A soft, velvety textured sweet that is popular in Goa, Kerala, Sri Lanka, and other parts of the world. Every Christmas, my mother would make a big batch of dodol and the scariest part was when it would start to bubble and splutter. In my late teens, I was in charge of making and stirring the dodol. Now with years of experience, I have to give credit for my expertise to my late mother who always encouraged me and had faith in my culinary skills since I was 13 years old. What she taught me is that just getting the colour black does not constitute for a good dodol. It has to be soft and quiver like raw liver. The secret lies in adding less of rice flour and more of coconut milk. Dodol can be made by soaking rice and grinding to a paste but as I learned from the best, my mother, I use rice flour. Unlike doce and perada, stirring dodol is easy on the hands as the mixture is soft like milk toffee and milk cream. I use a long thick wooden spoon when making doce and perada while I switch to a thinner, lighter spoon when making the latter three sweets.
Dodol is made with rice flour, coconut milk, Goa palm jaggery (which gives it the rich dark colour), cardamom powder, cashewnuts and ghee. Cooked and stirred continuously for a couple of hours till it leaves the sides of the pan and comes in the centre. The mixture is then transferred onto a greased pan or dish. Cooled and then cut into desired shapes; diamonds or squares. This sweet should be stored properly as it tends to mold quickly due to presence of coconut or should be refrigerated where it loses its soft texture. It is ideal to prepare dodol a day before Christmas. In case you are living in Canada and do not have the Goa palm jaggery, try using the dark jaggery available at the Sri Lankan stores. Palm jaggery is highly nutritious, filled with minerals such as calcium and iron.
Read about this popular sweet prepared around the world and the different types of dodol, its interesting. Here is the link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodol
Dodol is made with rice flour, coconut milk, Goa palm jaggery (which gives it the rich dark colour), cardamom powder, cashewnuts and ghee. Cooked and stirred continuously for a couple of hours till it leaves the sides of the pan and comes in the centre. The mixture is then transferred onto a greased pan or dish. Cooled and then cut into desired shapes; diamonds or squares. This sweet should be stored properly as it tends to mold quickly due to presence of coconut or should be refrigerated where it loses its soft texture. It is ideal to prepare dodol a day before Christmas. In case you are living in Canada and do not have the Goa palm jaggery, try using the dark jaggery available at the Sri Lankan stores. Palm jaggery is highly nutritious, filled with minerals such as calcium and iron.
Read about this popular sweet prepared around the world and the different types of dodol, its interesting. Here is the link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodol
Dodol
(Yields 8" x 10")
Ingredients:
1/2 cup rice flour
8 cups fresh coconut milk (thick and thin juice from 2 large coconuts) or 4 cans coconut milk (400 ml each)
1/4 teaspoon cardamom powder
208 gms Goa palm jaggery (3 pyramids)
1/2 cup cashewnuts (chopped)
2 tablespoons ghee + extra for greasing
a pinch of salt
Method:
Grease a flat baking pan or dish and the outer side of two idli moulds which are used to smoothen the top of the dodol.
Grind the coconut coarsely and extract 4 cups of thick milk. Add 4 cups hot water and grind coconut again, extract 4 cups thin milk. (You should have 8 cups of milk in total.) Strain milk using a double cheesecloth keeping thick and thin milk in separate bowls.
Melt the jaggery with 1/2 cup water in a saucepan on medium heat. Stir occasionally till completely melted. Strain using a cheesecloth in a deep wide thick-bottomed pan. (The jaggery has impurities so always melt and strain.)
Sift the rice flour and mix it thoroughly with the thin coconut milk. Add to the jaggery along with a pinch of salt and place pan on medium heat. Stir continuously and do not step away.
When mixture thickens, add thick coconut milk and continue stirring. At regular intervals, scrape down mixture stuck to the sides of the pan and onto the wooden spoon.
Once the mixture starts to leave the sides of the pan and comes to the centre, add cardamom powder, cashewnuts and ghee. Continue stirring even though the mixture has left the sides till you see no bubbles indicating that all the moisture has evaporated and the dodol ready to be taken off the fire. At this stage, the dodol will have a glossy sheen. (The dodol took exactly 1 hr 50 minutes on the fire.)
Pour into a greased flat pan or dish, smoothen top with the greased idli moulds. Allow to cool.
Store in a cool place for a couple of days at room temperature and then refrigerate.
(When making dodol using coconut milk from the can, first mix in a little coconut milk with the rice flour, combine well then slowly stir in the rest of the milk. Add to the jaggery in the pan. Continue as indicated above.)
Note:
(Yields 8" x 10")
Ingredients:
1/2 cup rice flour
8 cups fresh coconut milk (thick and thin juice from 2 large coconuts) or 4 cans coconut milk (400 ml each)
1/4 teaspoon cardamom powder
208 gms Goa palm jaggery (3 pyramids)
1/2 cup cashewnuts (chopped)
2 tablespoons ghee + extra for greasing
a pinch of salt
Method:
Grease a flat baking pan or dish and the outer side of two idli moulds which are used to smoothen the top of the dodol.
Grind the coconut coarsely and extract 4 cups of thick milk. Add 4 cups hot water and grind coconut again, extract 4 cups thin milk. (You should have 8 cups of milk in total.) Strain milk using a double cheesecloth keeping thick and thin milk in separate bowls.
Melt the jaggery with 1/2 cup water in a saucepan on medium heat. Stir occasionally till completely melted. Strain using a cheesecloth in a deep wide thick-bottomed pan. (The jaggery has impurities so always melt and strain.)
Sift the rice flour and mix it thoroughly with the thin coconut milk. Add to the jaggery along with a pinch of salt and place pan on medium heat. Stir continuously and do not step away.
When mixture thickens, add thick coconut milk and continue stirring. At regular intervals, scrape down mixture stuck to the sides of the pan and onto the wooden spoon.
Once the mixture starts to leave the sides of the pan and comes to the centre, add cardamom powder, cashewnuts and ghee. Continue stirring even though the mixture has left the sides till you see no bubbles indicating that all the moisture has evaporated and the dodol ready to be taken off the fire. At this stage, the dodol will have a glossy sheen. (The dodol took exactly 1 hr 50 minutes on the fire.)
Pour into a greased flat pan or dish, smoothen top with the greased idli moulds. Allow to cool.
Store in a cool place for a couple of days at room temperature and then refrigerate.
(When making dodol using coconut milk from the can, first mix in a little coconut milk with the rice flour, combine well then slowly stir in the rest of the milk. Add to the jaggery in the pan. Continue as indicated above.)
Note:
- At the start, the mixture will be light in colour but will darken as it thickens.
- Soft in texture and absolutely mind blowing in taste.