Jaggery Recipes: Easy Indian Sweets, Drinks and Everyday Dishes

Most gur recipes start the same way: the sweetener goes in melted or finely mixed, never as a lump. In hot drinks, powder or grated gur dissolves into the warm liquid; in sweets it is simmered into syrup, and the laddu and modak below stop at a light stage rather than boiling it hard. The 2022 Sugar Tech review records powder, granule and liquid forms manufactured as replacements for refined white sugar in bakes, chocolates, confectionery and drinks; these recipes make the same swap at home.

Powder measures by the spoon and dissolves quickly; a block or cubes suit melting into syrup. Both are one food in IFCT 2017's tables, and the difference in the kitchen is convenience, laid out on what is jaggery powder. Whatever the form, gur counts as an added sugar in the guidelines, so these dishes belong inside the day's sugar allowance, not outside it. What stands in for gur, and what gur stands in for, is on jaggery substitute.

Jaggery tea

Two cups in about 15 minutes, sweetened with gur instead of sugar: 2 teaspoons (10 g) of jaggery powder a cup, stirred into the pot once the flame is off, 35 kcal a cup.

Full method: jaggery tea.

Panakam

Four glasses in 15 minutes and no heat at all: 100 g of gur dissolved in four cups of water with ginger, pepper and lemon, 88 kcal a glass.

Full method: panakam.

Jaggery water

Two glasses in about 15 minutes: 2 tablespoons of gur stirred into warm water, the plain everyday glass at 53 kcal.

Full method: jaggery water.

Jaggery khichdi

Rice, moong dal and gur simmered into a sweet khichdi: four bowls in 37 minutes, most of it hands-off, 375 kcal and 6.7 g of protein a bowl. Kept chilled, the pot is good for the next two days.

Full method: jaggery khichdi.

Jaggery laddu

Roasted atta and melted ghee bound with a one-thread gur syrup, rolled into twelve laddus at 208 kcal each. About 50 minutes start to finish, and the laddus keep for about two weeks in an airtight tin.

Full method: jaggery laddu.

Ukadiche modak

Twelve steamed modaks in about an hour, most of it hands-off, from rice flour dough and a gur and coconut filling; they steam for 10 to 12 minutes. About 67 kcal each, counted from the jaggery and ghee only, with the rice flour and coconut not counted in it, and they keep for two days chilled.

Full method: ukadiche modak.

Poha with milk and jaggery

Two bowls in about 15 minutes: thick poha simmered in milk to a warm pudding or soaked cold, sweetened with gur, 324 kcal a bowl counting the poha, gur and ghee, with the milk on top of that.

Full method: poha with milk and jaggery.

Amla murabba with jaggery

Twenty pieces from 500 g of amla and 400 g of gur: boil the amla until just soft, cook it in a gur syrup, then soak overnight. About 55 minutes of hands-on work, 71 kcal a piece with its share of syrup, the amla itself not counted in that figure, and keep the jar in the fridge.

Full method: amla murabba with jaggery.

Gur roti

Soft flatbreads with gur kneaded into the dough: eight rotis in about 42 minutes, 204 kcal, 3.4 g of protein and 3.4 g of fibre each. In the fridge they stay good for two days.

Full method: gur roti.

Thekua

Two dozen crisp wheat biscuits from atta, gur, ghee, fennel and cardamom: about 67 minutes start to finish, 88 kcal each, and they keep for weeks in an airtight tin.

Full method: thekua.

Three habits make these jaggery sweets and snacks more forgiving. Melt gur low and add it where the recipe says: folded through the khichdi after pressure cooking, stirred into milk off the boil, because gur on high heat catches and a hot pot clumps it. Judge syrup by test rather than minutes, the thread between the fingers that the laddu recipe names. And keep what you cook the way each recipe states: cooked khichdi, modak and roti stay good for up to two days in the fridge, while the dry laddu keeps about two weeks and thekua for weeks in an airtight tin.

For a first-time cook, the drinks are the easy start: each one is a dissolve, a stir and a glass. For swapping gur into a recipe of your own, jaggery substitute covers what stands in for it; for the palm kinds, palm jaggery explains what changes. Storage for every form is on how to store jaggery, and the background on the sweetener itself is on the jaggery hub.

How to make amla murabba with jaggery?

Boil the amla until just soft, simmer it in a jaggery syrup, and leave it to soak overnight. The full recipe uses 500 g of amla to 400 g of gur and makes about twenty pieces, and the jar is kept in the fridge: amla murabba with jaggery.

Is jaggery good for health?

As a small swap for white sugar, yes; as an addition, no. The guidelines count jaggery among added sugars, so the dishes in this roundup belong inside the day's sugar allowance. What jaggery carries that white sugar does not is a mineral trace, not a free pass.

How is jaggery made?

By boiling juice down and setting it. FSSAI's standard is one line: gur is made by boiling or processing juice pressed out of sugarcane, or extracted from the palmyra, date or coconut palm. The Sugar Tech review follows cane juice through clarification and boiling to a striking point of 118 to 120 °C for solid gur, then cooling and moulding. The steps in order are on how jaggery is made.

What is jaggery?

Jaggery is gur: juice boiled down and set, and FSSAI defines it as the food made by boiling or processing the juice of the sugarcane, palmyra, date or coconut palm. The Hindi name is gud, and the nutrition figures this site quotes, 354 kcal and 84.87 g of carbohydrates per 100 g, belong to the cane kind.