Narkel Naru/Coconut fudgy balls

Narkel Naru is an integral part of Bengali cuisine. Lakshmi puja and bijoya(meeting after vijayadashami or Dussehra) is incomplete without naru. At my home, everyone is fond of jaggery coconut ladoos or gurer narkel naru. So, I prepare them often with sugarcane jaggery. You can also use sugar instead.

I have flavored the ladoos with ginger. This is how the ladoos are flavored traditionally. Moreover, ginger forms a perfect combination with the jaggery. But you can also flavor them with cardamom.

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: (Bengali) Indian

Preparation time: 10 mins

Cook time: 30 mins

Servings: 30 pieces

Ingredients

• 2 cups of grated coconut/desiccated coconut(see Note)
• 1.5 cups of milk
• 1 1/4 cups of gur (sugarcane jaggery) pieces
• ½ tablespoon of grated ginger

Directions

1. Take a deep bottomed pan/pot and add the coconut, milk and the jaggery pieces. (See Notes)
2. Continue stirring till all the gur melts. Reduce the water until you see the coconut coming together.
3. Keep stirring continuously as the coconut starts burning very quickly.
4. At one point you will see that the coconut has become sticky and starts coming together in the pot.
5. Turn off the flame and add the grated ginger and mix properly.
6. Let the mixture cool a bit but do not let it cool down completely as you will not be able to prepare the naru in that case.
7. Start preparing the naru or balls.
8. You can store them in an air-tight container for up to 20 days.

Notes

1. Narkel naru tastes the best when prepared from freshly grated coconut but however, if not available you can also use desiccated coconut.
2. Sometimes the jaggery contains many dirt such parts of sugarcane or sand. In that case melt the jaggery with some water and heat and strain before use.
3. When preparing naru with sugar, you can just replace gur with sugar in the recipe above.

Step by step instructions to prepare naru

Take a deep bottomed pan/pot and add the coconut, milk and the jaggery pieces.

Continue stirring till all the gur melts. Reduce the water until you see the coconut coming together.

Reduce the water until you see the coconut coming together.

Keep stirring continuously as the coconut starts burning very quickly. At one point you will see that the coconut has become sticky and starts coming together in the pot.

Turn off the flame and add the grated ginger and mix properly. Let the mixture cool a bit but do not let it cool down completely as you will not be able to prepare the naru in that case. Start preparing the naru or balls.