Athirasa (අතිරස)

Athirasa is a very delicious new year sweets in Sri Lanka. Almost all household prepared Athirasa for Sinhala and Tamil new year. Preparing Athirasa is not a difficult thing if you follow correct steps.

Ingredients

• Rice Flour- 500g
• Sugar - 300g
• Fennel Seeds - 25g
• Salt - 02 tsp
• Kappi (Cracked Rice)
• All purpose flour
• Coconut honey (Optional)
• Oil for deep frying

Method

• First of all it needs to prepare Kappi. For that put cracked rice into a frying pan and fry until it becomes light brown.
• Fry fennel seeds around 01 min and grind it well.
• Then, put small amount of sugar in to a pan and let it melt under medium heat while stirring continuously.
• When sugar is melted well and becomes dark brown add one cup of hot water.
• Then add remaining sugar and stir well to combine.
• Add salt and mix well.
• Cook this sugar syrup under medium heat until it becomes to the right level. Get a small amount from this sugar syrup to a spoon and pour it down. If it is pouring down like a thick line the sugar mixture has come to the right level.
• Get a half cup of sugar syrup to a cup and keep it aside. This can be used when adding flour.
• Add coconut honey and mix well. Switch off the flame after around 01 min.
• Add seeds, cracked rice and mix well.
• Add rice flour little by little and mix. Here, don’t add all rice flour at once. If you do so, it will be difficult to mix this properly.
• Add all purpose flour and mix.
• After adding all flour touch this mixture from your fingers. If this mixture doesn’t stick to your fingers the mixture has come to the right level.
• Apply some oil in a board or a try and transfer the flour mixture into this board.
• Then put small amount of this mixture to your pan and put water. Mix this with leftovers and cook until it becomes like a thick paste.
• Put this thick liquid into your flour mixture and mix thoroughly until this becomes smooth and nice.
• Wet your hands with little bit of coconut oil and then start making kawum.
• First, prepare small balls and keep them aside.
• Then, press these balls and make shapes like biscuits.
• Heat oil and put prepared kawum one by one.
• After putting one kawum, wait until it comes up to put the next one. If not your kawum will stick each other.
• Once kawum becomes golden brown get it out from oil and keep on a net or a tissue paper.
• Do the same for the rest of your mixture.
• When you store your prepared kawum place a dish or a small cup at the bottom of you container and store kawum around that. We do this because Athirasa has more oil than other kawum. If you just store them the kawum which are in the bottom of the container will absorb more oil.