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Diabetic friendly, Diwali Recipes, Festival Recipes, Glutenfree, Healthy, medium, Sweets, Tamil Brahmin Recipes, vegetarian

Recipe for Diwali Okkarai

November 4, 2010

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Traditional Tamil Diwali Recipe | Okkarai | Chana Dal and Jaggery based traditional sweet dish

Okkarai or Ukkarai is a traditional Tambrahm recipe. This jaggery-based, low-fat sweet made from chana dal / Bengal Gram dal, does not require much ghee, made using jaggery is a perfect healthy recipe to include in your Diwali preparations.

This recipe for Okkarai has been given to me by my maternal grandmother, who has been making this for every Diwali as far as I can remember.

Recipe for Diwali Okkarai

Recipe for Okkarai - a traditional Diwali recipe from my family that uses chana dal and jaggery
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Cook Time 1 hour hr
Total Time 1 hour hr
Servings: 4 serving
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: south indian
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup chana dal
  • 1 cup jaggery
  • 5 - 6 cardamoms
  • 1/2 cup coconut freshly grated or desiccated
  • 1 tbsp gingelly oil coconut oil ghee / /
  • 1 tbsp ghee cashews for frying
  • 10 - 12 cashews , halved
  • 2 - 3 tbsps raisins

Method
 

  1. Chana Dal: Dry roast the chana dal till golden brown and aromatic. This will take 7-8 minutes on medium heat. Soak this roasted dal in lots of water for 3 hours or so.
  2. Coconut:Dry roast the coconut flakes till golden and aromatic. This will take around 5 minutes on low flame. Keep aside.
  3. Cardamom:Remove the skin, grind the seeds along with a tsp of coarsely granulated sugar in mortar-pestle till you get a fairly fine powder. Keep aside.
  4. Cashews and raisins:Heat 1-2 tbsp ghee and fry them till cashews are golden. Keep aside.
  5. Preparing the Chana Dal:Grind the soaked chana dal to a fine paste, adding as little water as possible.Make loose dumplings of the ground dal and place in a deep, big vessel that fits in the cooker, steam for 20-25 minutes.Open the cooker after a few minutes and let these steamed dumplings cool. Now, you can either grate these cooled dumplings or crumble them with your fingers. The former gives a more uniform look to the sweet.
  6. In a large wok, heat 1 tbsp of gingelly oil (Nalla yennai) or ghee and fry the crumbled / grated dal mix on a low flame for 5-7 minutes. Keep aside.
  7. Place 1/2 cup water in a heavy bottom pan. Add 1 cup of crushed jaggery to this and let it melt on a high flame, with constant stirring. Once melted, lower flame and keep stirring.In 7-8 minutes the mixture will get a deep colour and start thickening.Keep a small plate handy, and pour a drop or so of this onto it, every 2-3 minutes. Try rolling this drop between your thumb and index finger. If it turns into a ball and makes a sound when you drop it on the plate, your jaggery-caramel is ready for the okkarai.
  8. As soon as your caramel reaches this stage, turn off the flame.
  9. Remove the wok from the stove and start adding the ready dal crumble in batches, giving it a good mix to coat evenly. Once the crumble is all evenly mixed with the jaggery caramel- it will be soft, sweet and not sticky, but like perfectly cooked basmati rice - fluffy, dry and separate.
  10. To this, add the roasted coconut, cardamom powder and fried cashews and raisins and mix gently.

Notes

Note:
VEGAN OPTION: Substitute ghee with gingelly oil (nallennai) or coconut oil.
This is naturally GLUTEN FREE.
Your Okkarai is ready for Diwali. If you like a richer taste, you can use more ghee to fry the cashews, but 1 tbsp is more than enough.
It is a labourious recipe, but with just two main ingredients - to get such a flavoursome and healthy festival sweet, it is totally worth it.
I am so glad I made it this year and it is going to part of my Diwali cooking every year, now on.
Hope you find this recipe useful to recreate your family tradition :).
by Nandita Iyer 
20 Comments

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Comments

  1. Blogeswari says: November 4, 2010 at 6:41 am

    Yumm!! Happy Deepavali!

