WHAT IS JAGGERY
Jaggery (or gur in Hindi) is a minimally refined sugar with a characteristic butterscotch-molasses taste that’s used in both desserts and savoury dishes across the Indian regions. Different regions produce different types of jaggery, with different flavour nuances and intensities. Being in Australia with no access to fresh gur means a more generic offering, though as sugars go it is the only one I use regularly in my Kashmiri cooking.
SAVOURY USES FOR JAGGERY
Use jaggery to help introduce children to more complex spicing. A bit of jaggery will tone down and sweeten a masala just enough to ease some of the intensity of flavour and texture that can be difficult for young palates when it comes to “grown up” spicing.
Just a little bit of jaggery in a very chilli-heavy masala will sweeten the flame and soften the burn while still allowing the fragrance and tingle of chilli to push through.
Very astringent or shaded masalas that utilise a heavy hand with mustard oil, fenugreek, and bitter leaf spices and produce will benefit from a small amount of jaggery to offer the “darker” spice notes the appearance of deliciousness.
A 2cm x 2 cm piece of jaggery is a smallish touch to a masala blend designed to feed four to six people.
Jaggery will draw forward the buttery quality on ghee and the sweeter notes in all spices across the entire category and form spectrum.