Diwali is synonymous with snacks and sweets, and the latter have always been a significant part of the Ekbote family’s celebrations. In Maharashtrian households, ‘faral’ is a blanket term used for both sweet and savoury dishes that are prepared specifically for Diwali, and consumed as breakfast during the main celebratory days.
Traditionally, these sweets and savouries were made by hand; they were prepared in extraordinarily large batches for the entire family, the extended family, and friends too. With modern conveniences, they are now outsourced or purchased, creating a decline in traditional cooking techniques passed down over generations. However, defying modern trends is Suhasini Ekbote. Nearing the age of 80, Suhasini has been making fresh snacks at home every Diwali since she was a teenager, learning from her mother and grandmother.
From her repertoire of Diwali recipes, one that stands out as a testament to her dedication is the Anarsa, or Anarse in plural. It is fried, round, semi-sweet, and laden with poppy seeds. The dough is made by using the flour of fermented rice and jaggery. As the dough is tricky to shape and fry well, making anarse is often laborious and time consuming.
| Rice | 2 cups |
|---|---|
| Jaggery, grated | 1 ½ cup, adjust based on preference |
| Poppy seeds (khus khus) | 2 tablespoons |
| Ghee | 1 tablespoon + ½ cup, for shallow-frying |
What You Will Need
Mixing bowls, fine sieve, mixer-grinder or stone pestle-mortar, grater, air-tight container, wooden polpat (chapati board) or steel plate, frying pan, perforated spoon for frying
Instructions
Rinse the rice thoroughly with water to remove any white powder. This will reduce excess starch. Then, submerge the rice in a fresh lot of water, soaking it for three days.
Every day, replace this water in order to make sure that the rice does not go bad, but starts the fermentation process.
Once the rice has soaked for three days, transfer it carefully to a colander to allow all the water to drain away. Leave the rice in the colander until the water stops dripping.
Transfer the rice onto an absorbent cloth or kitchen towel to soak up any remaining moisture.
Traditionally, the rice would be ground to a fine powder using a stone pestle and mortar. However, for convenience, the same result can be obtained by grinding the rice in a mixer grinder.
Use a sieve to pass the rice powder and break up any lumps. Use the sieved rice powder to prepare the dough.
In a clean mixing bowl, add in the sieved rice powder, grated jaggery and 1 tablespoon of ghee. Knead the mixture until the jaggery starts to melt, forming a stiff, smooth dough.
Transfer this mixture to an air-tight container and let it rest for two to three days at room temperature. Traditionally, this was kept in a cool place away from sunlight, but it can also be refrigerated. If storing in the refrigerator, allow the mixture to reach room temperature before further processing.
Divide the dough into equal sized 2-inch portions and roll them into a round shape. Ensure that your hands are greased with a thin layer of ghee.
Heat up ½ cup of ghee in a deep-walled frying pan on a medium heat. Once the ghee is hot (after about 2-3 minutes), set the heat to low.
In a greased steel plate or a wooden polpat (chapati board), make a layer of poppy seeds and place the dough balls on top. Gently flatten the dough into circular discs that are ½-inch thick to form the anarse. You may need to grease your hands with some ghee again.
Fry the anarse in the ghee with the side comprising the poppy seeds facing up while adding hot ghee over the top of the anarse (similar to making pooris).
Fry until the anarse turns brown, on a medium flame. Do not flip the anarse.
Drain off any excess ghee from the anarse while removing them from the pan and arrange them standing vertically or at an angle to allow any remaining ghee to drain out.
As the anarse cool, they will turn crisper. Serve at room temperature.
Tips:
- The batter, once made according to step eight, can be stored for up to two weeks in the refrigerator.
- Step 11 needs to be carried out quickly, as the heat from your palms will cause the dough to melt.
- While the recipe is easy, ensuring that the discs don’t break apart while frying is the key technique to be practised.
Suhasini Ekbote is a homemaker, retired yoga teacher, and a doting grandmother. This recipe was documented by her grandson Archish Kashikar, Culinary Research Associate at The Locavore.
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