An authentic and traditional Deepavali recipe – Okkarai prepared with channa dal, moong dal, jaggery, and ghee. It is like the sweet version of paruppu usili without any veggies. Read through the post and you will know why I call this sweet paruppu usili. Check out the detailed stepwise okkarai recipe here.
Last week I posted two traditional Diwali recipes but with my twist. For Sandesh, I used ricotta cheese, and for the murukku, I went with quinoa flour. But this week, I decided to post our traditional family recipes without playing with any ingredients. And the first one is the Okkarai or Ukkarai.
Diwali in periakulam was always fun, be it the Theni/ Madurai trip for purchasing Diwali clothes or preparing sweets or bursting crackers with friends or watching the Diwali special shows and analyzing the same next day with friends, I love every part of it. Our neighbor aunty (K maami) back in Periyakulam used to prepare this ukkarai every year and never miss to share it with us. In the quest of learning new recipes, my mom learned this Ukkarai from her, and I, of course, got the recipe from my mom. I just followed their recipe without much change and the result – delicious melt-in-mouth okkarai. :-)
Before getting into the recipe, I would like to thank M for taking the one string consistency pictures quickly. He clicked quite a lot, but I am just posting only one here.
Without any further ado, here is the traditional okkarai recipe.
Deepavali Okkarai | Ukkarai
An authentic and traditional Deepavali recipe – Okkarai prepared with channa dal, moong dal, jaggery, and ghee.
Ingredients:
- Channa Dal – ½ cup
- Moong Dal – 1 tbsp
- Water – 3 cups for soaking + ¼ for jaggery syrup
- Cardamom Powder – ½ tsp
- Chopped Coconut pieces – 2 tbsp
- Ghee – 3 tbsp
- Powdered Jaggery – ½ cup
Steps:
- In a heavy bottom vessel, add the channa dal and moong dal.
- Dry roast them until they turn golden brown or until you can smell the aroma of both the dals over medium flame.
- Meanwhile, boil 3 cups of water.
- Add the roasted dals, while it hot to the hot boiled water.
- Let it soak for about 2 to 2.5 hours and after that drain the water thoroughly
- Coarsely grind these soaked dals like below.
- Again, heat a heavy bottom vessel or uruli and add 3 tbsps of ghee. Once the ghee is hot, add the ground dal mix.
- Keep stirring it and cook for 7 to 8 minutes over medium flame until the dal is tender and soft. You can even use a fork to mix the dal. Make sure the dal mix is not sticky. It should be grainy like below.
- Turn off the heat and set it aside.
- In another pan or kadai, add jaggery and ¼ cup of water and let it simmer over medium flame.
- When the jaggery syrup becomes frothy like below, you can start checking for string consistency.
- The jaggery needs to simmer until you get a one string/thread consistency like below. When you take the jaggery syrup (you can wipe some from the back of the ladle) and stretch it between your thumb and forefinger, a string should form like this.
- At this stage, reduce the heat to lower the flame and add the coconut pieces and cardamom powder. Mix it all.
- Then add the cooked dal mix and stir it nicely and ensure the jaggery syrup is nicely incorporated.
- Cook this mixture over low flame for 5 minutes, and that’s it Okkarai is ready.
- Garnish it with fried nuts and serve hot/cold.
Notes:
- Make sure you prepare this recipe over a medium or low medium flame at all stages.
- I used powdered and cleaned jaggery; I didn’t have to filter it. But if required, once the jaggery is melted filter it once before simmering it again.
- Please be careful while checking the sugar syrup consistency. Wet your fingers and then test them.
- Coconut pieces give a nice crunch and texture to this recipe. If you don’t have the fresh coconut for the coconut slices, you can use grated ones as well.
- Adjust the jaggery as per your preference.
- Moong dal is optional, but it adds a great flavor to this recipe. I would recommend it for sure.
📖 Recipe
Deepavali Okkarai | Ukkarai
Ingredients
- ½ cup Channa Dal
- 1 tbsp Moong Dal
- 3.25 cups Water 3 cups for soaking + ¼ for jaggery syrup
- ½ tsp Cardamom Powder
- 2 tbsp Coconut pieces Chopped
- 3 tbsp Ghee
- ½ cup Jaggery Powdered
Instructions
- In a heavy bottom vessel, add the channa dal and moong dal.
- Dry roast them until they turn golden brown or until you can smell the aroma of both the dals over medium flame.
- Meanwhile, boil 3 cups of water.
- Add the roasted dals, while it hot to the hot boiled water.
- Let it soak for about 2 to 2.5 hours and after that drain the water thoroughly
- Coarsely grind this soaked dals like below.
- Again, heat a heavy bottom vessel or uruli and add 3 tbsps of ghee. Once the ghee is hot, add the ground dal mix.
- Keep stirring it and cook for 7 to 8 minutes over medium flame until the dal is tender and soft. You can even use a fork to mix the dal. Make sure the dal mix is not sticky. It should be grainy like below.
- Turn off the heat and set it aside.
- In another pan or kadai, add jaggery and ¼ cup of water and let it simmer over medium flame. When the jaggery syrup becomes frothy like below, you can start checking for string consistency.
- The jaggery needs to simmer until you get a one string/thread consistency like below.When you take the jaggery syrup (you can wipe some from the back of the ladle) and stretch it between your thumb and forefinger, a string should form like this.
- At this stage, reduce the heat to lower flame and add the coconut pieces and cardamom powder. Mix it all.
- Then add the cooked dal mix and stir it nicely and ensure the jaggery syrup is nicely incorporated.
- Cook this mixture over low flame for 5 minutes, and that's it Okkarai is ready.
- Garnish it with fried nuts and serve hot/cold.
Notes
- Make sure you prepare this recipe over medium or low medium flame at all stages.
- I used powdered and cleaned jaggery; I didn't have to filter it. But if required, once the jaggery is melted filter it once before simmering it again.
- Please be careful while checking the sugar syrup consistency. Wet your fingers and then test them.
- Coconut pieces give a nice crunch and texture to this recipe. If you don't have the fresh coconut for the coconut slices, you can use grated ones as well.
- Adjust the jaggery as per your preference.
- Moong dal is optional, but it adds a great flavor to this recipe. I would recommend it.
Nutrition
I am not a nutritionist. The nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It varies depending upon the product types or brands.
Love this! We make something of this sort for filling Boorelu :)
oh wow that’s nice. Love how the cuisines are intertwined. :-) Thanks