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Okkarai (Diwali Okkarai)

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Diwali Okkarai | Ukkarai is a traditional sweet made specially on diwali festival. This is a popular sweet from Tirunelveli district. This special sweet is made with Chana Dal (Kadala Paruppu) and jaggery as the main ingredients.
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
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Okkarai is a famous traditional South Indian sweet dish that is made on the auspicious day of Diwali. I still remember my older days where in my mom prepares only Okkarai and Vadai for Diwali. Probably we weren’t afford to make other sweets and snacks during those days. Even today, in many brahmin families Okkarai is one of the mandatory sweet which is prepared on the auspicious day of Diwali. This simple dish Okkarai needs only less expensive ingredients and readily available materials in any house.
For Diwali, we make lots of Sweets and Snacks and most of the sweets are made of sugar. This okkarai is mainly made with Kadala Paruppu (Split Bengal Gram) and  jaggery. We all have elders at home who might have diabetics and other medical conditions that prevent them from having sugary sweets. This Okkarai is one special sweet that suits everyone in our family.

How to get perfect Diwali Okkarai | Ukkarai

  • Soaking or Pressure Cooking Dal : We can dry roast the dal and soak in hot water for about 2 hours and then grind it to paste and follow the rest of the crumbling procedure.
  • Pressure cook for just 3 whistles with less water: We need to add water just till 1″ more than the roasted dal. Also allow only for 2-3 whistles. We don’t need mushy dal for this okkarai.
  • Jaggery Consistency: We don’t need any particular consistency for jaggery. We need to melt, strain and bring it to boil till the syrup is sticky. My grandmother used to grind jaggery along with the dal and crumble the whole dal+jaggery mixture in a pan. But nowadays most of the jaggery has lots of dirt and hence to strain those dirt we are not grinding with dal.
  • Do not over cook: Once the Okkarai starts to crumble, switch off the flame. Do not over cook or it will turn chewy. The mixture gets even more crumbled upon cooling.

You can also try other traditional Sweets:

  1. Adhirasam
  2. Maladu
  3. Rava Laddu
  4. Boondhi Ladoo
  5. Coconut Burfi
  6. Mysore Pak

Recipe Card:

Diwali Okkarai | Ukkarai
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Diwali Okkarai | Ukkarai | Diwali Sweets

Course: Dessert, Sweet
Cuisine: Indian, South Indian, Tamil Nadu, Tamilnadu
Equipments Needed
  • Pressure Cooker
  • Heavy Bottomed Pan
  • Mixer Grinder
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes
Servings: 250 gms
Calories: 300kcal
Author: Sowmya Venkatachalam
Diwali Okkarai | Ukkarai is a traditional sweet made specially on diwali festival. This is a popular sweet from Tirunelveli district. This special sweet is made with Chana Dal (Kadala Paruppu) and jaggery as the main ingredients.
Print Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 Cup Split Bengal Gram (Channa Dal / Kadalaparuppu) 1 Cup - 250ml
  • 1 Cup Grated Jaggery
  • 1 tbsp Grated Coconut
  • 4 nos Cardamom
  • 1 tbsp Cashews
  • 2 tbsp Ghee

Instructions 

PREPARING Split Bengal Gram (Channa Dal / Kadalaparuppu)

  • Add hot boiling water to chana dal and soak the dal for 2-3 hours
  • After 3 hours, drain water from the soaked dal and let the dal rest for 20 mins till all the moisture is drained.

Grinding Dal

  • Take the soaked and drained dal to mixer jar and grind it to thick smooth paste
  • Heat 2 tsp of ghee in a pan. Add the ground dal paste and give a good mix.
  • Keep the flame low, and keep stirring till the mixture gets crumbled completely.
  • Take this crumbled mixture in a mixer jar and give a pulse or two to get perfectly crumbled texture of the dal.

Preparing Jaggery Juice

  • Take the grated jaggery in a vessel and add 1/2 cup of water and keep it in flame. Let the jaggery gets dissolved in water completely. Remove the vessel from flame and strain the jaggery juice to a pan to get rid of all sand or dust particles in jaggery

