gud wale cheeley / jaggery pancakes



 Jaggery is a store house of nutrients, for just 19 Cal/tbsp it has high concentration of minerals and some vitamins..see the link,  it purifies the blood, prevents rheumatic afflictions, corrects bile disorders and protects the lungs from particulate pollution ie, dust and smoke that is a part of daily commute in urban life.

I have been in coal mining areas and the tribals in those areas depend on jaggery to cleanse their respiratory tract. I remember when we had shifted there and Arvind suffered dry coughs for a long time which was not responding to any medication, we were clueless about what to do, and then some locals suggested use of jaggery. Especially after coming from outside (polluted with dust and particulate matter), if you take some jaggery with water it helps cleanse the upper respiratory tract from pollutants. I know it works. We have experienced it many times, having spent 6 years in a coal mining area.



Another thing I have noticed about jaggery is that if you use jaggery instead of refined sugar for making something, not only it provides superior nutritional benefits, it curbs your cravings too. As we all know sugar is like slow poison for us, especially weight watching people want to stay away from refined sugar as eating something sugary always induces craving for more sugary food. Many of my friends who are on weight loss diets and have a sweet tooth find it hard to resist sugar. I have been lucky as I do not like sweets much and never fell in this trap.

Although I like jaggery very much and it has never caused any cravings for me. The intense and rich sweetness satisfies the taste buds well. Interestingly, whenever I suggested my sweet toothed friends to have 1/4th of a kaaju katli or a small piece of chocolate whenever craving for sweet, they would say that it is not possible. As whenever they eat one mithai , they wouldn't stop, they would rather go on binging and eat several mithais before realizing what harm has been done. Noticing this behavior towards sugar addiction now I always suggest (and my friends have been immensely benefited by this)  to eat something with jaggery. Just like a small pancake or some yoghurt with jaggery, sesame chikki , peanut chikki or simply a piece of jaggery itself. The fact is that jaggery not only provides sweetness, it is so flavorful that the flavors remain in the taste buds lingering for long, it does not initiate binging toward sweet food. Saving the insulin response from going bonkers.

It may also be possible that the sugars from jaggery release slower than sugar in the blood and as refined sugar is considered a comfort food and craving inducing, because refined sugar releases glucose faster in the blood stream and gives a feeling of well being which becomes addictive in turn.
I have not seen any studies to prove this, but it just might be the case. I believe in it completely and have several examples to see and believe as I have suggested many people to eat jaggery to curb sweet cravings and it has worked. Always..

The good thing with us is that, we both like jaggery and this kind of a pancake is so healthy, I don't mind having it even though I am watching my weight religiously. A small treat like this is going to keep you satisfied for the whole day and curb your cravings for the whole day. Also if you pair this breakfast pancake with some fresh fruit, it becomes an ideal breakfast.

Whole wheat and oats and the fruit provide enough complex carbohydrates and fiber to keep your energy level up till long time......


The recipe is simple...........a cup of whole wheat flour mixed with 1/2 cup of oatmeal and 1/2 - 3/4 cup of crushed jaggery.......the jaggery should be crushed in a manner that small pieces of jaggery remain as the pieces make nice cavities in the pancake filled with syrupy liquid.........and that is the USP of this pancake...

So all these ingredients are mixed with 2 tsp of whole  fennel seeds , a pinch of soda bicarb and just enough water to make a batter which actually is in a consistency between a dough and a batter.......right, it should be a very thick batter.......while making the batter , heat a nonstick flat pan to shallow fry the pancakes so that you don't have to wait after making the batter ....you don't want the jaggery pieces to dissolve in the batter while waiting for the pan to heat up..........


I used a tbsp of ghee on a dosa tawa (a very wide pan which can accommodate 7-8 small pancakes) and poured small ladlefuls of batter on it to make 7-8 pancakes at a time......you don't need to spread the batter, it gets flattened by itself........you have to flip the pancakes just when you see small bubbles on top......1/2 tbsp of ghee to fry the other side of all the pancakes is enough.........so you need just 1.5 tbsp of ghee to make 8 pancakes..not a bad deal as this quantity serves 2-3 .



