Arsa
अरसाTraditional sweet from Kumaon & Garhwal, Uttarakhand
A deep-fried rice-and-jaggery sweet that is part of almost every Pahadi wedding. In Garhwal and Kumaon, arsa is traditionally sent with a daughter to her new home, so the recipe carries a lot of sentiment along with its dark, chewy sweetness.
Ingredients
- •Rice, 500 g (soaked and dried, then ground)
- •Jaggery (gur), 300 g
- •Ghee or oil for frying
- •A little water for the syrup
How it's made
- 1Soak the rice, dry it in the shade, then grind to a coarse flour.
- 2Melt jaggery into a thick syrup and mix into the flour to a soft dough. Rest it, sometimes overnight.
- 3Shape into small discs.
- 4Deep-fry gently in ghee until dark and set, then drain well.