    Reply
  2. Anushruti says: November 4, 2010 at 6:54 am

    Sounds wonderful and so traditional. How I love our traditions!

    Reply
  3. Srimathi says: November 4, 2010 at 10:26 am

    Happy Deepavali to you. I just made okkarai too.

    Reply
  4. Sanjeeta kk says: November 4, 2010 at 10:45 am

    Perfect sweet for a healthy Diwali! Festive greetings to you and your family.

    Reply
  5. Priya Sreeram says: November 4, 2010 at 11:43 am

    yummyyyy! sending sparkling diwali wishes to u n family!

    Reply
  6. Madhu says: November 4, 2010 at 2:16 pm

    Happy Diwali … a very nice and traditional recipe. I like it because doesnt need white sugar and uses very little ghee. I will surely try it out.

    Reply
  7. Apu says: November 4, 2010 at 6:30 pm

    Looks really yummy!! Diwali wishes to you and your family!!

    Reply
  8. Priya Suresh says: November 5, 2010 at 9:48 am

    Wishing u a happy and prosperous diwali. Delicious ukkarai.

    Reply
  9. Soma says: November 5, 2010 at 3:16 pm

    Happy Diwali to you and your near ones Nandita.best wishes.Soma

    Reply
  10. Akila says: November 6, 2010 at 11:07 am

    looks superb…wish you and your family a very happy and prosperous Deepawali

    Reply
  11. evolvingtastes says: November 8, 2010 at 2:17 am

    I have never had this sweet, but it sounds delicious. Wish you a very Happy Diwali!

    Reply
  12. RAJI MUTHUKRISHNAN says: November 9, 2010 at 1:59 am

    What a coicidence! My mother has posted a recipe of okkarai on her blog post for Diwali. Want to check it out? http://lifeinpondicherry.blogspot.com/2010/11/diwali-festival-of-lights.html

    Reply
  13. Divya Shankar says: November 9, 2010 at 4:30 am

    Thanks for providing this recipe. This one is my mom-in-laws’ favorite and a tradition in their house to make it for Diwali. May be I can surprise her with this the next time. Million thanks to you 🙂

    Reply
  14. Rani acharyulu says: November 14, 2010 at 3:55 pm

    It looks very tasty and yummy. I will try definetly,thank you. Happy deepavali.

    Reply
  15. Divya Vikram says: November 15, 2010 at 10:08 pm

    Pretty looking dish. Those cashews look pretty on them.

    Reply
  16. Miri says: November 22, 2010 at 6:42 am

    I have never had this dish before…looks like it would taste a lot like the kada parshad the Punjabis make – understated and elegant

    Reply
  17. Sandhya Hariharan says: November 22, 2010 at 8:53 am

    A very Happy Diwali.. though quite belated :)A very new dish to me.. Love the pot in which u have served it !!!First time sneeking in.. Do peep at my space when time permits.Sandhya#s Kitchen CheersSandhya

    Reply
  18. Sayantani says: December 6, 2010 at 9:47 am

    Hi Nanditha, thats a delectable dessert you prepared for Diwali. hope you had a great time.just thought of informing you that we have again started the Arusuvai Friendship chain. you were a part of this last time if you are still interested in taking part please see thishttp://ahomemakersdiary.blogspot.com/2010/11/arusuvai-friendship-chain-another.html

    Reply
  19. Divya Shankar says: October 29, 2011 at 11:17 am

    I am back to your blogpost after making Okkarai 🙂 Thanks for the recipe 🙂 Have made a mention of your post on my blog as well – please feel free to access – http://furorescribendi.blogspot.com/2011/10/wish-you-all-very-happy-diwali.html Hope you had a great and joyous Diwali 🙂

    Reply
  20. Anonymous says: October 4, 2014 at 12:02 pm

    I tried and loved this recipe! Thanks for the detailed instructions.

    Reply

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