Jaggery Benefits

The health benefits of jaggery are many

The jaggery benefits tempt to use jaggery, also known as gur, bella, bellam, vellam, or sarkkara, to prepare sweet dishes.  It may not have the same taste as sugar, yet the jaggery health benefits might make you use this sweetener instead of sugar.  In any case, to prepare sweet cuisines like obbattu / bobbatlu and kajjaya / adhirasam / ariselu you should use jaggery.  The south Indian vegetarian dishes like puliyogare and sambar too have this sweetener as an ingredient.  Get to know the jaggery benefits and make it a key element to cook select dishes.

Brief Overview of Jaggery Health Benefits

• Jaggery is rich in iron.  The amount of iron in every 100 grams of jaggery is about 11 milligrams.  How much iron does sugar contain?  It does not have any at all.
   
• It is easy to digest jaggery.  The same is not true with sugar.  A research study has shown that sugar makes use of potassium and calcium from the body, and needs more heat, for digestion.
   
• Jaggery can be a remedy for ailments like cough, constipation and indigestion.
   
• One of the outstanding health benefits of jaggery is that it may reduce the risk of diabetes. 
   
• Jaggery has reducing sugars like fructose and glucose.
   
• Magnesium and potassium in jaggery are among its elements that help maintain good health.  While the first helps keep the nervous system in good shape, the second fights acids.
   
• In the range of jaggery benefits, one that stands apart is its work as a blood purifier.
   
• Jaggery, if consumed by workers who work in dusty or smoky environments, may work as a protective agent.

Where to buy Jaggery?

It is usually available in stores that sell items like grains and lentils.  In such stores, it is sold unpacked and you can buy in quantities you need, from a quarter-kilogram to kilograms.  In other bazaars, jaggery is generally sold in packs.

The two of the common shapes of jaggery are cubic and round.  Organic jaggery typically has a solid, syrup or powder form.  Jaggery color ranges from light to dark brown.

The taste of this sweetener varies from one type to another.

How is Jaggery Made?

One of the ways of making jaggery is by boiling sugarcane juice.

Foreign Particles in Jaggery

Because of some manufacturing methods of jaggery, it may contain foreign objects.  These include stones, sand and small twigs.  It is, therefore, necessary to remove any unwanted items in the jaggery before using it as an ingredient to prepare a dish.

How to Remove Foreign Particles from Jaggery?

First, boil jaggery you want to use in water till this sweetener dissolves.  The quantity of the water you have to use depends on the quantity of the jaggery and the amount of syrup you need to make a cuisine.

Next, strain the jaggery syrup slowly.  The big foreign objects, if any, will be left behind in the strainer.  Any sand particles or small stones will settle at the base of the utensil you use for boiling.

Sweet Dishes from Jaggery

Because of the jaggery health benefits, many, today, use this sweetener for sweet preparations. Some of the items you can make using jaggery are pongal, obbattu or bobattlu, kajjaya or athirasam, groundnut chikkis, wheat halwa and kozhukattai or kolukattai.

Here are the links to some of the recipes that uses jaggery:

Obbattu / bobattlu / puran poli
http://www.southindianvegrecipes.com/sweets_recipes/holige_recipe.html

Kayi Holige
http://www.southindianvegrecipes.com/sweets_recipes/kayi_holige.html

Ragi Halbhai
http://www.southindianvegrecipes.com/ragi_recipes/how_to_make_halbhai.html

Kasa Kasa Payasam
http://www.southindianvegrecipes.com/sweets_recipes/kasa_kasa_payasam.html

Sweet Pongal
http://www.southindianvegrecipes.com/rice_recipes/sweet_pongal_recipe.html

Kozhukattai
http://www.southindianvegrecipes.com/steam_cooked_south_indian_veg_recipes/kozhukattai.html


References:

I have used the following sources as references for the Brief Overview of Jaggery Healthy Benefits section of this post:

Jaggery – A Traditional Indian Sweetner, Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge, www.ctara.iitb.ac.in/tdsl/docs/link2.pdf
Sugarcane in Therapeutics, Journal of Herbal Medicine and Toxicology, hmtjournals.com/vol4_1/002.pdf
Enhanced translocation of particles from lungs by jaggery, Environmental Health Perspectives, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1567304/

South Indian Breakfast

South Indian Breakfast Varieties

South Indian breakfast covers a wide-range of dishes.  These range from the traditional idli to dosa to less-conventional sabudana upma to ragi idli. Of all the south Indian vegetarian cuisines, masala dosa is perhaps the most popular.  Here are some of the other dishes in the class of south Indian breakfast: upma, pongal, puliyogare, rava idli, medu vada, puliyogare and kesari bath.

Here is a brief overview of the items of the south Indian breakfast:

Idlis

Idlis, Sambar and Chutney

The idli-sambar or idli-sambar-chutney combination is a delight to eat because of the taste.  What is more idlis are healthy, as they are steam-cooked.

The toor dal, onions, tomato and hing / asafoetida in the sambar for idli recipe makes sambar a quite essential and a mouth-watering side dish to savor idlis.

