Gur across India, one kitchen at a time
18 dishes in which jaggery is the point, from the thekua of Chhath to the puran poli of Gudi Padwa and the pongal of mid-January. Each is measured in cups and katoris, written out the way it is made at home, and built around the one thing gur does differently from sugar in that dish.
Every day
The cup of chai, the glass of milk, the summer sharbat and a first bake.
- Gur ki chai, made so the milk never splits, 10 min, 2 regular cups — Jaggery tea is easy once you know the one rule: the gur goes in off the heat. Two cups, eight minutes, from our own kitchen.
- Haldi doodh with gur, the bedtime glass, 10 min, 2 glasses — Milk simmered with turmeric, pepper and cardamom, sweetened with jaggery once it is off the heat. Ten minutes, two glasses, no split milk.
- Nimbu gur ka sharbat, the village summer drink, 5 min, 3 glasses — Jaggery, lemon, black salt and roasted cumin in cold water. The shikanji of the gur belt, made in five minutes without lighting the stove.
- Jaggery and whole wheat muffins, a first bake with gur, 35 min, 8 muffins — Eggless muffins made with atta, curd and jaggery powder, in one bowl. Dark, soft and smelling of caramel, and the easiest way to learn how gur bakes.
North India
Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Delhi: winter halwa, gur ke chawal, gulgule and til laddoo.
- Til gur ke laddoo for Lohri and Makar Sankranti, 30 min, About 15 to 18 laddoo — Sesame and jaggery, rolled warm. The only thing that can go wrong is boiling the gur too hard, and this recipe tells you exactly when to stop.
- Gajar ka halwa with jaggery, cooked the slow way, 1 hr 20 min, 6 servings — Red winter carrots cooked down in milk, fried in ghee and sweetened with gur at the very end. A deeper colour, a caramel edge and no curdling.
- Gur ke chawal, the sweet jaggery rice of a Punjabi winter, 1 hr 15 min, 4 servings — Basmati cooked first, then folded into a quick jaggery syrup with ghee, saunf and cloves. Long, separate, amber grains, and the order that keeps them soft.
- Gur ki roti, the meethi roti from a village kitchen, 45 min, 6 rotis — Jaggery kneaded straight into the atta, cooked on a tawa with ghee. Winter breakfast in our house, and the easiest thing on this page.
- Gulgule, the gur and atta fritters of a rainy afternoon, 55 min, About 15 gulgule — A thick batter of atta, gur and saunf, dropped into oil a spoonful at a time. Soft inside, dark outside, and made in every north Indian home that owns a kadhai.
- Aate ka halwa with gur, in twenty minutes, 25 min, 3 to 4 servings — Whole wheat flour roasted in ghee until it smells of biscuits, then cooked with hot jaggery water. Four ingredients and one pan.
East India
Bihar and Purvanchal: the thekua and the gur ki kheer that Chhath is built around.
- Thekua, the Chhath prasad made with atta and gur, 1 hr 15 min, About 18 to 20 thekua — The wheat-and-jaggery biscuit that Chhath is built around. A stiff dough, a low flame and enough patience to fry them properly.
- Gur ki kheer, the rice kheer sweetened with jaggery, 1 hr 25 min, 4 to 5 bowls — Rice cooked slowly in milk and sweetened with gur once the pan is off the fire. The kheer of Chhath Kharna, and the one rule that stops the milk from splitting.
West India
Maharashtra and Gujarat: puran poli, ukadiche modak, chikki and sukhdi.
- Peanut chikki with jaggery, the gud patti that snaps, 50 min, About 20 pieces — Roasted peanuts set in jaggery cooked to the hard-crack stage. Two ingredients, fifteen minutes at the stove and one test that tells you when to stop.
- Puran poli, the Maharashtrian flatbread filled with chana dal and gul, 2 hr 30 min, 10 puran poli — A soft, thin flatbread wrapped around a smooth filling of chana dal and jaggery. The festive bread of Maharashtra, written out with the two rules the puran depends on.
- Ukadiche modak, steamed rice dumplings with coconut and jaggery, 1 hr 20 min, 11 modak — A thin shell of steamed rice dough around fresh coconut cooked with jaggery. The modak of Ganesh Chaturthi, with the filling taken off the heat at the right moment.
- Sukhdi, the three-ingredient Gujarati gol papdi, 42 min, About 16 pieces — Atta roasted in ghee, jaggery stirred in off the heat, pressed into a plate and cut. Three ingredients, one pan, and a lesson in how gur behaves.
South India
Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka: sakkarai pongal and panakam.
- Sakkarai pongal made with nattu sakkarai, 50 min, 4 servings — Rice, moong dal, ghee and jaggery, cooked down until a spoon stands in it. The Pongal festival sweet, written out step by step.
- Panakam, the jaggery and dry ginger drink of Rama Navami, 5 min, 2 tumblers — Jaggery dissolved in water with dry ginger, cardamom and a little pepper. The offering of Rama Navami in the south, and five minutes of work.