Doce/Chonya Dal Doce is a very popular Traditional Goan Sweet made for Christmas and weddings /festive occasions. Doce is made with simple basic pantry ingredients like Chana dal/bengal Gram Coconut and sugar. Doce is soft and delicious fudge that requires a lot of patience to prepare though its worth the efforts put in. Doce is sold in every bakeries and sweet shops in Goa and also in few places in Bombay .I love soft Doce and often make a small bathch as it shelf life is less and needs to be consumed soon.
Doce/Doce de grao plays a very important part in goan weddings and is offered by the Bride's family along with more traditional sweets and some fruits etc to the groom's family which is then distributed among grooms family and in the neighbourhood ..For weddings Doce is made in very large quantities these days people order doce .Back then it was made on wooden fire ..Doce has a very short shelf life hence it is always prepared just few days before Christmas ,the harder doce stays for more days as compared to the softer version.
Ingredients
250gm chana dal/bengal gram
500 gm sugar
1 coconut grated approx 250 gram
5 to 6 cardamom
1 tbsp ghee
Method
Soak the chana dal for 4 to 5 hours or overnight.
Cook the dal with water till soft I have pressure cooked for 4 whistles.
Drain excess water from the dal.
Grind the coconut to a smooth fine paste adding very little water.
Grind dal to smooth paste if needed you may add very little water left from boiling the dal .
Grease some thalis/tray with ghee and keep it ready you may also spread the cooked mixture on clean greased kitchen counter .
In a thick bottomed vessel /non stick pan add the ground dal, coconut paste and sugar .
Place it on the gas and cook over medium flame
The mixture will melt and be easy to stir, keep stirring preferbably use a wooden spatula with long handle.
The mixture will thicken in 10 to 15 minutes ,you need to be carefully stirring it continously and be alert as it will bubble and splutter .
Add the cardamom powder and a pinch of salt and continue to stir to avoid the mixture sticking at the bottom.
Lower the flame and keep stirring.
As the mixture thickens you will need to give a good stir constantly, it will be difficult as the mixture starts turning thick .
Once the mixture starts leaving sides of the pan add ghee and stir well.
Take a small mixture and check if you are able to form a ball ,if you can the doce is ready if you still feel if has moisture stir for a bit longer .
Pour the mixture on the greased thali/tray
Using a rolling pin flatten and smoothen the mixture .
After 10 minutes use a fork to make some design or keep it simple by just cutting it into diamond shape using a nice sharp long knife.
Let it cool completely before storing it in air tight container .
This has a very short shelf life so keep it in the refrigerator .
Notes
Add very little water to grind the chana dal only if required, grind once the dal is cooked and drianed it is much more easier to grind rather allowing the dal to cool completley and then grind .
Use a wooden spatula with long handle it helps a lot while stirring.
You can make any designs using fork or cut into diamond/square shapes.
Let it dry completely ,a little hard layer will form on the crust but it will be soft
If you need to store for longer ,let the doce dry well then store in airtight container in refrigerator.
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