TIL ER NARU

There was a huge feeling of satisfaction doing them yesterday. I was very poor with this particular ladoo with roasted white sesame seeds, jaggery, cardamom powder and a bit of sugar. Yes, it requires exactly those few ingredients, the real trick is the ratio of the jaggery & roasted white sesame, the right consistency of the cooked jaggery. Each time I was trying, I was failing at this point. Either I was adding too much of water to the jaggery or overcooking the mixture which turned crumbly on cooling. Yesterday too I was heading towards a similar fate but I was desperate to get the homemade sweet right. At one point, I felt miserable; won't I be ever able to get that sticky mixture so easy to form balls with? I thought.

Just before going to depression; all of a sudden I remember, I saw the family further beating the roasted white sesame in "hamandista", a very heavy iron mortar & pestle(?) This perhaps helps the sesame oil to release and bind together with the cooked jaggery well. Okay, I do not have a proper mortar & pestle and the useful memory did not strike in time; in the last lap before losing hope for one more time I pulsed the mixture for few minutes in the mixer and we got the right amount of sticky consistency first in my life. Thereafter, turning them onto homely Bengali, vegan, gluten free sweet meat with roasted white sesame seeds & jaggery TIL ER NARU was a cake walk.

I think the family has to do something here. I have noticed the very expert homemakers in my family are not so good with this particular homely sweet meat. The best were done in other homes. Then too, now too I think they may have expertise in homely, Bengali cooking, but making of this sweet & the setting of plain yogurt had not been so great in their hands. I remember the maternal grandmother's yogurt seemed more like butter milk; well I did not know what buttermilk is at that age; only have it in the recent years & enjoy too. Our mother sets better yogurt, its a regular at home. Shop bought yogurt in Kolkata or Bengal is not contributory towards good health; it is bought as a dessert which I consider the ultimate in dessert porn.

Its raining again, I do not like continuous rain, it causes more of depression in me. More because the wind and rain tend to damage my little of greens.

I believe sunshine gets us bountiful of happiness. We are getting it in the afternoon time for a small period. I am feeling more awkward today because the senior had to leave for office at 7am, I woke up at 7:18 am. I saw a coffee cup in the kitchen sink and his astray and knew he made his own tea or coffee and left in silence. Making his own tea or coffee is not a problem but I want to say a "tata" to him every day, as did to the father until the day before marriage. He was supposed to work from home this week but there was a change of plan. Something is special there and he is not carrying food either. Actually, I wake up around 3:30am, then go for a sleep again; today it was deep and I was in bed till late. He could have called me. I keep praying to my God to get some normalcy to my men; yesterday it was with something between moong dal halwa & payasam and pears; it was the occasion of Rath Yatra.

The vegan, gluten free Bengali sweet meat with roasted white sesame, jaggery TIL ER NARU could not be offered to God as it was cooked in regular utensils I use for cooking fish, meat, eggs for us. I am not a liberal soul as such, may be God is extraterrestrial to me?

INGREDIENTS :

WHITE SESAME SEED : 100-150GM
JAGGERY : 50GM
SUGAR : 2 TSP
CARDAMOM POWDER : 1/2 TSP
GHEE OR OIL : 3-4 DROP TO GREASE THE PALMS

PROCEDURE :

Here is how white sesame seed looks like.

Heat  a pan on gas top. Add the white sesame seeds and keep stirring to roast them. We will keep the heat at low and this exercise may take some 7-8 minutes.

We will transfer the roasted white sesame seed to a plate. 

We will add the jaggery and 2tbsp water to the pan and set the heat at minimal. Adding more water may spoil the game. We can sprinkle little if required. Breaking the jaggery chunks further in a mortar & pestle is good. 

When the jaggery chunks melt completely and get stickier, we will add the cardamom powder and sugar and keep stirring for a minute or two.

We will  add the roasted white sesame seeds now and stir to mix. We will take down; further cooking may turn it crumbly when cool making it difficult to form balls. I have learnt it from errors made.

Store it on a plate to cool. We have to shape balls while it's still warm. Fearing burns, I was perhaps a bit late and was facing problem after doing 2-3 of them.

Before going to depression with another round of failure; I used the mixer to pulse them for 1-2 minutes. Perhaps it helped release some sesame oil which got me a sticky consistency just perfect for round, shapely sesame balls. Grease your palms with ghee or oil before shaping.

Cristine gave the final finish, a smoother look.

They taste the best when eaten fresh but I have to refrigerate, my moody men eat when they wish to.