Wash and soak thinai for 2 hours.

Drain into a colander and spread it on a cloth and let it dry for 10 minutes.

When thinai is still damp place it in a mixer jar along with cardamom pod and grind it to a powder.

If you want, you can sieve to a fine powder. But I didn’t as I prefer it to the consistency of fine sooji or rava.

Transfer the flour to a bowl and press it tight and place a clean cloth over the bowl to prevent formation of water droplets as the flour will be still warm.

Take jaggery in a saucepan. Add water to it and mix well. Let it boil well, till the syrup forms and the jaggery dissolves well.

Pass the jaggery syrup through a sieve into a heavy bottomed kadai to remove impurities.

Let it come to a boil over full flame. First the syrup will be thin and you can swipe the bubbles to the side to see the clear syrup.

After some time, the syrup will thicken, color will darken and the bubbles will be incessant as it will boil from within. Simmer the flame completely. You will not be able to swipe away the bubble to the side with the spatula. This is the stage to start checking for string consistency.

Keep a small bowl of water and add a few drops of the syrup. If the drops settle in the water and you are able to gather the syrup with your finger tips, that is the correct consistency. (In tamil, it is called as “Uruttu padham” or “Thakkali Padham”).

Switch off the stove. Add ghee and mix well.

Add thinai flour little by little while mixing it with a ladle. All the flour will be used up.

The dough will be a bit loose but it will come to the correct consistency once the syrup cools down.

Transfer the dough to a bowl. Smear ghee on top to prevent drying.

You can store this dough at room temperature for a week. You can either make adhirasam the next day or straight away. As I don’t make more than 2 cups, I make it immediately after the dough cools down.

Divide the dough into equal lemon sized balls.

Grease a plastic sheet or a plantain leaf with ghee. Place a ball on the leaf and pat with your finger tips into a flat disc. It should neither be thick nor too thin.

Heat oil in a kadai. After it gets hot, take a pea sized ball, gently press between your fingers and drop into the oil. If it rises slowly to the top, the temperature is correct. Now completely simmer the flame.

Slip the adhirasam into the oil. It will sink initially and will then rise to the top.

Flip it gently for the other side to cook. Drain and transfer to a plate.

Immediately, press the cooked adhirasam with the bottom side of a bowl, to remove excess oil. You can press it between two ladles over the stove itself or you can also use a adhirasam kattai for this.

Once the adhirasam cools down completely, store in a container arranging one next to the other to avoid them from sticking together.

Thinai Adhirasam stores well for a fortnight at room temperature.