Crumble Okkarai

  • Keep the pan in flame and bring the jaggery suryp to boil. When the syrup starts to thicken, if you take a drop of syrup and add it to a cup of water, you should be able to roll the syrup as a soft ball. This is the correct consistency.
  • To the syrup, add the crumbled dal mixture along with cardamom powder and grated coconut. Mix well. Slowly the channadal mixture starts to cumble and becomes soft like puttu.
  • Add 1 tablespoon of ghee and keep the flame very low and occasionally mix the okkarai. Heat another pan, add a teaspoon of ghee and roast the broken cashews till they turn golden brown color.
  • Add the roasted cashews  and mix well.The okkarai breaks down into smaller pieces and it should be soft. When we take the small pieces in hand and make into ball then this is the right stage to remove the okkarai out off the flame.
  • The delicious Okkarai is ready to serve

Video

Notes

  1. Do  not overcook after the chana dal crumbles then the okkarai will taste chewy instead of soft crumble

Nutritional Info

Nutrition Facts
Diwali Okkarai | Ukkarai | Diwali Sweets
Amount Per Serving (100 g)
Calories 300 Calories from Fat 45
% Daily Value*
Fat 5g8%
Carbohydrates 23g8%
Protein 4g8%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
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Method with Step by Step Pictures:

PREPARING SPLIT BENGAL GRAM (CHANNA DAL / KADALAPARUPPU)

  • Add hot boiling water to chana dal and soak the dal for 2-3 hours

  • After 3 hours, drain water from the soaked dal and let the dal rest for 20 mins till all the moisture is drained.

GRINDING DAL

  • Take the soaked and drained dal to mixer jar and grind it to thick smooth paste

  • Heat 2 tsp of ghee in a pan. Add the ground dal paste and give a good mix.

  • Keep the flame low, and keep stirring till the mixture gets crumbled completely.

  • Take this crumbled mixture in a mixer jar and give a pulse or two to get perfectly crumbled texture of the dal.

PREPARING JAGGERY JUICE

  • Take the grated jaggery in a vessel and add 1/2 cup of water and keep it in flame. Let the jaggery gets dissolved in water completely.

CRUMBLE OKKARAI

  • Remove the vessel from flame and strain the jaggery juice to a pan to get rid of all sand or dust particles in jaggery

  • Keep the pan in flame and bring the jaggery suryp to boil. When the syrup starts to thicken, if you take a drop of syrup and add it to a cup of water, you should be able to roll the syrup as a soft ball. This is the correct consistency.

  • To the syrup, add the crumbled dal mixture along with cardamom powder and grated coconut. Mix well. Slowly the channadal mixture starts to cumble and becomes soft like puttu.

  • Add 1 tablespoon of ghee and keep the flame very low and occasionally mix the okkarai. Heat another pan, add a teaspoon of ghee and roast the broken cashews till they turn golden brown color.

  • Add the roasted cashews  and mix well.The okkarai breaks down into smaller pieces and it should be soft. When we take the small pieces in hand and make into ball then this is the right stage to remove the okkarai out off the flame.

  • The delicious Okkarai is ready to serve
Diwali Okkarai | Ukkarai | Diwali Sweets
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Sowmya Venkatachalam

IT Engineer turned full time Food Blogger. I ♡ FOOD. I also love food blogging. Did you make a recipe? Tag @Subbusktichen on Instagram. I WANNA SEE!

17 Comments Hide Comments

I tried the recipe today for the first time. Came out well.thanks to your step by step recipe. It reminded me of my Paati's okkarai.

Reply

Hi mami,
i tried many other recepies came out well.but this one not come properly to me.i did as per your method.it is sticked on my vessels.i add more ghee also.what mistkae i did i dont know.first time i m doing this.jaggry burnt smell is coming.pls clear me.

Reply

Hi, Sorry to hear that Okkarai did not come well for you. I would like to mention that after grinding, put the mixture in a non stick pan and keep the flame low and stir occasionally. Please try once more and let me know your comments.

Reply

How much of grated coconut is needed? I had few of ur earlier recipes. Hv come out really well. Thank u mam!

Reply

Hi, sorry, I forgot to mention grated coconut in the ingredients section. We have to add 2 tablespoon of coconut. I have corrected the ingredients section. Thanks for letting me know.

Reply

Hi…instead of cooking the dal in the cooker, can i just soak them in water for a couple of hours and then dry it and powder it? (pressure cooking dal is not allowed in our family) Will I get the same result?

Reply

lovely, thanks my in laws are from tirunelvelli and I usually learn from this site be it karadai nombu ookarai, i have tried and they come just perfect if instructions are followed. i almost thought that ookarai will turn out to be a disaster after mixing with jaggary syrup and after a long time it was still holding on without crumbling. But i was persistent and and came out at the end thank you very much. Please also have a section on Tirunelveli special for all occasion so search is easier.

Thank you very very much

Reply

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