Jaggery is a natural sweetener made from sugarcane. It is known for its caramel flavour and multiple health benefits. Here are some South Indian jaggery dishes you must try at home.
Ela Ada
It is made with rice flour dough, which is filled with a mixture of jaggery and grated coconut, then wrapped in authentic banana leaves and steamed.
Sakkarai Pongal
Cook rice with jaggery, cardamon, cashews, golden raisins, and ghee.
Obbattu
Prepare a soft dough with wheat flour, turmeric, salt, water and oil. For filling, pressure cook soaked chana dal along with salt and water. Strain the excess water, mash the dal, and add jaggery. Cook dal for some time. Add cardamom powder and nutmeg powder. Now, take a small ball of dough, add the filling, and roll it out. Cook it on tawa with ghee.
Bellam Garelu
These jaggery-flavoured vadas are made with urad dal batter and jaggery. The batter is deep-fried until golden and crispy.
Ariselu
It is made with rice flour, jaggery, and ghee. It is assembled by preparing dough from rice flour and molten jaggery, flattened in small portions like making bread like poori or chapati, and then fried in ghee.