Narkel naru recipe | How to make narkel naru (Bengali coconut ladoo with jaggery and sugar)

Narkel naru is a Jaggery or sugar-coated sweetened coconut ladoo or nariyal ladoo from Bengali cuisine. For making this Bengali nariyal ladoo, grated coconut is cooked with Jaggery (sugar cane jaggery) or regular sugar in low heat until getting a perfect sticky blending helps to form this sweet. Lastly flavour this coconut jaggery blending or coconut sugar blending with crushed green cardamom pods and kept on a ghee-greased plate. Narkel naru is mainly prepared for any Bengali puja occasion (Durga puja, Kali puja, Lokkhi (Lakshmi) puja, Saraswati puja and many more).

Narkel naru does not need any introduction to a Bengali, whether a Bengali belongs to West Bengal or Bangladesh or any other part of India or even any corner of the world. Commonly known nariyal ladoo to all North Indian states and coconut ladoo to rest of the Indian regions including South India.

About Chinir Narkel Naru recipe

Chinir narkel naru is a sugar-coated coconut ladoo recipe from Bengal, a sweet milky white Bengali sugary coconut ladoo. Refined sugar is used to make this narkeler naru with freshly grated coconut, crushed cardamom, a little milk (optional) and ghee. You can use powdered sugar or boora or even tagar too that help you to get quick pak or binding.

Though unrefined sugar (slight reddish), palm sugar, coconut sugar or organic sugar can be a healthier sugary substance than using refined sugar. However, make sure the sugar substance must have sticky nature to coat well with the grated coconut. Otherwise, the coconut-sugar substance mixture will be crumbly and could not able to make a perfect naru.

About Gurer Narkel Naru recipe

Gurer narkel naru means coconut-jaggery ladoo (in English), a traditional sweet dish from Bengali cuisine. In Bengali households, gurer naru is prepared with freshly grated coconut, Akher gur (sugarcane jaggery), and crushed cardamom pods. It looks brown, due to the dark brown colour of akher gur (only available in West Bengal & Bangladesh). How the gur will be dark, naru will be dark as well.

However, I make my naru with a light brown coloured hard-shaped sugarcane jaggery (similar to veli gur found in West Bengal), as this gur is mostly available in local Bangalore shops. For me, that is the common option for making any gurer nadu. As this gur is too hard, so I either grate or grind it or make its liquid form by boiling it with little water. Though you can use store-bought packet of powdered jaggery too.

But If my user wants to make a healthy gurer naru containing a dark brown texture then must use organic jaggery. Organic jaggery is dark in texture and healthy as well. It is available in Malls & any online grocery apps in cubes and in powdered form. However, you can use any kind of palm jaggery (from date palm or coconut palm) too, also a healthy option.

Pro Tips By Maa

1. My Maa says for making perfect narkel naru the first important condition is a perfect ratio of coconut-jaggery or coconut-sugar portion.
2. If using 2 cups (any cup size) of grated coconut, take the same 1 cup of Jaggery or sugar. This means how many cups of coconut will be used, jaggery or sugar will be just half in quantity.
3. If the sweet substances (jaggery or sugar) are used in less amount, pak or binding would not be perfect and made the naru crumbly.
4. On the other hand, excess use of any sweet substance makes this sweet little hard.
5. Maa also says must use a thick and heavy bottom pan for binding, otherwise, chances are high to get easily burnt from the bottom.
6. Continuous stirring is needed while the binding starts to get sticky.

Let’s check how easy to make it at home with my maa’s step-by-step detailed instructions and steps-wise photos.

Try some of my other Bengali sweet recipes for Durga puja

Channar Sandesh

Chandrapuli Sandesh (Coconut channa Sandesh)

Kacha golla Sandesh

Narkel naru recipe | How to make narkel naru (Bengali coconut ladoo with jaggery and sugar)

Recipe by Moumita PaulCourse: Festival sweetCuisine: Bengali, IndianDifficulty: Moderate

Servings

31

servings

Prep time

15

minutes

Cooking time

20

minutes

Calories

300

kcal

Total time

35

minutes

Narkel naru is a Jaggery or sugar-coated sweetened coconut ladoo or nariyal ladoo from Bengali cuisine. This coconut ladoo is very popular in Bengal to prepare for Bengali puja occasions (Durga puja, Kali puja, lokkhi (lakshmi) puja, Saraswati puja etc).

