Narkel Narur Payesh
Narkeler naru is another sweet from Bengal, made from fresh coconut, milk and sugar. Narkeler Naru are laddus or dumplings made from coconut. Here Narkeler means coconut and naru means laddu in bengali. It is said that Narkel Naru is the favourite dish of Lord Ganesha. Coconut is available throught the year and so this dish can also be prepared at any time of the year. But we will not only make narus today but will make payesh or kheer using the narus. The narus can be eaten just like that and can also be consumed as part of the kheer.
The ingredients are very simple but only it takes a long time to prepare the coconut dough for the narus. Medium flame and constant stirring is the backbone of this recipe. I have read many microwave versions of this recipe but to be very frank I am not convinced that we can prepare this dish entirely in microwave. The main thing about Narkel r naru is that the coconut dough has to be very consistent and if the dough becomes very hard or even a bit softer than the actual consistency then the entire effort goes to vain.
Process to make the Narus
Ingredients :
1 medium sized Coconut – grated,
1 cup sugar,
½ lt milk,
3-4 green cardamoms
Narkeler Naru
Procedure :
1) Boil the milk in medium heat along with the cardamoms and let it cook till it gets a thick consistency(reduces to ½ of the original consistency)
2) Take another thick bottomed pan and add the coconut. Stir the coconut in the pan for 3-4 minutes so that it dessicates and then add the sugar to it.
3) Stir the mixture for 5-10 minutes till the aroma of the coconut comes out.
4) Add the thickened milk to the coconut mixture and stir constantly till the entire mixture thickens and becomes a thick consistent dough.
5) Let the dough cool off a little. While still warm, roll it into Naaru.
6) Remember as the narus cool down it hardens. So make the dumplings when the dough is atleast warm.
Process to make the Payesh
Ingredients :
Milk – 1lt
Sugar – 1-2 cups
Green Cardamoms – 3-4 pieces,
Bay leaves – 1-2 nos,
Cashew Nuts & Raisins,
Narkel Narus as prepared above.
Narkel Narur Payesh
Method :
1) Take the milk in heavy bottomed pan and add the cashewnuts, cardamoms and bayleaves.
2) Boil the milk in medium heat till it reduces to ½ of the original amount.
3) Add the sugar and boil for another 5-7 minutes.
4) Add the narkel narus as prepared above.
5) Boil for another 2-3 minutes.
6) Take care that the narus are hard when they are added to the thickened milk.
7) Refrigerate the payesh. Garnish with raisins and serve chilled.
Variation :
1) You can reduce your effort in making the narus by replacing the grated coconut with dessicated coconut available in the market.
2) Also condensed milk can be used instead of milk. If you are using condensed milk then there is no need to add sugar.
3) If you are calorie conscious then you can replace milk with skimmed milk and sugar with any low calorie sugar substitute as available in the market.
4) You can also replace the coconut laddoos in the kheer with rasgollas to make Raso Malai – another bengali delicacy.
