174) CHOORNE

CHOORNE

A SPECIAL SWEET COCONUT JAGGERY FILLING

Ingredients:

     1)    Fresh big coconut – 1

     2)    Jaggery (unrefined cane sugar) – 100 gm.

     3)    Sugar – 1 tablespoon

     4)    Cardamom pods – 4 Nos.

     5)    Ghee (clarified butter) – 1 tablespoon

To Cook:

          Set a small vessel or pan on low heat. Tip in the jaggery and the sugar. Pour in 25 ml. of water. Stir till the jaggery is fully melted. Sieve and set aside. Shell the cardamom seeds and crush them to powder. Set aside. Grate the coconut.

          Set a medium sized wok on the stove. Pour in the melted jaggery. As soon as it comes to a boil, turn down the heat and let it thicken a bit. Stir frequently to avoid burning at the base. After 5 minutes, tip in the grated coconut and the cardamom powder. Turn up the heat and stir continuously till all the water has evaporated.

          Now tip in the ghee. Stir well and switch off the heat. Your choorne is ready. You can use choorne as a beautiful filling for ultra-delicious modak and patholi. You can also have choorne with soyyea polo.

          Another nice way to enjoy choorne is to mix it with rice flakes and ripe banana slices. Yet another method for curd lovers is to put a generous dollop of choorne together with a fistful of rice flakes in a bowl of fresh curd. Mix up and enjoy!!!

Notes:

     1)    If you have a very sweet tooth, use 250 gm. of jaggery in the recipe.

     2)    In Mangalore (a city on the southwest coast of Karnataka, India), rolled soyyea polos with choorne filling are available in certain hotels and are called paan polo.

     3)    Traditional choorne contains only coconut, jaggery and cardamom. In my recipe, I have incorporated sugar and ghee to obtain the best flavor and taste.