that the dough is not coated with sesame or poppy seeds before deep-frying. Some people also add a banana to the dough in the hopes of making a more pillowy inside of these anarsas. Be that as it may, anarsas are truly sensational, in taste, in texture, and in their minimal ingredient list. It is shocking to see how good these crispy rice biscuits taste with limited ingredients, and when a little bit of time and a lot of love and faith is put into its preparation. If you're aiming to make this at home, here's a detailed recipe for the same.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup of rice, soaked overnight.
- 90 gms of jaggery powder
- 3 to 4 tbsp sesame seeds
- 3-4 tbsp poppy seeds
- 2-3 tsp ghee
- 2 cups of neutral oil or ghee
Image Credit: poornimacookbook.com
Method:
-Wash the raw rice thoroughly to get rid of any dirt. Soak it overnight.
-Drain it and spread it as a thin layer in a newspaper, or a cotton cloth till it's almost dry yet slightly moist.
-Add the dry rice in a mixer and grind it to a powder.
-Sieve to get fine rice flour.
-Measure 1 cup of rice flour and add jaggery powder to it. Start mixing and add ghee and 5-6 tbsp of cold water to knead and form a soft dough.
-Rest the dough for another 24 hours in room temperature.
-Heat the oil in a kadhai under medium high heat. -Divide the dough into balls. Flatten it in a disk shape and coat it with sesame and poppy seeds.
-Deep fry the anarsa in a medium low flame. Do not flip in between.
-Once browned all over, remove the anarsas and drain the excess oil over a wire rack or a paper towel and serve hot.
