Jazzy Jaggery| Date Molasses Cake

This was the first bribe of the day. I have successfully smuggled coconut crepe (pura pitha) from the kitchen to storage cum bedroom room (Aatu ghara). Where on a old wooden bed lay my grandfather reading some books. The room was extremely tiny and clad in teakwood. The ceiling and the floor were lined with wooden panels. It was like a cellar with innumerable hidden storage spaces. I spent my numerous childhood skipping around the courtyard and this room.

But coming back to smuggling expedition which had gone exposed. I stood there like a innocent child while grandma spewed fire on my grandpa.Little did I understand the meaning of diabetic and what it is to have a sugar free diet in my kindergarten days. That made me a scape goat for my grandpa’s sins. All these years I have loved my grandpa though he left me quite early in life but owing to my photographic memory I still play the frames of my childhood in my mind.

Almost all the sweet meats were prepared with jaggery or sugar. Jaggery was a important part of our everyday household cooking. My grandpa and I had a sweet tooth and we took immense pride in our love for darling sweet.

The sugarcane jaggery (akkhu rasa guda) was the lowest in my hall of fame. Amorphous in shape and sometimes hard to bite I generally didn’t prefer it for nibbling. My mother used it widely for cooking delicacies during the festive season. Then it got totally transformed and resulted in some of the most delicious festive sweets.

The liquid date palm jaggery (Jhola gur) came next and had been my saviour from the scale for so many years. I would desperately wait for winters to arrive and pray the jaggery connoisseurs to stock these liquid amber bottles. Any hapless meal was recused by the drip of this luscious liquid, lacing my plate. I still remember taking the spoon and dipping it in the liquid and making spirals on my steel plate. It was just smoky divine and just the perfect concoction to be relished by any palette as is.

Grandpa went away and there is no one to share my passion for all things sweet. Sweetness of life,sweetness in behaviour and just eating sweets. I miss you jeja!!

Jaggery has jazzed my life for time immemorial. Today I get you a recipe using date molasses or the sporsha morica gur or khejuri gur or patali gud from bangladesh. The Jhola gur ferments soon, so it needs to be stored in the fridge. So it is usually cooked further till it solidifies when cooled, into the patali gur that has a melting fudgy texture and a near chocolaty taste. I just accidentally saw this bottle lying in the corner and I jumped to joy and I had get it home. I have started having spoonful of it every morning and I am so glad my cherub enjoys it too. Recently I was diagnosed anaemic don’t give me looks I know I eat everything but still 🙁 . Jaggery is processed in iron vessels hence its quite rich in iron. The quality available in London is export quality hence chances of adulteration is feeble. I could discover its taste in the first lick. 🙂 I hereby present you the date molasses cake.

Thank you Simi and Simone for sharing the succinct article on white photography.