Ingredients

• For making Gurer narkel naru

• 2 cups Freshly Grated coconut

• 1 cup Akher Gur/ Sugarcane Jaggery

• 4 pcs Cardamom pods (crushed/ powder)

• 1/4 tsp Ghee(for greasing plate)

• For making Chinir narkel naru

• 3 cups Freshly Grated Coconut

• 1.5 cups Sugar (Chini)

• 1/4 cup of Whole Milk (optional)

• 4 pcs Cardamom pods (crushed/ powder)

• 3/4 tsp + 1/4 tsp Ghee (for flavour + greasing the plate)

How to make Narkel naru recipe

• With Jaggery
• For making narkel naru with jaggery (gurer narkel naru), first, take a medium size coconut and grate it (or blend it by peeling its skin). Take only the white part of the coconut, not the brown skin.
• Keep the grated coconut meat in a thick heavy bottom pan, and mix it with gur (for each 1 cup coconut = 1/2 cup gur).
• Mix it well by hand or by using a spatula or the back side of a bowl.
• Once the mixture is well combined with each other. Then place the pan on low-medium heat of a gas stove. Stir it well.
• First, coconut and gur will release water, which can be visible as bubbles on the sides of this mixture.
• With continuous stirring and cooking the water dries up and binding (pak) will start.
• Once the binding gets sticky and can be able to make a ball, then turn off the heat.
• Add crushed cardamom pods to this coconut-jaggery mixture and mix well. Cover the pan to make it airtight.
• Then remove the pan from the gas stove and slight cool it down(hardly for 2-3 mins).
• Start rolling the naru when the mixture is still hot. To prevent the hand from burning, soak your hand in water before making the naru.
• Take little water in a bowl, and rub it in both hands.
• Then take small lemon size portions from the coconut-jaggery mixture in your hand, press it 4-5 times by keeping it in your feast, and then roll it to make a lodoo.
• Gurer narkel naru is ready, keep it on a ghee-greased plate (greased the plate with 1/4 tsp ghee).
• Once all the naru is done, completely cool it down, then store it in an airtight container.
  
• With Sugar
• For making narkel naru with sugar (chinir narkel naru), also, take a medium size coconut, and grate it well to keep only the white part of the coconut meat, not the brown skin. 
• Keep it (grated coconut meat) in a thick heavy bottom pan, and mix it with sugar (for each 1 cup coconut = 1/2 cup sugar) and 1/4 cup whole milk (cow milk/ Buffalo milk).
• Mix it well by hand or by using a spatula or the back side of a bowl.
• Once the mixture is well combined with each other, then place it on low-medium heat of the gas stove.
• First, coconut and sugar will release water, which can be visible as bubbles on the sides of this mixture.
• With continuous stirring and cooking, the water dries up and binding (pak) will start.
• Once the binding gets sticky and can be able to make a ball, then turn off the heat.
• Add 4 crushed cardamom pods and 3/4 tsp desi ghee to this coconut-sugar mixture and mix well. Cover the pan to make it airtight.
• Then remove the pan from the gas stove and slight cool it down (hardly for 2-3 mins).
• Start rolling the naru when the mixture is still hot. To prevent the hand from burning, soak your hand in water before making each naru.
• Take little water in a bowl, and rub it in both hands.
• Then take a teaspoon full of coconut-sugar mixture in your hand, press it 4-5 times by keeping it in your feast, and then roll it to make a lodoo.
• Chinir Narkel naru is ready, keep it on a ghee-greased plate (greased the plate with 1/4 tsp ghee).
• Once all the naru is done, completely cool it down, then store it in an airtight container.

Notes

• Scrape the narkel with narkel kuruni (traditional coconut scrapper). Or you can scrape it with a hand coconut scrapper or in a blender as I directed in this recipe.
• Start stirring from the beginning to avoid burning from the bottom.
• Use crushed cardamom seeds and avoid using the cardamom skin.
• Milk in chinir naru is used to make this naru more white, delicious, and to get a quick sticky Pak (means (well binding of ingredients.)