Nothing screams Diwali in a TamBrahm household like Okkarai. It is one of those things that you make only for this one holiday and that’s it. No other time of the year! Maybe, that is why it feels so special.
Diwali mornings are all about getting up early, way early. Hours before the crack of dawn early. Taking a warm shower after a hot oil massage for the head. Wearing new clothes. And getting ready to go outside to burst all kinds of fire crackers. By the crack of the dawn, you stop with all the bright and pretty fire crackers and continue with just the loud noisy ones as you don’t care about the light or the display for those ones. That is when you are called in for breakfast.
Diwali is one festival where breakfast was a big deal and that is it. This is in the Southern parts of India and does not necessarily hold true for the other parts of India. All the sweet and savory snacks that the kitchen was busy churning out all these days (weeks even) are served on the breakfast plate. Okkarai is a main component of the breakfast plate. Other mains would be Idlis, sambar, vadai and chutney. Of course, there will be filter coffee to go with this.The rest of the day just went in more fire cracker bursting and switching to the pretty ones as night falls.
- Recipe for Rava Idli here
- Recipe for Sambar here
- Recipe for Parippu Vadai here
- Recipe for Tomato Onion Chutney here
- Recipe for Cilantro Chutney here
- Recipe for Coconut Chutney with Pearl Onions here
Okkarai ~ Roasted Chana Dal with Jaggery and Coconut | A Diwali Recipe
Ingredients
- Chana Dal / Kadalai Parippu / Gram Dal / Split Chickpea - 1 cup
- Jaggery, crushed - 1 ½ to 2 cups (based on how sweet you want it to be and the jaggery's sweetness)
- Grated Coconut - ½ cup
- Ground Cardamom - 1 tsp
- Ghee - ¼ cup + 1 tbsp
- Cashew Nuts, to garnish (optional) - 5 or 6
Instructions
- Wash the chana dal in running tap water. Drain and dry roast it over medium heat till it begins to turn brown. Keep stirring or else parts of the dal might get more roasted than others or even get burnt.
- Once roasted, add enough water to just cover the dal and let it cook for about 10 mins or so. Cook till you can mush the dal in your hand with some considerable pressure. Keep checking for done-ness. You don't want it cooked too much as well.
- Drain the dal in a colander and let it stay there for sometime so all the water drains out completely.
- Now pat dry the dal with a kitchen towel and pulse it in a food processor till it becomes a crumbly mass, sort of like fine breadcrumbs. You don't want it ground too fine.
- Heat the jaggery with ¼ cup of water in a heavy bottomed pan. Once the jaggery is melted, add the ground chana dal to it. It is important to keep stirring while you add it, otherwise you will end up with clumpy dal mass.
- Stir well to get the dal added to the jaggery mix. Lower heat, add coconut and ground cardamom and ghee. Turn off heat.
- Heat the 1 tablespoon ghee in a small pan and add the cashew nuts to it. Once the cashew nuts turn golden brown, add them to the okkarai.
- Keep in an airtight container for upto 2 days. If storing for more, keep in the refrigerator.
- To warm it, heat a tablespoon of ghee in a heavy bottomed pan /kadhai. Add required okkarai to it. Stir well and serve.
📖 Recipe
Okkarai ~ Roasted Chana Dal with Jaggery and Coconut |A Diwali Recipe
Ingredients
- Chana Dal / Kadalai Parippu / Gram Dal / Split Garbanzo- 1 cup
- Jaggery crushed - 1 ½ to 2 cups (based on how sweet you want it to be and the jaggery's sweetness)
- Grated Coconut - ½ cup
- Ground Cardamom - 1 tsp
- Ghee - ¼ cup + 1 tbsp
- Cashew Nuts to garnish (optional) - 5 or 6
Don't forget to check out Step-by-step instructions with photos in the body of the post above
Instructions
- Wash the chana dal in running tap water. Drain and dry roast it over medium heat till it begins to turn brown. Keep stirring or else parts of the dal might get more roasted than others or even get burnt.
- Once roasted, add enough water to just cover the dal and let it cook for about 10 mins or so. Cook till you can mush the dal in your hand with some considerable pressure. Keep checking for done-ness. You don't want it cooked too much as well.
- Drain the dal in a colander and let it stay there for sometime so all the water drains out completely.
- Now pat dry the dal with a kitchen towel and pulse it in a food processor till it becomes a crumbly mass, sort of like fine breadcrumbs. You don't want it ground too fine.
- Heat the jaggery with ¼ cup of water in a heavy bottomed pan. Once the jaggery is melted, add the ground chana dal to it. It is important to keep stirring while you add it, otherwise you will end up with clumpy dal mass.
- Stir well to get the dal added to the jaggery mix. Lower heat, add coconut and ground cardamom and ghee. Turn off heat.
- Heat the 1 tablespoon ghee in a small pan and add the cashew nuts to it. Once the cashew nuts turn golden brown, add them to the okkarai.
- Keep in an airtight container for upto 2 days. If storing for more, keep in the refrigerator.
- To warm it, heat a tablespoon of ghee in a heavy bottomed pan /kadhai. Add required okkarai to it. Stir well and serve.
geet says
This one looks nice! i will try and share the feedback.
Cheers!