Winter Special: Try These 3 Instant Recipes With Gur At Home!

Is the cold weather getting in the middle of your food dreams? Well, we are here with a solution for you!

Load up your tummy with the goodness of Jaggery. And not just with a small chunk of gur (jaggery) after dinner, it is the time to indulge in some homemade desserts or savouries made using gur.

Jaggery is quite a popular natural sweetener and is widely used in Indian cuisine. It is essentially a variant of unrefined sugar made from raw, concentrated sugarcane juice that is boiled until it thickens. Then, it is allowed to cool down and solidify.

Not only does it taste delicious but it is also healthy and better than white sugar. Gur cleanses our body, assists digestion, and provides decent amounts of minerals. It is a natural blood purifier.

This is the perfect season to start binging on jaggery or gur as it helps in inducing heat in the body which further helps in fighting the common cold and flu.

So, if you are wondering how can we include this warming ingredient in your diet, our quick and easy recipes would be perfect for the days when you are in no mood for elaborate cooking. What are you waiting for, then? Read on.

Jaggery Rice (Gur Wale Chawal)

Jaggery Rice (Gur Wale Chawal) is a traditional Punjabi sweet rice made with jaggery and ghee as the main ingredients.

Jaggery, as we all know now, is known to provide warmth and good health during cold winters. And nuts are also added to enhance the taste of rice and are filled with impressive benefits.

This recipe is gluten-free which is a plus point. You can eat it together with a gravy vegetable dish or alone by itself.

If you are thinking that this recipe will take hours to cook, then we are here to break this notion of yours! The secret of making this quick recipe is using a pressure cooker and it will yield a perfect result in lesser time.

Ingredients:

• 400 grams of basmati rice
• 4 cups of water
• 5 tablespoons of ghee
• 10-12 green cardamom pods
• 1 medium bay leaf
• 370 grams of gur (jaggery) (powder or broken up in pieces)
• Dry Fruits such as almond flakes, cashews, or raisins (as per your choice)

Directions:

• To prepare this delicious dish, first, put the rice in a medium-sized bowl and fill it with water.
• Then, while using your hand to swirl the rice around gently, wash the rice 4-5 times. Soak the rice for about 10-15 minutes.
• Drain the excess water and place the rice in a cooker with 1 and 3/4 cups of water.
• While the rice is cooking, you can start the jaggery melting process.
• For that, heat a pan over medium flame and add ghee, cardamom pods, and bay leaf.
• When the ghee starts to melt, add 1/3 cup of water and the gur.
• Let it cook while stirring to melt all the chunks of the jaggery. When you see that there is less watery texture, then remove it from the stove and set it aside.
• When the rice is about 3/4th cooked and heavy steam starts escaping from the rice cooker or after 2 whistles of the pressure cooker, open the lid and add the jaggery mixture, that we made earlier, to the rice cooker.
• Stir carefully and put the lid on again, letting the rice cook completely.
• After the rice has cooked, let them rest for 10 minutes before serving.
• Garnish with almonds and nuts of your choice and enjoy!

Don't miss:Different Types Of Jaggery And Their Amazing Health Benefits

Gur-Imli Ki Chutney

Image Courtesy:nari.punjabkesari.in

Now, here is a recipe for all you chaat lovers! Gur-Imli ki Chutney is a blend of exotic and fragrant spices cooked with jaggery and tamarind and jaggery. No doubt, it is among the most popular chutney in India.

This chutney has everything that will tantalize your taste buds - it is sweet, sour, and spicy and goes well with aloo tikki, dahi vada, paani puri, samosa, kachori, and all fried pakoda, and many more. The list is endless!

It is not just about its taste. Imli (Tamarind) can become a digestive aid, help in managing your diabetes, and can boost your immune system. Whereas, Gur (Jaggery), is known to control blood pressure and purify the blood. The addition of Saunth (Dry Ginger Powder) also adds to its flavour and is also very good for digestion.

The USP of this chutney is that store this in an air-tight container in the refrigerator and it will last for about 5 to 6 months!

So, here is an easy recipe by our MasterChef Pankaj Bhadouria. Follow this recipe and make the sweet and tangy Gud-Imli ki Chutney just like the Chat wala does!

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon cooking oil
• 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon nigella seeds (Kalonji)
• 1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
• 1 cup of tamarind pulp
• 2 cups of crushed jaggery
• 1/2 teaspoon jeera powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dry ginger powder
• 2 tablespoon raisins
• 1/2 teaspoon black salt
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

• First, crush the gud (jaggery) and keep it aside. You can also grate it as per your convenience.
• Then, take a kadhai and add 1 teaspoon of oil to it.
• Once the oil starts to heat, add fennel seeds, nigella seeds, chilli powder. Adding chilli powder at this stage will give the chutney a good colour.
• After that, add a cup of tamarind pulp to the kadhai.
• Add 2 cups of crushed jaggery to the mix and stir it well.
• Then, add jeera powder and dry ginger powder. Let the dish cook for a few minutes.
• Next, add raisins to the kadhai. Mix it well.
• When you can see a bit of a glaze in the chutney, then, add black salt and salt.
• As the chutney becomes thicker, take it off the flame. Give it a taste and add salt if required as per your taste.
• Let it cool down before serving.
• Serve the Gur-Imli Ki Chutney with your chaats, kachoris, and samosas, and enjoy!

Don't miss:Make Jaggery Chikki At Home, Consume For These Health Benefits

Gur Ka Halwa

Image Courtesy: Best Recipes

The dish that holds a lot of importance and is the heart of the menu on various Punjabi festivals - Gur Ka Halwa. If you have a sweet tooth, you are surely going to love this recipe!

This dessert can be made in just a few minutes to satiate all your sweet cravings! Jaggery gives the recipe a super-healthy twist while saffron is used to provide it a rich aroma, and dry fruits to make it tasty and nourishing.

This dish is loved by everyone, especially in the winter season, as the ingredients - jaggery, nuts, and ghee, lend warmth to the body. Take a look at how you can make this amazing recipe very easily at home.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of semolina (sooji)
• 1/2 cup of powdered jaggery
• 2 and 1/2 tablespoon ghee
• 2 teaspoon almonds
• 2 teaspoon raisins
• 2 teaspoon cashews
• 2 cups of water
• 1/4 cup milk
• 5 strands of saffron

Directions:

• First, take a pan, keep it on medium heat and add ghee.
• Once the ghee starts melting, add semolina (sooji) and cook it till it gets brown. Remember, sooji has a high tendency to burn so keep the flame low while cooking it.
• Simultaneously, take another pan and add water to it. Start boiling the water on a medium flame.
• Once the water comes to a boil, add jaggery (preferably, in a powdered form) and let it dissolve.
• Keep it to low flame only and allow the mixture to thicken.
• Next, add the jaggery syrup to the sooji.
• Cook the dish on a low flame for 2-3 minutes. Then, add milk including the strands of saffron. This mixture would give a nice colour to our halwa.
• Once the final product begins to thicken, add dry fruits as per your choice.
• Cook the halwa for further 2 minutes.
• Garnish with almonds flakes and nuts of your choice and serve hot!