Awara

 I fell in love with awara a long time ago. Soft, squishy, juicy, bouncy little cubes of deep fried goodness dipped in yaji.

 I will eat this every blessed day and not get tired of it! It is so versatile, you can get it plain and pair with anything at all and it'll assimilate seamlessly. It takes on any flavor so well without fuss.

You can have it "raw" or cooked in many different ways; deep fried, grilled, boiled in soup etc.

 Awara is a nutrient dense food which has calcium, manganese, vitamin A and iron.

It also helps the digestive system where it  bulks up stool and hasten bowel movement. 

 Children and adults benefit from it. It can be a snack or a side or appetizer or used as protein substitute in meals.

INGREDIENTS 

600g soybeans

12litres water 

3/4 cup lime juice

5 attarugu (blended) 

PROCEDURE 

1)Wash and soak your beans in clean water for 4 hours or preferably in the fridge overnight. 

2) Puree your beans in a blender into a really fine paste. Do this in batches adding adequate water to get the paste moving. 

3) Pour all the paste into a large bowl that can hold at least 20litres of water. Then pour your 12litres of water over it and stir thoroughly. This will make it into a slurry consistency. 

4) Get a heavy bottomed pot which can carry about 17litres of liquid and place a fine weave cloth over the mouth. Strain the bean slurry using the fine weave cloth and collect all the bean milk inside the 17litres pot. Do this part in batches too. Use your hands to squeeze out as much milk as you can from the slurry.

5) Get your big pot with the milk inside and cook on high heat for 20minutes, stirring occasionally. After about 20minutes it should start looking like it is about to boil. You should be very vigilant at this stage because you'll need to stir vigorously and lower your heat once it starts boiling as the milk will foam up and try to bubble over the rim of the pot. Once the milk has frothed and you've stirred it down shut the flame under the pot.

6) Get your lime juice and drizzle it into the milk stirring gently and looking at the consistency of your milk. You'll notice the milk start to curdle. Be gentle when stirring. 

Finish pouring your lime juice and stir just once then cover the pot and let it sit for exactly five minutes. 

7) While the milk is resting get a large colander, put it in your kitchen sink and place a cheesecloth (kyallen tata) over it.

8) After the 5 minutes are up open your pot and stir in your blended attarugu gently, then pick up your pot and pour everything into your prepared colander and cheesecloth setup. Pick up all the sides of the cheesecloth and try and spin the ball of cheese inside it {carefully as this is pretty hot. You can use gloves on your hands or use a pair of tongs to spin the ball}. As you do this the whey will be escaping little by little. Don't tighten the ball too much as you don't want to wring out all the liquid from the awara. Doing this will help the cheese curds stick to each other and form a uniform mass. When you get enough spin out of the cloth carefully place the cheeseball inside the colander again making sure to tuck the ends of the cloth under the ball, so that it does not unravel. Leave this to sit for a while. 10 to 15 minutes is enough to have about 90% of the whey out of the awara. After that just unwrap your awara onto a plate or a bowl and let it cool completely before storing. 

*If you are using it right away you can just cut it into your desired sizes and shapes and proceed from there. 

*If you are storing it let it cool completely then place it inside a bowl of cold water fully submerged and cover the bowl with a lid. Place this in the fridge and it's good for 3 days.

That is all! 

I shallow fried mine after sprinkling with some salt and msg. Had it with leftover fried rice and veggies. 

If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask in the comments section. I'll be sure to answer them. 

Enjoy 💕