What is "anarsa"

n. (context India English) A sweet pastry made with rice, jaggery, poppy seeds and milk.

Anarsa is a pastry-like snack commonly associated with the Hindu festival of Diwali in Maharashtra and Bihar. Its ingredients include jaggery (unrefined cane sugar), rice, poppy seed and ghee (clarified butter).

Anarsas are made from soaked powdered rice, jaggery or sugar. The rice is soaked in water for 3 days, with the water changed daily to mitigate fermentation. The rice is then dried, retaining a minimal amount of moisture, and ground into a fine powder. This is known as the pithi, and is mixed with an equal amount of sugar.

This mix can be stored for a long time at room temperature as long as it is sealed in an airtight container to prevent the moisture from soaking the sugar further. Whenever Anarsas are to be prepared, mash half inch piece of banana and mix into the previously prepared dough-balls. The banana ensures the sugar dissolves so be careful not to mix too much of banana. The resultant dough should be very soft yet retain shape. Small flat discs with about 2 inches in diameter are created by flattening a small ball of the dough over a layer of poppy seeds - just on one side. These disks are fried with poppy coated side first into hot ghee.