In our childhood, evening snacks or say breakfast at times meant this kind of food, all homemade with lots of love and care. When I was at school, I used to visit my maternal grand parents place during vacations, paternal place been far off, in Assam. It was an altogether different concept of life, where summer meant picking mangoes from the garden and having them with puffed rice as breakfast or visiting the nearby lychee garden with aunt. I remember, my typical middle-class father hailing from the eastern part of undivided Bengal refused to have Indian breads during summers, he loved having puffed rice or pre washed flattened rice with mango or jackfruit puree.
Daddy, who we lovingly call Papu, even our cousins called him so, had a transferable job. He stayed alone in remote townships of Bengal and visited us fortnightly. On his way back, mom would pack such things like murir moya, chirer moya, chirey bhaja for him, so that he could have them as evening snacks back from office. Isn't that love?.... though not dove kind of....
Me too prepare such things like Murir Moya / Puffed Rice n Jaggery Balls at home, mainly during special prayers at home, as an offering to the God. We need very less ingredients to prepare this Murir Moya / Puffed Rice n Jaggery Ball, the trick is in the stickiness of the jaggery in right consistency. The puffed rice has to be crisp. Its common in every Bengali home. Let us do the murir moya together, a sweet snacker.
INGREDIENTS :
Puffed Rice : 250gm
Jaggery [ankher gur] : 100-150gm
Ginger Extract : 1tsp
Shredded Coconut : 3-4tbsp [to garnish]
METHOD :
Place a wok on the gas top and heat moderately. Break the jaggery cubes into smaller pieces and add to the wok. Add about half cup of water. Let it melt.
Keep stirring the molten jaggery mix continuously, add the ginger extract. After 12-15 minutes, it will reach a sticky consistency. Add the puffed rice now and fold in very well for 3-4 minutes.
Transfer to a plate. Let cool a bit. We need to shape into balls while it is still warm.
Garnish with shredded coconut before serving.
We can store Murir Moya for a week without refrigerating but no garnishing should be there. Coconut spoils very fast.
Enjoy Murir Moya / Puffed Rice n Jaggery Balls as a sweet snacker.