Jaggery Rice

This Jaggery rice is a traditional Punjabi sweet rice dish made with jaggery (Indian unrefined cane sugar), rice and spices. There are some variations of jaggery rice in Indian cuisine and this recipe comes from Punjabi cuisine. A vegan and gluten-free rice dish that can be made for any festive occasion.

This jaggery rice is a favorite of everyone at home. The recipe is easy and quick to make and taste too good. This recipe is especially loved by kids or people who have a sweet tooth.

This recipe Is my mom-in-law’s specialty. She learned this recipe from her mother-in-law. My mom-in-law’s mother-in-law belonged to the families who migrated from Pakistan, during the partition. This explains the original source of this recipe.

Whilst googling, I found out that this jaggery rice is a Pakistani Punjabi recipe. My in-laws are Punjabis who migrated from Pakistan and perhaps this is where they learnt how to make gur wale chawal.  I am glad, I know about this recipe now and am writing about it in my blog. Otherwise, it would have been a loss to me as well as to all those who are reading this blog.

I think, had I not learnt this recipe, it may had been lost and perhaps may be never tried or revived. I think that there are absolutely wonderful recipes, that have been lost or are in the process of becoming obsolete.

At home, we call this recipe as “gur wale chawal”. In English, the simple translation would mean jaggery rice, where jaggery is known as Gud, gur and rice is called as Chawal.

This orangish amber colored rice recipe is a sweet and delectable one. Generally, you just have it plain. But it also tastes nice, when you take a little milk, mix it with the warm jaggery rice and eat it.

How to make Jaggery Rice

1. In a bowl or vessel, take 120 grams of jaggery (grated or powdered or whole jaggery). Then soak it in ¾ cup water for 30 to 45 minutes. If there are impurities, then filter the jaggery syrup using a fine mesh strainer and keep aside.

 2. I have used organic jaggery powder. Alternatively, whole jaggery can also be crumbled or chopped, but its a little tedious and slightly takes more time.

In this technique of keeping the jaggery in water, the jaggery dissolves in water. It is easy, non-messy and simple. You could use this technique if you are making any other jaggery recipe that involves the use of water.

This is a super helpful tip that my mom-in-law shared with me. Otherwise, you would always spend a lot of time chopping or crumbling jaggery with the knife. 

3. Pick, clean and wash ¾ cup rice a couple of times in water. You can use basmati rice or any variety of long grained rice.

4. Soak the rice for 15 to 20 minutes in water. Later drain all the water and set the rice aside.

5. Meanwhile roast 1 tablespoon peanuts on a pan till they are crunchy and you see some black spots on the skins. But if you already have roasted peanuts then skip this step.

The addition of peanuts is optional and they can be skipped.

6. Measure and keep all the remaining ingredients ready.

Making jaggery rice

7. In a stovetop pressure cooker add the soaked rice and ¾ cup water. Pressure cook for 2 to 3 minutes on medium to medium-high heat.

5. When the pressure settles down on its own in the cooker, then only open the cooker lid. The rice should be half cooked.

7. Fluff the rice in the cooker itself. I have used a fork to fluff the rice but you can use a spoon as well.

8. Add the jaggery water that was made earlier. Also add 1 to 1.5 tablespoons of any neutral flavored oil. You can also use ghee instead of oil.

9. Stir and mix gently the jaggery water and oil with the half-cooked rice.

10. Now add 4 green cardamoms, 4 cloves and 1 tej patta (Indian bay leaf).

11. Next add 15 to 20 raisins (kishmish) and 1 tablespoons of the roasted peanuts. You can add your choice of dry fruits and nuts.

12. Stir and mix these ingredients gently with the rice mixture.

13. Now close the cooker with the lid and pressure cook again for 2 to 3 minutes on medium heat.

14. When the pressure falls down on its own then only open the lid. You will get to smell the fragrant aroma of jaggery rice 🙂 in fact when pressure cooking, your whole kitchen will have the typical sweet aroma of jaggery.

15. Garnish the cooked rice with dry fruits of your choice. It tastes nice even without garnishing.

16. Serve jaggery rice hot or warm as it is or with some milk.

Tips for jaggery rice

• My mom-in-law’s decision of adding peanuts to the recipe was a novel idea. She actually never adds peanuts to it. The peanuts added a beautiful crunchy taste along with the sweetness of the rice.
• You could also add your choice of dry fruits and nuts to the rice and then lightly garnish it with the remaining dry fruits.
• Jaggery burns quickly, so cook the rice at medium heat.
• I always use rice and water in the proportion of 1:2. If you want a slightly mushy rice texture, you could increase the water proportion. For ¾ cup of rice, we used 1.5 cups of water. Instead of 1.5 cups water, you could add 2 cups of water.
• Use a good quality jaggery as it is the hero ingredient in the recipe.
• This dish taste best with aged basmati rice. But you can also make it with long grained rice or any non-sticky medium grained rice.

More Rice recipes

• Ghee rice
• Curd rice
• Zarda rice (meethe chawal)
• Semiya biryani

Please be sure to rate the recipe in the recipe card or leave a comment below if you have made it. For more vegetarian inspirations, Sign Up for my emails or follow me on Instagram, Youtube, Facebook, Pinterest or Twitter.

This Jaggery Rice post from the archives (July 2010) has been republished and updated on 22 September 2021.