Kokisan, crispy treat of rose cookies are traditionaly prepared before new year in South-Indian Christian housholds are always available in Mangalore supermarkets during christmas with varieties of other crispy and savory Christmas snacks.

Kokis are made using a special round iron mould in the shape of a flower with a long handle to hold called as ‘kokis achchuwa’ that I bought from Mangalore the last time I visited home. I have also seen a few different designs of moulds here in Singapore which can also be used to make kokis. In Mangalore we call it Kokkisan (or kokis), Rose cookies  because of its rose-shape named in various regions,  in Scandinavia (Swedish or Norwegian) its called Rosette cookies, Achu murukku in Tamil and Achappam (malayalam language) in Kerala.

Rose cookies are not baked but deep-fried from either freshly ground rice grains or rice flour batter that contain coconut milk, sesame seeds and egg. Some recipes use other additional spices to make savory varieties. It might get a bit tricky at first but once you get a hold of how it works with the batter and the mould it is very easy. If you prepare with rice grains make sure to get the Kerala idli Rice which are usually available at Indian stores and make a thin batter with the other ingredients mentioned below.

Preparation time: 15 minutes + extra for soaking rice

Cooking time: 1.5 hrs

Makes: 50 – 60

Requirement: Mould 2.6-inch / 6.5 cm

How to use a new cookie mould?

Wash with soap and then, I applied oil to the mould 2 hrs prior to doing the following :

+ Drop the mould completely submerged in oil. Keep it dipped in oil until hot.

+ Once the mould has heated in hot oil. Remove and immediately dip the mould in a bowl of water at room temperature. You will hear it sizzle.

+ Tap dry of any moisture on the cookie mould. Continue with step 3 until it gets heated on medium-low heat.

Ingredients

Vegetable oil for deep-frying

Mould – 1

White small grain / Idli Rice (or Surai in konkani) – 250 g / 1/2 cup (soaked for 2-7 hrs)

Caster Sugar (fine grain) – 3 tbsp

Black sesame seeds –  1 tsp

Egg – 1 large, room temp (for eggless add more coconut milk)

Salt – 1/2 tsp

Thick Coconut milk – 1/2 cup

Water, if required – 1/4 cup

To prepare white small grain rice paste (see here step 1-2) :

+ Soak 250 g or 1/2 cup rice with enough water for 4-7 hrs or overnight.

+ Place them in a blender and blend to form a smooth thick paste with some water appoximate 1/2 cup. The lesser the water the finer the paste. But make sure the blades keep moving.

+ Transfer to a bowl. You can add some water to make it thinner if you like it less coconutty.

If its too much batter to make at one-time. You can separate and use half the batter and keep the rest in fridge.

Directions

1. Into the bowl containing rice paste, add salt, sugar, sesame seeds and mix. Pour coconut milk and the egg. Stir to combined together to make a thin batter of pouring consistency.

2. Add more coconut milk if the batter is very thick. The batter must be of pouring consistency (*see notes). Reserve until your ready with next step.

3. Heat a heavy bottomed container with enough oil upto 3-inchs to submerge the mould. Place the mould in oil completely covering the whole mould till the top.

4.When the mould is heated you will know when it radiates heat by placing you palm few inches away from it (careful not to touch it).

Dip the mould in the batter making sure the sides are 3/4 covered in batter (see picture below). Hold steady in the batter for minimum 10 seconds and not less (it is important because otherwise it will form a shape in the batter itself and batter will not cling to the mould). Video clip here

5. After 10 seconds immediately place the batter covered mould completely dipped in hot oil to deep-fry (induction #6). You will see the oil bubbling, hold it in oil for atleast 10 seconds then gently shake the mould to release the cookies.

If not, It should loosen up in 30 secs to 1 minute from the mould. You could also use a wooden skewer to release it from the sides.

6. Meantime, leave the mould in hot oil for few seconds until your ready for the next cookie and continue with step 4. Depending on the size of the container used you can fry more than one but just make sure you have enough space to dip the mould after each cookie (*see notes).

7. Flip them with the wooden skewer to fry evenly until light brown color on both sides.

8. Remove the fried ones and place them on kitchen paper towels. Repeat from step 4 until all the batter is used.

Leave them to cool completely before storing them in an airtight container or airtight storage bags.

so pretty 😮😮😍😍

Notes:

*Make sure not to overheat the oil. You can keep the oil  on medium-low heat (induction 5 or medium-low) if your preparing it for the first time . It might be hard to release the batter from the mould if overheated.

*If the batter is too thin you will know it once you prepare the first two cookies, since it tends to be very fragile and breaks off easily. And, the hot mould will need to be immersed in the batter for longer than 10 seconds for thinner batter.

*For deep-frying I used a flat deep-bottoned 7.5-inch / 19 cm wide container that could fry 3 cookies at a time.

*While dipping the mould in batter, tilt the bowl for even coating.

*I used half the rice paste for one-time which made 25 cookies, while the rest of the rice paste I stored it in the fridge for next time.

For more updates on my new recipes for Christmas please follow my FB page >> Delicious Sweet Aroma

Happy Holidays ☺ Stay Healthy!