Okkarai Recipe | Ukkarai Recipe

Okkarai is a Chettinad sweet made by steaming & crumbling chana dal & blend with jaggery syrup, flavours & nuts. Okkarai is a traditional recipe made during Navarathri & religious festivals in Tamil Nadu.

Ukkarai is a Chettinad special sweet made for Diwali.This ukkarai / okkarai is made even during Navratri and Karthigai Deepam in different parts of the city.

I  wanted to post this last Diwali itself but somehow got missed.Amma makes this ukkarai sweet often as its easy to make and healthy too as it uses very less ghee but ammas version is slightly different, so I referred my Chettinad cookbook for the method and used ammas measures.

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Okkarai | Ukkarai

Okkarai is a Chettinad sweet made by steaming & crumbling chana dal & blend with jaggery syrup, flavours & nuts. Okkarai is a traditional recipe made during Navarathri & religious festivals in Tamil Nadu.

Prep Time1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Cook Time20 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Servings2

AuthorSharmilee J

1x2x3x

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup chana dal
• 1/4 cup moong dal
• 1/2 cup jaggery
• 3 tablespoon coconut
• 2 teaspoon + 1 teaspoon ghee
• 5 nos cashews broken
• 1/8 teaspoon cardamom powder

Instructions

• Soak jaggery in warm water (till immersing level) , crush it well.
• Then heat it up until it is slightly thick (no string consistency needs to be checked). Strain and keep aside.
• Dry roast chana dal and moong dal till slightly golden.
• Soak it in water at least for an hr.
• Drain water and transfer the dals to a mixer and coarse grind it. I did the grinding in batches. Make sure you grind it to a coarse mixture and not to a paste.
• Now fill in a idli mould with this mixture and steam cook it for at least 15mins in low medium flame.
• Roughly break it and run it again in the mixer, just pulsing will be enough. It should look like breadcrumbs in texture.
• Heat jaggery syrup till it resembles honey in consistency. Add the ground mixture and keep mixing till all the moisture is absorbed.
• Keep mixing and add ghee when it gets dried up.
• Now add cardamom powder and give a quick mix. Fry cashews in a teaspoon of ghee till golden brown.
• Cook till the entire mixture become dry and resembles bread crumbs in texture.
• Add grated coconut and fried cashews and switch off.
• Serve Okkarai hot / warm.

Notes

• Keeps well for 2 days at least when refrigerated.

Nutrition Facts

Okkarai | Ukkarai

Amount Per Serving (75 g)

Calories 460 Calories from Fat 90

% Daily Value*

Fat 10g15%

Saturated Fat 5g31%

Polyunsaturated Fat 0.4g

Monounsaturated Fat 2g

Cholesterol 13mg4%

Sodium 9mg0%

Potassium 45mg1%

Carbohydrates 82g27%

Fiber 9g38%

Sugar 52g58%

Protein 11g22%

Vitamin A 50IU1%

Vitamin C 0.3mg0%

Calcium 69mg7%

Iron 3mg17%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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Ukkarai Recipe Step by Step

1. Soak jaggery in warm water(till immersing level) , crush it well. Then heat it up until it is slightly thick (no string consistency needs to be checked).Strain and keep aside.(I made more than above mentioned quantity for storing purpose).
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2. Dry roast chana dal and moong dal till slightly golden.Soak it in water atleast for an hr.
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3. Drain water and transfer the dals to a mixer and coarse grind it.I did the grinding in batches.Make sure you grind it to a coarse mixture and not to a paste.Now fill in a idli mould with this mixture and steam cook it for atleast 15mins in low medium flame.
   Pin
4. Roughly break it and run it again in the mixer, just pulsing will be enough.It should look like breadcrumbs in texture.
   Pin
5. Heat jaggery syrup till it resmbles honey in consistency.Add the ground mixture and keep mixing till all the moisture is absorbed.
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6. Keep mixing and add ghee when it gets dried up.Now add cardamom powder and give a quick mix.Fry cashews in a teaspoon of ghee till golden brown.
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7. Cook till the entire mixture become dry and resembles bread crumbs in texture. Add grated coconut and fried cashews and switch off.
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Serve hot / warm.

Expert Tips

• The orginal recipe asked to check for single string consistency but I just heated the syrup till it was thick.
• Keeps well for 2 days atleast when refrigerated.