Goan Chana Doce (Traditional Sweet)

The Goan Doce is quite an authentic sweet from the land of Goa.  It is usually prepared during Christmas.  You will also definitely find this preparation during Goan weddings.

There is an age-old tradition of sending baskets of Doce from the bride’s side to the groom’s house, for distributing amongst the neighbours and close relatives.

Back in the days, Doce de Grao or Chonya Doce (as they call it in Goa) used to be prepared in huge vessels kept on wood-fire, which was usually set up in the backyard of the house.

At a typical Goan wedding, especially in the villages, you will find the ladies will come together almost a week in advance, to prepare taditional sweets, like Pinaca, Boal, Dodol etc. Since, most of these sweets take ample of time and continous stirring, they used to take turns to prepare it.

This is usually accompanied by singing the  ‘Mando’ (traditional Goan songs) and to keep the mood light there used to be lots of laughter, chatter and cheer.

Goan Chana Doce / Doce de Grao

It’s a delicious fudgy sweet made with only four main ingredients : Chana dal (horse gram), freshly grated coconut, sugar and a little ghee (clarified butter).  In the time it takes to continuously stir this sweet, you can easily watch a hindi movie. Ha ha… That’s a bit exaggerated. But yes, it is quite a bit of work.

That being said, every year we do take out time to make this lovely sweet during Christmas.

After stirring continously for an hour or so, the doce will start leaving the sides of the vessel and come together like seen in the pic above.  This indicates that it is ready.

DOCE DE GRAO (CHANA DOCE)

Ingredients :

• 250 gm chana dal
• 200 gm freshly grated coconut
• 400 gm sugar
• 1 tsp cardamom powder
• 1 tbsp ghee
• ½ tsp of salt
• 1 cup water

Method :

• Wash and soak the chana dal for 2-3 hours.
• Boil the dal in a pressure cooker with water and salt till COOKED.  (but still FIRM to touch.)
• After it boils, let it cool then grind the dal in a mixer to make a coarse paste.
• Grind the grated coconut.
• Now add the ground dal, sugar and coconut in a heavy bottomed pot.
• Mix it well on medium to high flame for 10-15 minutes. Stir it continuously.
• Further continuously keep stirring on low to medium heat to ensure it doesn’t stick to the bottom. Add cardamom powder and ghee and mix well again till the mixture comes together like a soft dough.
• This should take another 20-25 minutes.
• Grease a steel plate  with ghee.
• Pat and spread the freshly prepared Doce on the plate with help of a spatula
  OR
  You can place a parchment paper on top of the Doce and roll it gently to 1/2 inch thickness.
  Let it cool a little and then cut into your choice of shapes. I cut them diagonally.Do note that the Doce will need time and patience.  When it is finally done, ensure the Doce is cut before it cools completely.  That way the slices will come out sharp and clean, else if it hardens, it may be a little difficult to slice.

Handy Tips:

1. While boiling and grinding the dal, ensure you add minimum water.
   This will finally help in saving time while stirring.  If the dal consistency is
   too runny it will add to your time of stirring the doce.  We don’t want that.
2. If you want the doce very soft and fudgy you can take it out a little early,
   while the one I made was a more firmer. It took extra 15 mins odd to stir,
   but since I made it so early before Christmas, I wanted it to store well (in the refrigerator).
   You can make that choice.
3. Add elaichi powder towards the end. Adding it right at the start will make
   it lose it’s flavour and aroma.