I Got the Moves Like Jaggery

The most commonly used sweetener in our house right now is jaggery. I used to buy it in powder form, but when the local Indian grocer ran out, I started buying it in "fresh," cake-like form. (Actually, a visitor to our home reportedly bit into one, thinking it was a cookie! Uh, yeah, a cookie made entirely of evaporated cane juice...)

Fresh jaggery was a lot harder to use at first. The powder was easy to swap 1:1 for brown or even granulated sugar - assuming we were okay with a more "earthy" tasting finished product (generally, we were). The cakes of jaggery were a bit perplexing. If you've ever bought a cone of chancaca, panela, piloncillo, raspadura, atado dulce, empanizao, papelon or panocha at a Latin market, you know the struggle. The stuff can be hard as a rock!

I started out trying to grate the necessary amount from each cake. This was effective, but not at all efficient (and quite humorous to the cashier when I told him upon my next trip to the Indian market)! The blender was a complete disaster. The shaved ice contraption was shot down before we even gave it a try. I found that one cake was just about right for a batch of rice cooker oatmeal, so I would just plop it in with the rest of the ingredients and let it melt as they cooked.

Remembering this as I prepared to make an experimental batch of brownies for The Dude's birthday, I measured out the proper amounts of coconut oil and fresh jaggery (two cakes) and set them to mingle in a non-stick pan over low heat while I assembled the rest of the recipe.

BAD PLAN.

It melted into a delightful, earthy, caramel-y substance... but then what?! Long story short, I ended up with a "baked good" not at all resembling the thing we like to call "brownies," you and I.

Only later did I remember that The Dude and I had already found the answer to this dilemma. Apparently, the traditional method is to crush the cakes, grinding them as finely as desired using a mortar and pestle. Another handy tip is to soften them in the microwave for a few seconds first. We have yet to acquire a mortar and pestle or to repair our broken microwave, so we made do with a rolling pin and a zip-locking sandwich bag. This method obliterates the bag, but is in all other ways a perfectly reasonable solution. I have no idea how it could have slipped my mind just in time for The Great Brownie Catastrophe of 2014...!

Luckily, I remembered before I attempted to bake the official birthday brownies. Taking what I'd learned from the first batch, I made a few adjustments and ended up with a recipe I described on Facebook as a "gluten-free, dairy-free, low-fat, low-glycemic, super-fudgy pumpkin coconut pecan brownie."

It may not be a One-Bowl Meal, but here's what I did:

Preheat oven to 350•F. 

Beat 2 eggs in large bowl. Add 1t vanilla extract, 6T pumpkin puree, and 3T coconut oil (should be melted or at least soft - I left mine on the stove while it preheated and took the opportunity to chop 1/2c each of pecans and semi-sweet chocolate chips). Beat well. 

Crush 3/4c to 1c worth of fresh jaggery; mix in another bowl with 21g desiccated coconut, 42g besan, 42g mung bean starch, 1/4c cocoa powder, and the aforementioned pecans and chocolate chips. Add dry ingredients to liquids, stir till smooth.

Grease 8x8 glass pan with coconut oil left over from measuring spoon; pour batter in, top with another 1/2c chocolate chips. Bake 15-20 minutes; cool at least 5.

NOTES 

1. The chocolate chips I use are from Costco; they are not made with milk-derived ingredients, and are ethically sourced. You can easily make this recipe healthier by leaving the second 1/2c off the top, and substituting nuts, coconuts or nothing at all!

2. Desiccated coconut is available at Asian and Indian grocers. It is like unsweetened, shredded coconut, but is dehydrated to a much greater degree and will therefore absorb much more moisture - kind of like coconut flour. If you use the shredded coconut, you may need to reduce - or even halve - the amount of pumpkin used. 

3. Besan is a flour of many names. The ones I'm familiar with include gram (not to be confused with graham), chickpea and garbanzo bean. The Indian word for split chickpea is "chana dal," so you might also run into that. It's available in different grinds, and there is a darker version known as "black." Mine is a pretty standard one, not a super coarse or fine grind, and relatively yellow in color.

4. Mung bean starch is not the same as mung (or "moong") bean flour. The flour is coarse, with dark flecks. The starch is a fine white powder just like corn starch, arrowroot, etc. I buy mine at an Asian market run by a Hmong family, but I've used it to make Korean recipes, and the language on the package looks like a mix of Thai and Chinese, so I have high hopes that it is readily available. I love this starch for GF all-purpose flour mixes!

5. Jaggery is made from either cane sugar or palm; I'm pretty sure the stuff I'm using is from cane sugar. If you can't find it, try any of the Latin alternatives mentioned above. It is lower-glycemic than most other sugar came products, as it contains more of the plant's original vitamins and minerals. It imparts less sweetness per unit than its refined counterparts, so bear in mind that while this brownie is rich and chocolatey, it is not nearly as sweet as one might expect on looking at it. 

6. This brownie crumbles, as there are no gums or binders other than eggs. If you need to transport it without it falling apart, you may want to add a bit of psyllium husk (I get mine at Trader Joe's) to the liquid bowl before attending to the dry ingredients.