Today, ragi idli, which is almost a new entry in the south Indian vegetarian recipes roster, is gaining popularity.  Thanks to the superb health benefits ragi / finger millet offer.

Hot idlis can be eaten anytime of the day or night.  The main reason, again, is this food is steam-cooked.

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Links to recipes:

How to make Idli:

http://southindianvegrecipes.com/steam_cooked_south_indian_veg_recipes/how_to_make_idli.html

Sambar for Idli Recipe:

http://southindianvegrecipes.com/sambar_curry_recipes/sambar_recipe_for_idli.html

How to make Coconut Chutney?

http://southindianvegrecipes.com/chutney_recipes/how%20to%20make%20coconut%20chutney.html

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Dosas

Masala Dosa

What is one dish that would be on your mind for south Indian breakfast on a Sunday or holiday? Masala dosa would be a choice, because, typically, everyone like this food.

Plenty of butter / ghee is a key item in the masala dosa recipe that scales the taste to greater heights.

Masala dosa curry, also known as onion-potato curry, as the filling for the dosa is also an item that gives it a great taste.

Plain dosa too has butter as one of its ingredients.  This dosa, however, will not have any filling.  It is relished with chutney and or aloo sabzi / aloo sabji.
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Links to Recipes:

Masala Dosa Recipe:

http://southindianvegrecipes.com/dosa_recipes/masala_dosa_recipe.html

How to make Dosa at Home:

http://southindianvegrecipes.com/dosa_recipes/how_to_make_dosa_at_home.html

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Pongal

Khara Pongal

It is in the genre of traditional and healthy south Indian vegetarian food made from rice.  The two types of pongal are:

1. Khara pongal
2. Sweet pongal.

Khara pongal recipe has moong dal as one of its main items.  This dal adds to the nutritional value of the food.

What about the side dish (es) for pongal? Onion raita or coconut chutney is perfect side dishes for this rice cuisine.

Sweet pongal, a delicious sweet dish, also has moong dal as the chief item and can be made from jaggery or sugar.  Jaggery would be a good choice, because it is healthy and it gives a unique taste to the pongal.

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Links to Recipes:

Khara Pongal Recipe:

http://southindianvegrecipes.com/rice_recipes/khara_pongal_recipe.html

Sweet Pongal Recipe:

http://southindianvegrecipes.com/rice_recipes/sweet_pongal_recipe.html

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Upma

It is another popular south Indian veg food.  Turn the pages of a recipe history book, and you are sure to find upma to be a south Indian breakfast on the same timeline as the idli and dosa.

A variation of the upma recipe uses vegetables, and the dish is known as vegetable upma.

Pour a teaspoon of ghee on the plain or vegetable upma to make it yummier.


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Links to Recipes:

How to make Upma?

http://southindianvegrecipes.com/rava_recipes/how%20to%20make%20upma.html

Vegetable Upma:

http://southindianvegrecipes.com/rava_recipes/vegetable_upma.html

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Rava Idli

Rava Idli

As the name indicates, rava or semolina is the key ingredient of this steam-cooked food.  The peas, carrot gratings and cashews in the rava idli makes it an absolute delight to eat.

The curd / yogurt in the rava idli batter makes the idlis soft.

Pudina chutney and aloo sabzi are two of the side dishes that have excellent fit with rava idli.




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Links to Recipes:

How to make Rava Idli?

southindianvegrecipes.com/rava_recipes/rava_suji_semolina_idli_recipe.html

How to make Pudina Chutney?

southindianvegrecipes.com/chutney_recipes/how_to_make_pudina_chutney.html

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Medu Vada

Medu Vada

 A visit to the south Indian vegetarian restaurant, perhaps, would not be complete without savoring hot medu vada, as a single item or with idli.  Also known as urud vada, because urud dal is a key ingredient of the recipe of this food, medu vada is crispy and super-tasty.

As with idli, sambar and coconut chutney are classic side dishes for medu vada.

If you make medu vada at home, you can tailor the food taste to your needs.

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Links to Recipes:

How to make Medu Vada?

http://southindianvegrecipes.com/snacks_recipes/how_to_make_medu_vada.html

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Puliyogare

Puliyogare

 It is a cuisine made from rice, tamarind paste, groundnuts and other that is in the same cadre of super-delicious rice cuisines.

Relish puliyogare with cucumber raita or coconut chutney, as these two side dishes make this rice dish tastier.










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Links to Recipes:

How to make Puliyogare?

http://southindianvegrecipes.com/rice_recipes/how_to_make_puliyogare.html

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Kesari Bath

Kesari Bath

It is undoubtedly a sweet dish with a fine taste.  Rava / semolina is the main ingredient of the kesari bath recipe.  The cashews and dry grapes in this traditional cuisine add to its richness.

Try to eat kesari bath from a banana / plantain leaf.  Its aroma and the taste of this sweet dish would give you a whole new experience.





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Links to Recipes:

Kesari Bath Recipe:

http://southindianvegrecipes.com/sweets_recipes/kesari_bath_recipe.html

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Which south Indian breakfast do you like? Click the Comments text that follows this post and share your likings.