Sweet rice cooked with jaggery (gur), ghee, cardamom and nuts. A Punjabi winter dessert, made when fresh jaggery from the sugarcane harvest reaches the markets.
Gur walay chawal (jaggery rice) is a winter dessert of Punjab, made when the sugarcane harvest brings fresh gur (jaggery) to the markets in November and December. The dish is simple: rice is cooked with melted jaggery, ghee, cardamom and nuts until each grain is coated in a dark, sticky, caramel-like syrup. Unlike zarda (which uses refined sugar and is yellow), gur walay chawal is dark brown from the jaggery and has a deeper, more complex sweetness with notes of molasses and smoke. Eaten warm in winter, it is a home dessert, made in Punjabi households when the cold weather arrives and the fresh jaggery is at its best.
Dark brown, sticky-sweet rice grains with the complex molasses depth of jaggery, ghee richness, cardamom warmth and crunchy nuts. Eaten warm, each spoonful is comforting and deeply sweet.
The technique is cooking rice directly in jaggery syrup. Jaggery (about 200g) is melted with water (about 300ml) and a little ghee until smooth, no lumps. The syrup is brought to a boil, cardamom pods added, and soaked basmati rice (about 250g) is added directly to the syrup. The rice cooks in the jaggery syrup rather than in water, absorbing the sweetness and colour. The pot is covered and cooked on low heat for 15 minutes until the rice is tender. More ghee and toasted nuts are stirred in at the end. The rice must be cooked in the syrup, not separately, so each grain absorbs the jaggery.
Variations
Some add coconut or dried fruit. A version with coconut milk is richer.
On the Palate
Where Gur Walay Chawal sits in the Pakistani flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6How it's made
5 steps · 10 min
- 14 min
Melt 200g grated jaggery in 300ml water with 2 tbsp ghee until smooth.
- 25 min
Bring to a boil; add 3 cardamom pods.
- 36 min
Add 250g soaked basmati rice; cover and cook on low heat 15 minutes.
Watch outCook the rice right in the jaggery syrup, not water — each grain has to absorb the syrup for the color and sweetness, so add the soaked rice straight to the boiling syrup.
- 44 min
Stir in 2 more tbsp ghee and 100g toasted mixed nuts.
- 53 min
Serve warm.
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