UKKARAI

Ukkarai is a popular and Traditonal, South Indian sweet that is made during Diwali .Even Now a days in many Brhamin families it is one of the  mandatory sweet which is prepared during Diwali .This recipie needs only readily available ingredients in any house .

Ingredients:

• 1½ cups moong dal
• 1 cup channa dal
• 3 cups jaggery
• 1 cup ghee
• 15 cashew nuts
• A pinch of salt
• A pinch of camphor
• 1 cup fresh coconut pieces
• Cardamom powder from 8 cardamom pods

Method:

1. Wash and soak all the lentils together for about two hours
2. After two hours strain the water and grind to a fine paste
3. Heat ghee and fry coconut pieces, cashew nuts and keep aside
4. Fry the ground lentils till dry and keep aside
5. Heat the jaggery adding ¼ cup of water
6. When jaggery melts, strain through a strainer and reheat
7. Simmer and when the syrup forms a string consistency, add the prepared lentil and mix well
8. At this stage, the lentil mixture starts to crumble and becomes soft like _puttu_
9. Add 1 tbsp of ghee, mix and let it cool
10. When it gets to a crumbly texture, that is the right stage to remove from flame
11. Add fried coconut pieces, cashew nuts and cardamom powder
12. The traditional Diwali sweet ukkarai is ready to be served