Dessert with a history

Pushpesh Pant

Sometime back the writer of these lines was associated with a food show on television that strove to retrieve lost recipes of India. It was fun but what was amazing was that the production house was quite content to stick this label even to a dish like galauti kebab. In its good and bad avatar, the dish is available at almost every street corner. Not much energy or effort had been spent on finding out traces of really lost or on the verge of extinction recipes. But we digress. What warmed the cockles of our heart recently was when we met this long-lost friend from childhood in Chhattisgarh. A delightful outlet sponsored by the department of culture Garh Kaleva had it on offer.

What was even more gladdening was the quality of the traditional sweet. Purely for matter of record, the last we had found a mention of the poor sweet thing was in Zaqiya Zaheer’s memoirs reviving the nostalgia of Awadh in an era gone by. Lala Maheshwar Dayal too refers wistfully to anarsa in his memorable account of Delhi. There was a time when it was prepared at home on Diwali. Why waste breath, we strongly urge you to try it out ASAP.

Anarasa

Ingredients

• 2-1/2 cup rice
• (Soaked in water for three nights. Change water everyday)
• ½ cup powdered sugar or jaggery
• 1-2tbsp curd
• 3tbsp sesame seeds
• Ghee/oil to deep fry

Method

Grind the soaked rice after draining it. Mix it with powdered sugar into a hard-dough-like consistency with curd and a little milk/water if required. Give dough portions a shape of patty. Heat ghee/oil in a karahi and fry the anarasa patties on medium, high flame till reddish brown. Spread the sesame seeds on a platter and coat the patties evenly and generously by placing on it and turning once or more. Enjoy!