Okkarai / Chana Dal Halwa

Chana dal - 1 cup
Jaggery - 1.5 cups, (small broken pieces)
Dessicated Coconut - 1/2 cup
Ghee - 3 tbsp
Cashewnuts - a handful
Raisins - a handful
Cardamom Powder - 1/2 tsp


Dry roast the chana dal till golden brown. Soak in water for atleast 3 hours or overnight.

Grind the soaked chana dal to a fine paste without adding any water.

Make 8 round balls of this ground dal, place them on a steam basket, add 3 cups of water in the rice cooker and steam in the cooker for 30 minutes.

Remove, cool and grate the dumplings using a grater.

Heat 2 tsp ghee in a pan and roast the cashewnuts and raisins til the cashews become light brown. Keep aside.

Dry roast the dessicated coconut in the pan till light brown and keep aside.

Heat 2 tbsp ghee in the same pan and fry the grated dal mixture for around 10 minutes. Mix it with the roasted coconut and keep aside.

Take a heavy bottomed sauce pan. Add 1/2 cup water and 1.5 cups jaggery and let the jaggery melt on high heat. Then reduce the flame to minimum and let the mixture thicken by stirring continuously. This would take around 10 minutes.

To test if the jaggery syrup is of the right consistency, take a small plate and pour a drop of jaggery mixture on the plate. The jaggery syrup is ready when we are able to roll this drop between the thumb and index finger and able to make into a small ball which makes a sound when you drop it on the plate.

When the syrup reaches this consistency, switch off the heat immediately and and start adding it to the dal mixture in batches, coating every batch of dal well with the syrup. Once the jaggery is completely mixed, the dal crumble will be soft and fluffy. Add the cashews, raisins and cardamom powder and mix well.

Adapted from http://saffrontrail.blogspot.com/2010/11/recipe-for-diwali-okkarai.html

Sending this recipe to the event Cook.Eat.Delicious - Desserts happening @ Sensible Vegetarian