Serve hot as you would see sticky syrupy molten jaggery coating the pancakes which is hard to resist........we have this breakfast many times during weekends ....sometimes with fruits n sometimes as it is.....it tastes good at room temperature too........


Healthy and yummy breakfast keeps you happy whole day.........enjoy....

Comments

  1. interesting info on jaggery i thought it was just sugar

    ReplyDelete
  2. Looks lovely, i agree with you on jaggery and i use it in almost 99% of my dishes instead of refined sugar.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love these so much. At home my aunt used to make these ... she called it gola ruti. :-)
    Thanks for reminding Sangeeta ... gotta make these again soon. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Interesting information.. i only know the jaggery eating after food specially in winters we call it as desi sweet dish!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Very interesting post. I learned something today. I do have a question...what is jaggery?

    ReplyDelete
  6. velva....jaggery is unrefined cane sugar which is brown and is made by heating the cane juice till it crystallizes...the crystallization is incomplete though n results in a fudgy mixture which is shaped like round balls or rectangular bars...it is very high on minerals .

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks for visiting my blog earlier today. I am enjoying browsing around yours. I cook a lot of indian food because my Hubby's family is punjabi.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I don't believe this! Just this morning, I was thinking of how to make pancakes taste a little different! I make pancakes for my kids' tiffin quite often and was thinking of trying some different types of jams to go with them. Can't wait to try this one out. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  9. thanks heavenly housewife...and it's amazing to know your husband is a punjabi...
    Aparna thanks for visiting...you can find many indian style pancakes on my banaras blog..

    ReplyDelete
  10. Wow Sangeeta, that was a very insightful write up on jaggery. I love jaggery, especially malwi gud, which is widely available in the Malwa region of MP. It is dark brown, almost black and is crumbly and melt in your mouth. Unfortunately, it is impossible to get here and short of smuggling it into US, I have to wait every two years for my trip to India. I like it crumbled over roti with a dollop of ghee and I can eat that as a dessert or a meal, that is how much a sweet tooth I have.
    Glad to know it aids in getting rid of dry cough. T suffers from it during winter months. Will try it for him.
    The cheele look good too.

    ReplyDelete
  11. thank you for your insightful comment. I love visits from you and visiting you. Everything you said was so true, about comments and about followers. I am not a stickler for correct English if the content speaks to me. Blogs like yours, which are written with a passion for good food and good life are an inspiration to me, as are blogs with good writing and good photographs.
    I was merely objecting to the rat race some bloggers seem to be getting into with regards to collecting followers or getting a lot of comments. If language or content gets sacrificed in the process, they don't care.
    I clarified a lot in my second post, do check it out.
    Again, I love your blog.:)

    ReplyDelete
  12. This pancake with all the goodness of jaggery and fiber makes me crave. Wow..look at the color! Sure a nice invention , I say. Keep rocking dear.

    ReplyDelete
  13. thanks Viki ...it's not an invention dear, they are a traditional breakfast in UP...i just played with the syrupy cavities.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Gr8 info on jaggery.Thanks to you I'm using it more often :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. i posted something very similar a few days back. and you are so sweet for those comments on my site sangeeta :) take ur time, we all tend to be a bit lazy with our blogs at times!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Well said sangeeta. I am just popping in a piece of gur to satisfy my sweet cravings. A friend suggested that a good organic jaggery will not allow the milk to spil when boiled. I tried and started buying the terra greens organic one. Got really tasty and also the unrefined sugar for tea and coffee , the brownish colour adding to the strenght and the quantity is also less when compared to refined sugar. We do this with ragi too, and pour the same in the paniyaram kadai and make appams (not aaapam) with them

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment