Ukkarai is a traditional sweet dish of Tamilnadu. Its usually made on Deepavali day. Not many attempt to make this recipe in recent times as it requires a little elaborate method of cooking.
This is chiefly lentil based jaggery sweetened dish which can be relished by young and old alike. Try this in your kitchen and enjoy its distinct taste.
Ingredients
Ingredients
- Green gram dal 1 cup
- Red gram dal half cup
- Bengal gram dal half a cup
- Jaggery 2 to 21/2 cups,
- Ghee 1/2 to 3/4 cup
- Cashewnuts 1/2 a cup
- Cardamom powder 1/2 tsp
- Water half a cup for the syrup
- Pachaikarpooram (edible camphor) a pinch
- Grated coconut one cup,
- Salt 1/4 teaspoon
Method
Method
- In a Kadai ,heat a tablespoon of ghee , and shallow fry the cashewnuts till golden brown. Shallow fry the grated coconut too. Keep aside.
- Take the dals and wash them well. Soak them for an hour or so.
- Grind them into a smooth paste adding very little water to a smooth thick batter.
- In an idli pan or moulds or a deep thick vessel, spread the batter and steam till they are well cooked .
- Transfer them to a large plate to cool . Crumble them to powdery mass.
- In a thick kadai or thick bottomed pan ,add jaggery with water and melt. Remove any impurities ,if found, by straining the solution.
- Heat the jaggery solution again till it becomes thick .Add the powdered lentil mass and mix well . Mix the remaining ghee.
- Cook them till all the water is absorbed , add the fried cashews and coconut .
- Stir well . When it becomes a powdery mass , remove from fire and add cardamom powder. Mix again
- Serve hot .
Note
- Ukkarai can be made replacing jaggery with sugar .
- While making jaggery , see to that the syrup is thick . To check to see the consistency of jaggery , add a little of the powdered mass into the syrup.
- If it becomes watery , heat it for some more time.
- If it doesn’t ,add the cooked powdered lentil mass .