NAVARATHRI SPECIAL NIVEDHIYAM- ARISI VELLA PUTTU

Sweet Rice Jaggery Puttu Arisi Vella Puttu is a traditional neivedhyam dish for Navratri fridays. SWEET RICE JAGGERY PUTTU / ARISI VELLA PUTTU • 2 tbsp Grated Coconut • 10 nos Cashews • 2 nos Cardamom • 2 tbsp Ghee (Clarified butter) • 3/4 cup Water • 1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder • Salt a pinch INSTRUCTIONS PREPARING RICE FOR THE PUTTU • Wash the raw rice in water at least 2-3 times to remove starch from it and soak it for 30 minutes. • 2 cups of Puttu Maavu ( Now ready Puttu Mavu is available in stores) . • Fry the rice puttu maavu for nearly 5 minutes, we could see the color slightly change to brown color. rice flower to be fried uniformly without getting over burnt. • Allow the rice to cool off . grind cardamom to a nice and smooth powder. STEAM COOKING THE RICE FLOUR • Heat 3/4 cup of water along with turmeric and salt till the water is warm. Take the rice flour in a plate or a bowl and slowly sprinkle the warm water little by little and mix the flour well. • The consistency is “Pidicha Pidikamudiyanum, vitta udhiranum”. That means if we hold a fist full of flour tightly, it should hold and if we drop, it should again break. This is the right consistency. Don’t add too much of water.

• Grease the idli plates with oil and add one fist full of slightly wet rice flour in each place of the idli plate and steam cook them for at least 12 minutes. • Once the rice flour is steam cooked, remove and cool them. Take the siever and add the rawa sieve plate and add the steam cooked rice flour dumplings and using your hand gently spread and press the rice flour so that it is nicely broken down into pieces. The cooked rice flour should be like a beach sand smoothness. PREPARING JAGGERY SYRUP • Now heat a pan and add 1 teaspoon of ghee and add the broken cashews and fry till they turn golden brown color. Remove them and keep it aside. • Then add the grated coconut and fry till they turn golden brown color. Take this also aside. • In the same pan, add grated jaggery and 1 tablespoon of water and allow it to boil. When the jaggery is dissolved in water, strain it using a strainer to remove any sand. Again heat the strained jaggery juice and allow it to boil. When the jaggery juice starts to thick and reach stone consistency,..kallu paagam.. we need to remove the jaggery juice from the flame. We can test the right consistency, by pouring 2-3 drops of jaggery juice in a cup of water and if it doesn’t dissolve and if you take the drop of jaggery juice in your finger and roll it to a ball, then it is the right consistency. • Now add the sieved cooked rice flour and mix well. • Add ghee, fried coconut and cashews, Elachi and mix well. Sweet Rice Jaggery Puttu / Arisi Vella Puttu is ready for Neivedhyam to Ambal