Sakkare Acchu | Sugar Figurines

Sakkare Acchu | Sugar Figurines or sugar candies are prepared for Makar Sankranti festival in Karnataka. In kannada Sakkare means Sugar and Acchu meaning Moulds , meaning moulded sugar candies. Sakkare Acchu along with Ellu-Bella / Til -Gur is exchanged with family and friends during sankranti festival. It's a religious custom followed during makar sankranti festival.

Sakkare Acchu is basically is a combination of milk and sugar syrup . Prepared sugar syrup is strained for 3-4 times and then poured into moulds to set for desired shapes. You may need one more helping hand while doing  sakkare acchu  . So plan accordingly and do ......, my help for this was my bestie Beena . Took all the ingredients and went to her home to make this melt in mouth Sugar candies.

Never thought I too would Sakkare Acchu one day . Because these sugar candies are prepared only during this Makar Sankranti Festival and its easily available in markets during the season. But now , to keep all the traditional recipes live , I made this and sharing the same. Store bought sakkare acchu will be hard and also they would add some artificial colours.  As I'm against using artificial colours and flavours , I'm here with traditional recipe of making sakkare acchu.  And all credits for posting this recipe goes to my friend Suneetha Rajasekhar ,who requested me to post this recipe of Sakkare Acchu.

When I was a kid my mom used to make this with the help of my cousins,I only used to sit quite and watch them doing. I never remembered the recipe,but I was aware that it should be done carefully to get the right consistency. I got the recipe from my mom yesterday and I tried doing it for the first time, I was so happy to see the end result. A good , melt in mouth snow white smooth sugar figurines.

Other recipes which are normally prepared for sankranti festivals are : Khara Pongal , Sweet Pongal , Puliyogare , Moongdal rice , Avarekalu  Usali | Vaal Usal and  Til Gul Ladoo.

RECIPE CARD FOR SAKKARE ACCHU | SUGAR FIGURINES 

Sakkare Acchu | Sugar Figurines

Sakkare Acchu - These are moulded sugar candies prepared with sugar syrup and milk ,distributed among friends and family during Makar Sankranti festival along with Sesame - Jaggery mixture.

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Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Karnataka

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 55 minutes

Soaking Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Calories / Serving : 54

Author: Muktha H S

Ingredients 

• 1 Cup Sugar
• ⅓ - ½ cup Water
• ½ cup Milk
• ¼ cup Curds
• ½ teaspoon Lemon juice

Instructions

• Soak 1 cup sugar in water just enough to immerse (not more than ½ cup). Keep it aside for 30 minutes to 1 hour till sugar dissolve completely. Stir it once in a while to make the process faster.
• Whilst, Soak wooden figurine moulds in water for 10-15 minutes, wipe it with a clean dry cloth and close the moulds .Tighten it using a rubber band and keep it ready for final step.
• Once sugar is dissolved, take a thick bottom pan and heat the sugar syrup.
• When it starts to boil add a part of milk (divide milk into 3 parts) once it starts to froth, filter the sugar syrup with the help of a muslin cloth. Clean the muslin cloth (after each filtration) and keep it ready for the next step.
• Add back the filtered sugar syrup into the same thick bottom pan and continue to boil. Again repeat the above process of adding milk and then filter. After doing filtering process for 2 times, now again repeat the process of adding milk, followed by curds once it curdles again filter it
• Once you complete 3 times filtering of sugar syrup finally add lemon juice to it.
• Take a another thick bottom pan (if using the same pan ,clean it with water so that you don't have any residue of sugar syrup.) ,finally add the filtered sugar syrup and allow it to boil ,keep it on a low heat and keep stirring once in between.
• After a while sugar syrup starts to froth keep stirring .It finally reaches to a consistency where it becomes very frothy and looks cloudy.
• At this point it becomes bit difficult/heavy to stir as it would have become little thick but still has pouring consistency. At this stage all you can see is just the cloudy froth and it should not at all be runny (This is a very important step, you should remove the syrup in proper consistency or else you'll not be able to get sugar figurines out of the mould.)
• Place the prepared moulds vertically on a plate and pour the frothy sugar syrup into the moulds as shown in picture. You can clean the excess spilled sugar syrup using knife/spoon.
• After 5 minutes you can remove the moulds and you'll get these snow white sugar figurines ready.
• Serve these sugar figurines to your family and friends on Makar Sankranti day along with Ellu Bella / Til-Gur.

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Notes

• You can add any edible colour to the sugar syrup after adding lemon juice. I had added saffron soaked in 1 teaspoon milk to get that light orange colour for one batch.
• Filtering 3 times helps you to remove the dirt from sugar.
• Adding curds and lemon juice helps you to get smooth figurines.
• Be careful enough to check the consistency of sugar syrup, it should be thick but still you should be able to pour it into moulds. If it is runny it flows out of the moulds .To check the consistency  ,you can just put a drop of sugar syrup on a plate and scratch it using a spoon if it solidifies quickly then syrup is ready to move into the moulds.
• If sugar syrup is more or still remaining keep it on a low flame sprinkle some water and again pour it into the moulds for next batch.
• If you increase the milk by another 1 tablespoon you'll get melt in mouth sugar figurines. But it gets melted very easily if there is a hot weather.

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Step by Step directions on making of Sakkare Acchu:

Soak 1 cup sugar in water just enough to immerse (not more than ½ cup). Keep it aside for 30 minutes to 1 hour till sugar dissolve completely. Stir it once in a while to make the process faster.

Whilst, Soak wooden figurine moulds in water for 10-15 minutes, wipe it with a clean dry cloth and close the moulds .Tighten it using a rubber band and keep it ready for final step.

Once sugar is dissolved, take a thick bottom pan and heat the sugar syrup.

When it starts to boil add a part of milk (divide milk into 3 parts) once it starts to froth, filter the sugar syrup with the help of a muslin cloth. Clean the muslin cloth (after each filtration) and keep it ready for the next step.

Add back the filtered sugar syrup into the same thick bottom pan and continue to boil. Again repeat the above process of adding milk and then filter. After doing filtering process for 2 times, now again repeat the process of adding milk, followed by curds once it curdles again filter it.

Once you complete 3 times filtering of sugar syrup finally add lemon juice to it.

Take a another thick bottom pan (if using the same pan ,clean it with water so that you don't have any residue of sugar syrup.) ,finally add the filtered sugar syrup and allow it to boil ,keep it on a low heat and keep stirring once in between.

After a while sugar syrup starts to froth keep stirring . It finally reaches to a consistency where it becomes very frothy and looks cloudy.

At this point it becomes bit difficult/heavy to stir as it would have become little thick but still has pouring consistency.

At this stage all you can see is just the cloudy froth and it should not at all be runny (This is a very important step, you should remove the syrup in proper consistency or else you'll not be able to get sugar figurines out of the mould.)

Place the prepared moulds vertically on a plate and pour the frothy sugar syrup into the moulds as shown in picture. You can clean the excess spilled sugar syrup using knife/spoon.

After 5 minutes you can remove the moulds and you'll get these snow white sugar figurines ready.