General cookery-related queries & Tips

Thanks Krishnamma, will definitely go through your thread.

Bhanu

I'm planning to make BBQ vegetables in the oven. I looking for any suggestions and tips.

Hi ladies ,

Anybody have idea abt how to break jaggry in us . I want to prepare carrot halava using jaggry , but I can not able to break jaggry properly. I tried to cut it with knife. Jaggry is really hard & I am failed to break it properly.. plz help me .

thanks.

You do get the small cubed ones (not the big giant one) in a pack - I don't break them. I take 6-10 of them depending on how much I need, melt it and then strain it.

Originally Posted by smith21181

Hi ladies ,

Anybody have idea abt how to break jaggry in us . I want to prepare carrot halava using jaggry , but I can not able to break jaggry properly. I tried to cut it with knife. Jaggry is really hard & I am failed to break it properly.. plz help me .

thanks.

I have never broken Jaggery. I just scrape it out using a knife. My mom does the same in India. It will lessen cooking time and you can approximate easily with gratings of jaggery.I do the same in Jaggery blocks i bring from Indian store here.Try it it might work.

Hi Smith..I was thinking of starting this thread..few days back..as i was doing sarkarai pongal..So far i used a wooden hammer(my son's toy)..but this time it broke while breaking jaggery..Even i am looking for options in this thread..

Please tell how do you break coconut too..?Dh does it with a big knife..

The way I break jaggery is as follows...try, it might work for you too.

I take a big knife and place it int he middle and across the jaggery slab and use a hammer or a heavy object to hit the knife thro the jaggery. It breaks easily. Once it breaks, I repeat this action further till all of the jaggery is broken into small bits. Once the big pieces are broken down, further breaking becomes easy and it also crumbles by itself. If you really need fine pieces or crumbled jaggery, it is easy to place the smaller broken pieces in a food processor to break them further into finer powder.

As for the coconut, I take it out and bang it on the stone steps in the garden! Once it falls into two parts, one can repeat the action to get smaller pieces. If not, I once again use the same big knife and place it across the middle of the coconut and bang it down with a hammer! Yes, lots of banging.....good to get rid off your frustrations :))))

If all this sounds brutal to some of you gentle ladies here, there is always the hubby, if available?! He will have a way with it....!!

Best of luck...

L, Kamla

hi,
This is what I do to break the jaggery. I put a sheet of newspaper on the kitchen counter. Whether they are cubes or big ball, I use the real hammer to break into pieces. You can break them into the small bits.

The method I use for jaggery is.....take a wooden cutting board, place it on strong surface (not hardwood floors or countertops) put jaggery in a plastic cover and use a real hammer to break into pieces. The other method is what Chocolate mentioned, to scrape it if I have enough time.

For coconut, I use the real hammer too. Hold the coconut in your left hand, keep hitting it with hammer from your right hand and keep turning it around in the left hand.

-sihi

Hi


use microwave oven and break the jaggry. keep jaggry in the microwave oven put 5 secound frist, check then 5more if feel more you can use more secounds (but don't tuch with hands use knife or spoon)
Shailaja