It is difficult to imagine a Bengali dinner without this genuine Bengali delicacy, Narkel Naru, also known as Narikel Er Naru, which is a traditional Bengali sweet made with the richness of coconut and sweetened with either jaggery or sugar.
These coconut and jaggery laddoos are sure to steal anyone’s heart and leave them spellbound by the delectable experience like never before. It comes with tonnes of sweet and savoury shooting flavours that can be devoured within no time. Narkel means nariyal (coconut) and naru means laddoo, and turning coconut into a laddoo is one of the amazing things you can do with it.
During religious occasions, Narkel Naru, one of the most exquisite and mouth-watering desserts with a coconut flavour, is offered to god as prasad. Prepare this prasad and serve it to the devotees throughout this holiday season to brighten their spirits and bring out their inner joyous selves. It also aids digestion, cleanses the liver by flushing out toxins, and is loaded with antioxidants and minerals like zinc and selenium.
Coconut fossils date back 15 million years, indicating that the fruit has a lengthy history. The origin of the coconut disclosed the history of various disciplines, including commerce history, human migration history, and geography history. While ethnobotanists differ on whether coconuts originated in the Indian or Pacific Basins, a current study contends that these two regions produced two different types of coconuts.
These two types of coconuts are apparent today - the smooth, green water-holding coconuts; and the other is fibrous one. The water-holding coconuts are believed to hail from the Pacific countries of Australia, Indonesia and Malaysia, while the fibrous ones are believed to have originated in India and Sri Lanka.
Here’s the recipe for Narkel Naru.
Ingredients:
- 3 coconuts
- 350 gms jaggery/gur
- 150 gms mawa
- 50 gms mixed dry fruits
Method:
- Grate coconuts using a grater.
- Break the jaggery into small pieces or if available use powdered jaggery
- Now, take grated coconut in a non-stick pan and start roasting in low flame till the grated coconut turns light brown in colour.
- Stir continuously, this process would take 2-3 minutes.
- Now, add entire jaggery to the coconut mix and stir vigorously till the jaggery starts melting.
- Continue cooking on low flame for around 15-20 minutes or till the mixture turns sticky and golden brown in colour.
- Add mawa and dry fruits and mix thoroughly till mawa dissolves.
- Switch off the flame after getting desired consistency.
- Transfer the mixture to a plate and start forming small balls out of the mixture when it is a bit warm (don’t wait to let it cool, since you may not be able to shape it after that).
- Your Narkel Naru are ready and can be stored in an air-tight container for 10-20 days.
Narkel Naru is more than simply a typical Bengali dessert; it is a mouthful of memories and pure beauty. Nobody can claim to have grown up as an Indian without having enjoyed these lovely tiny coconut balls.