Ukkarai is a very traditional sweet which is made during Diwali, specially in Tamil Brahmin community. This is one of the healthy sweet variety as it is made of lentils and jaggery and less amount of ghee is used. It’s one of most favourite traditional sweet dish.
My mom is an expert in making this sweet dish. She has come to stay with us for few days. Under her guidance, I made this day. Today is a special day for me. It’s my dearest Guruji’s birthday:)
Ingredients
Chana dal ( chickpeas/ Kadalai paruppu)-11/2 cups
Jaggery – 11/2 cups
Ghee- 10-12 tbsps
Sesame oil- 8 tbsps
Cashew nuts- 1 tbsp
Raisins – 1 tbsp
Chopped coconut- 1/4th cup
Cardamom powder- 1 tsp
Method
Roast the chana dal till its raw smell goes away and get a nice aroma.
Wash well and soak for 2 hrs.
Drain and grind to a smooth paste.
Heat little ghee and sesame oil in a heavy bottom pan. Add the ground paste and mix well. On a medium flame, sauté for few mins.
Close the pan with a lid and cook till its done.
In another pan, add some water to the jaggery and boil till gets dissolved completely.
Remove from the gas and strain the syrup to remove the dirt.
Wash the pan and transfer the syrup back to the pan and cook till reached one string consistency ( just touch the syrup with your index finger. Press the index finger with your thumb and pull. You should be able to get one string. This is called as one string consistency).
Now add this syrup to the cooked dal and mix well. Grind it coaresly with the hand blender to ensure that there are no lumps.
Add some ghee and sesame oil and keep stirring and cooking till the sticky mass becomes a crumble. Add the ghee and oil in between while cooking.
Add a tsp of cardamom powder and mix well.
Heat the remaining ghee in a pan. Add chopped coconut, cashew and raisins. Sauté till the cashew turn golden and add to the Ukkarai. Mix well and serve at room temperature:)
