How to prepare Melted and Sieved Jaggery?

How to prepare melted and sieved jaggery?

Jaggery is one of the main ingredients in Indian cuisine. We can make a variety of sweet dishes with jaggery. Most popular dishes are Paayasam (kheer), Laddu, Peanut Chikkis … Jaggery is rich in iron too !!

The jaggery which is available in shops contains lots of impurities and sand. Featured here is how to make melted and sieved jaggery. I’m not very sure about Organic Jaggery.

Ingredients

500 g jaggery

¼ cup water (50 ml or 3 – 4 tablespoon)

A wide non stick pan or any other bowl

A big bowl

A strong iron sieve

A steel storage box / a good quality plastic container to keep jaggery in refrigerator for later use

Method

Heat a wide non stick pan on medium heat. Add jaggery balls / cubes and ¼ cup water. Stir it gently with a thick spatula. After 15 – 18 minutes jaggery melts / fully dissolves / without any jaggery lumps and become a smooth solution. One can observe lots of bubbles appearing on top of the jaggery.

Maintain medium to low heat and stir it slowly and carefully. Place the iron sieve over a big bowl and keep it ready near your workplace / kitchen platform.The Big bowl should hold the iron sieve easily and bottom of the iron sieve should not touch the base of the steel bowl. Please see the photo below.

Pour the hot melted jaggery carefully into the iron sieve. After 5 – 7 minutes we can see impurities on the iron sieve and clear jaggery in big bowl. Remove the iron sieve and pour the melted and sieved jaggery into a steel box when it is at medium heat (If you are using a plastic storage box, please wait until room temperature and later store it  in refrigerator). Keep it aside until normal temperature and later store it in a refrigerator.