Doce De Grao / Goan Chonya Doce
I am a sucker for traditional Indian sweet dishes and don't mind even if they involve tedious / laborious work. And so my initial plan for the marathon was trying the regional sweet dishes. For the Goan post, I was looking for a dodol recipe but instead landed at this recipe which captivated my attention instantly. Chonya doce is a part of Goan Christmas platter and very addictive as the original recipe mentions. This recipe gives a slightly firm but melt in mouth kind texture. It is firm enough to hold the shape but not firm as a Mysore pak. I loved it but my kids said they prefer a Mysore pak over it. It is maybe because of the soft texture, I guess. Also it cannot be left at room temperature if you are planning to store it longer. Refrigerate it once chonya doce comes to room temperature.
It is better to use a deep nonstick pan and a ladle / spatula with a long handle to avoid the time and strain of stirring continuously and also to avoid the mixture spluttering onto your hands. Besides choose a time when you are cooking something else in the kitchen and this way, you don't feel that you got stuck cooking this dish. I went with a non stick pan and chose to cook at low flame. In this way, I just had to stir once in a while. It took an hour but I hardly noticed it since I was preparing lunch and wasn't repeatedly stirring this. If you cook on medium flame, the mixture splutters a lot and besides, if you are not using a nonstick pan, there is the scare of getting the mixture burnt.
Ingredients:
1 cup chana dal
1.5 cup sugar
1.5 cup shredded fresh coconut
A pinch of salt
1/2 tsp cardamom powder
1 tbsp ghee (I didn't use any.)
Method:
* Wash and soak chana dal in enough water for about 3 hours. Pressure cook adding just enough water until soft. Let it cook slightly.
* Grind chana dal and coconut together to a fine paste adding a little water if needed.
* Add the ground paste, sugar and salt to the nonstick pan or a thick bottomed pan.
* Cook on medium heat. The sugar melts and the mixture becomes loose at this point.
* If you are using a nonstick pan, you can just check once in a while to give the mixture a stir. Otherwise you have to keep on stirring so the mixture doesn't get burnt.
* Keep on cooking until the mixture comes together and starts to leave the sides of the pan.
* Add the cardamom powder and mix well. Transfer the mixture to a greased kitchen counter top or a wooden board. Using a rolling pin, smoothen and shape the mixture into a slab of about 1 cm thickness. I think I didn't smooth the mixture as I need to since some of the pieces showed some cracks though they were not crumbly.
* When warm enough to handle, cut the slab into desired shape. Arrange them on a tray with enough space in them.
* Cool them completely before serving. Refrigerate or freeze the left overs.
