Narali Bhat / Sweet Coconut Rice
(A sweet dish made using rice, freshly grated coconut, and jaggery)
Today we are making a ‘Raksha Bandhan' / Narali Poornima’ special recipe! Raksha Bandhan is a Hindu festival that celebrates the bond of love between a brother and a sister. ‘Raksha’ means to protect and ‘Bandhan’ means 'bond’. According to Hindu tradition, when the sister ties the band called ‘Rakhi’ to her brother’s wrist, he is obligated to protect her.
This festival has a very long tradition. Once when Lord Krishna was flying a kite, he accidentally cut his finger and started bleeding. Draupadi immediately tore her saree and wrapped it around the wound. Lord Krishna was so touched by her gesture, that he promised to take care of her forever. It is believed that this was a Rakhi that Draupadi tied to Lord Krishna!
Raksha Bandhan is celebrated on ‘Narali Poornima' day. This festival marks the end of the monsoon season (Shravan Mahina/month of the Hindu calendar). The fishermen cannot go deep into the sea during monsoons, due to safety issues. Thus, they celebrate the end of this season and begin their offshore work. Coconut trees are found in great numbers in the coastal regions. Thus, it is a tradition of the fishermen to offer coconut to the sea.
Traditionally, sweets using coconut, are made on this day. Today I am sharing a Maharashtrian recipe called ‘Narali Bhat’. This is a sweet recipe made using rice, freshly grated coconut, and jaggery. This is an easy recipe that gets made in no time!
You can check out the Naralipak / Coconut Barfi recipe too!
RECIPE VIDEO
Ingredients
1 cup Basmati/ Ambemohar rice (चावल / तांदूळ)
2 cups water (पानी / पाणी)
1 1/4 cup jaggery (गुड़ / गूळ)
1 cup coconut freshly grated (नारियल / नारळाचा चव)
3 tbsp clarified butter (शुद्ध देसी घी / साजुक तुप)
3-4 cloves (लौंग / लवंग)
3-4 cardamom (इलायची / वेलची)
1 tsp cardamom powder (इलायची पाउडर / वेलची पावडर)
8-10 cashews (काजू)
8-10 Raisins (किसमिस)
pinch of salt (नमक / मीठ)
Method
Wash the rice thoroughly and drain all the water.
Take 2 cups of water in a container. Add washed rice, cloves, cardamom, salt, little ghee to it. Start heating it on medium flame. When the water starts boiling, cover the container with a lid and let the rice cook. Keep checking the rice and make sure to turn off the heat when the rice is just cooked. Don’t overcook the rice.
Immediately spread this rice on a big plate so that all excess water vapour escapes. Add a little ghee and mix gently. Let the rice cool down.
Heat ghee in a kadhai/pan. When the ghee melts, add cashews and raisins to it. Sauté on a low flame for a few seconds.
Add grated coconut and jaggery. Cook till all the jaggery melts. Use a flat spoon/spatula to break jaggery lumps as shown in the video above.
Add the rice to the kadhai. Sprinkle the cardamom powder over it. Gently mix everything well. Sauté for 2-3 minutes. Turn off the heat.
Let the rice rest for about 30 mins. The flavours mature on resting.
NARALI BHAT IS READY TO SERVE!
SERVE HOT.
Notes -
Cooking rice properly is of utmost importance in this recipe. If the rice is undercooked, it becomes hard after mixing with jaggery. If the rice is overcooked, it becomes soggy. The amount of water you add while cooking the rice depends on the variety of rice you use. The amount of water should be double the quantity of rice used. This works for most varieties. If you are using 1 cup of rice, cook it in 2 cups of water.
Use a fragrant variety of rice to make this dish. I generally use Ambemohar rice to make Narali bhat. For shooting this recipe I have used long-grain Basmati rice.
Add rice to the jaggery-coconut mixture when it is hot and the jaggery has completely melted. Make sure there are no lumps of jaggery. This ensures that all the ingredients mix properly.
Mix the rice gently to ensure that the rice grains do not break.
Narali Bhat (नारळी भात) / Sweet Coconut Rice
Ingredients
- 1 cup Basmati/ Ambemohar rice (चावल / तांदूळ)
- 2 cups water (पानी / पाणी)
- 1 1/4 cup jaggery (गुड़ / गूळ)
- 1 cup coconut freshly grated (नारियल / नारळाचा चव)
- 3 tbsp clarified butter (शुद्ध देसी घी / साजुक तुप)
- 3-4 cloves (लौंग / लवंग)
- 3-4 cardamom (इलायची / वेलची)
- 1 tsp cardamom powder (इलायची पाउडर / वेलची पावडर)
- 8-10 cashews (काजू)
- 8-10 Raisins (किसमिस)
- pinch of salt (नमक / मीठ)
Method
- Wash the rice thoroughly and drain all the water.
- Take 2 cups of water in a container. Add washed rice, cloves, cardamom, salt, little ghee to it. Start heating it on medium flame. When the water starts boiling, cover the container with a lid and let the rice cook. Keep checking the rice and make sure to turn off the heat when the rice is just cooked. Don’t overcook the rice.
- Immediately spread this rice on a big plate so that all excess water vapour escapes. Add a little ghee and mix gently. Let the rice cool down.
- Heat ghee in a kadhai/pan. When the ghee melts, add cashews and raisins to it. Sauté on a low flame for a few seconds.
- Add grated coconut and jaggery. Cook till all the jaggery melts. Use a flat spoon/spatula to break jaggery lumps as shown in the recipe video.
- Add the rice to the kadhai. Sprinkle the cardamom powder over it. Gently mix everything well. Sauté for 2-3 minutes. Turn off the heat.
- Let the rice rest for about 30 mins. The flavours mature on resting.
Notes
- Cooking rice properly is of utmost importance in this recipe. If the rice is undercooked, it becomes hard after mixing with jaggery. If the rice is overcooked, it becomes soggy. The amount of water you add while cooking the rice depends on the variety of rice you use. The amount of water should be double the quantity of rice used. This works for most varieties. If you are using 1 cup of rice, cook it in 2 cups of water.
- Use a fragrant variety of rice to make this dish. I generally use Ambemohar rice to make Narali bhat. For shooting this recipe I have used long-grain Basmati rice.
- Add rice to the jaggery-coconut mixture when it is hot and the jaggery has completely melted. Make sure there are no lumps of jaggery. This ensures that all the ingredients mix properly.
- Mix the rice gently to ensure that the rice grains do not break.
Delicious Sweet Coconut rice.
Did you make this recipe?
Kindly let me know in the comments section below and tag @bitesandbokeh on INSTAGRAM.