Thiruvathirai Kali/ Arudra Darisinam Naivedyam

Thiruvathirai Kali, a brown coloured sweet dish, in a brass bowl and some spread on a green banana leaf. Vegetable stew in another bowl and on the leaft, with a pat of white butter by the side

Thiruvathirai Kali/ Arudra Darisinam Naivedyam

Special Sweet made from Jaggery, broken rice and lentils for the South Indian festival of Tiruvathirai or Arudra Darisanam

Prep Time10

Cook Time20

Total Time30

Course: Main Dish

Cuisine: Indian, south indian

Keyword: kali, thiruvathirai, thiruvathirai kali

Servings: cups

Calories: 921kcal

Author: Sujata Shukla

Equipment

Small frying pan
Grinder / Mixie for dry grinding the rice
Pressure Cooker - Optional
Mortar and Pestle
Thick bottomed pan

Ingredients

For Thiruvathirai Kali

1 cup raw rice
2 tablespoons green gram dal /passi paruppu/ moong dal
1 tablespoon bengal gram dal / kadala paruppu/ channa dal
3 ½ cups water about twice the volume of broken rice flour
2 cups jaggery powdered/ crushed (adjust as per sweetness required)
1 pinch salt
1 cup grated coconut fresh if available
2 tablespoons ghee

For seasoning and garnish

2 tablespoons ghee
10 units cashew nuts
6 units cardamom

Instructions

To Make Thiruvathirai Kali

In a medium frying pan, roast the raw rice (without oil) till its colour darkens (about 3 minutes, on high or medium high flame, stirring all the time)
Roast the two lentils/ paruppu/ dal together (without oil) till they begin to turn red (about 1 minute on medium high flame, stirring all the time). Remove from the heat before they turn brown or black.
Transfer the rice and lentils to a heatproof container or plate and allow to cool
Both rice and lentils can be roasted together, however the rice may take more time and hence the lentils may begin to char or burn.
Once cool, powder grind them coarsely in the processor/ mixie. You want to powder the rice and lentils, but not as a smooth powder. Coarse rava/ suji/ semolina sized powder would give the right consistency to the kali.
The water we will now use should be double the volume of rice lentil flour obtained above. Heat the water in a pan. Crush/ powder the jaggery and add to the hot water. Any lumps of jaggery may not dissolve easily, hence powder it first. However if you are not able to powder it, add the lumps and stir often, giving more time for the jaggery to dissolve.
Stir till all the jaggery dissolves. You don't want to make a syrup but to dissolve the jaggery. If there are impurities from the jaggery, filter them out.
Set the pressure cooker or the thick bottomed pan on the stove and add the jaggery water. Bring it to a boil, reduce the heat and add the grated coconut and stir. Add a pinch of salt, stir. Add 2 tablespoons of ghee. Stir.
Slowly pour in the rice lentil flour that you had made from roasted rice and lentils. Pour it with one hand while you stir it into the water with the other. Careful stirring ensures there are no lumps in the kali.

To make Tiruvathirai Kali in Pressure Cooker

Cover the cooker with its lid and pressure cook for one whistle. Let the steam release on its own.

To make Tiruvathirai Kali in a Pan

Bring the mixture to a boil and allow to cook on low flame till the water is completely absorbed. Stir the mixture often, scraping the bottom of the pan as the rice may catch and burn. This may take up to 15 minutes.

To Garnish the kali, whether cooked in a pan or pressure cooker

Heat ghee (see ingredients for garnish above) a small frying pan. Crush the cardamom well and add to the ghee. Add cashew nuts and fry them on low heat till they turn golden on both sides.
Pour the cashew cardamom ghee garnish on to the kali.
Serve Tiruvathirai Kali hot, with Ezhukari Kootu Kuzhambu
The above quantities of ingredients can be doubled /tripled as required, except for salt, ghee, cashew and cardamom which should be increased slightly but not proportionately.

Nutrition