Hara Chana Jajaria

Hara Chana Jajaria step by step instructions:

Hara Chana (fresh green chickpeas), commonly known as lilwe (lilve); is available in abundance during winters. In Udaipur (Rajasthan), a sweet prepared from it, known as “jajaria” is very famous.
The procedure of making jajaria is lengthy but it’s certainly worth the taste. When we roast the ground hara chana in ghee for around 1 hour or more depending upon the quantity of hara chana, the end product is crumbly in texture. It is a dried up mixture. This mixture can be stored in the freezer for around 6-7 months and hence you can enjoy jajaria or mithai any time you want.
I am in a habit of storing this mixture as we both are great lovers of jajaria. Jajaria can be made from corn also. Check out my “Bhutte ka Jajaria” recipe. I am sure you will love this one even.

Let us start cooking!!!

Ingredients:

For the hara chana mixture:
Hara chana (lilwe, fresh green chickpeas): ½ kg (~2 ½ cups)
Ghee: ¼ cup + 2 tbsp
Water: 3 cups
Sugar: 2/3 cup

For making jajaria:
Hara chana mixture: 1 cup (100 gms)
Mawa (Khoya): ¾ cup (80 gms)
Green cardamom: 6 (skin removed)
Mace: 2 strands
Nutmeg: a small piece
Almond (Badam): 8-10 (cut into slivers)

Method:
To make the hara chana mixture:
1. Wash the hara chana and remove all the water.

2. Grind the hara chana. Make sure not to make a smooth paste. Let the mixture be a bit coarse.

3. Heat ¼ cup ghee in a non-stick pan. Put the mixture in the ghee. Mix well.

4. Keeping the flame on slow only, let the mixture cook for about 45-50 minutes or until the mixture resembles crumbly texture. Keep stirring occasionally. During the cooking procedure, you will observe that first, the mixture will become like soft dough. Then slowly it will convert into a crumbly texture. Add the remaining ghee after half an hour.

5. After the time limit, you will observe that all the moisture has gone away and you are left with a crumbly, grainy mixture.

6. This mixture can be stored in the freezer for about 6-7 months.
7. With this mixture, you can make hara chana mithai and jajaria both.

To make jajaria:
1. Take sugar and water in a pan. Bring it to a boil. Let it boil for a minute.

2. Now add the hara chana mixture and mawa or khoya. Mix well. Let it boil.

3. Powder the green cardamom, nutmeg, and mace. You can even add saffron. It also gives a wonderful taste to the jajaria.

4. Add the powdered spices to the boiling jajaria. Cook for other 5 minutes or until you achieve the desired consistency for the jajaria.

5. Garnish with almond slivers and serve hot.
6. Yummy “Hara Chana Jajaria” is ready!

Tips:
1. Half kg of hara chana yields around 205 gms of hara chana mixture.
2. I prefer using non-stick pans to avoid the mixture sticking to the bottom of the pan.
3. We do not grind hara chana into a fine paste because if we use a normal pan then very fine paste sticks too much on the pan. Also, jajaria made from coarse paste is much tastier than the one made from the fine paste of hara chana.
4. The hara chana mixture and the water ratio works perfectly for me. You can change the ratio as per your requirement.

See you soon with a new recipe till then Happy Cooking!!!