Tagar or Boora sugar is a porous sugar which is made by melting sugar in water to reach a state of crystallization. This is how sugar loses its moisture and also becomes clean. Boora (tagar) sugar is popularly used by indian halwai’s in place of normal sugar while making sweet dishes, because it makes those sweets more delicious.
Preparing tagar at home is not at all difficult. It may take 10 to 15 minutes depending upon the Sugar quantity. So we can prepare it on the same day we want to use it in any sweet or even make it before hand store it in an airtight container for more than a month! I like to use the tagar sugar in Besan ladoo recipe particularly. Powdered sugar doesn’t give that authentic taste as the one with boora.
Use a heavy bottomed pan while making boora so that sugar doesn’t stick and burn at the bottom. Sometimes, sugar contains dirt or impurities, in this case, you can add a tablespoon of milk in the syrup. the impurities will float aside and you can remove it with the help of a spatula. When sugar melts, stir it continuously so that no lumps are formed and if any lump is present break it when its still hot. If you are unable to break those lumps, you can grind it in a mixer grinder and sieve it.
Given below is a detailed recipe of making Boora Sugar / Tagar at home easily :
How to make boora sugar/tagar used to make sweets like halwai easily at home
Materials
- 3 cups Organic Sugar
- 1 cup Water
- 1 teaspoon Ghee
- 1 teaspoon Milk (optional)
Tools
- Heavy bottom pan
- Laddle
- Sieve / Strainer
Instructions
Step By Step:
1. Take a heavy bottom pan and put sugar and water in it.
2. Keep it on medium flame and let it boil. Then stir the mixture continuously for 2-3 minutes.
3. Once the mixture starts to boil. [If the sugar as impurities: add milk to it at this stage. A dirty foam appears over the mixture, take it out with the help of a ladle. The dirt of the sugar gets cleaned this way.]
4. Cook the mixture for 6-8 minutes.
5. Check every 2 minutes by touching a drop of syrup [be careful it will be extremely hot!] for the thickness of the sugar syrup. The mixture will turn extremely thick and transparent.
6. Another method is to pour a drop of the mixture on the plate and see if it freezes in few seconds and also the sugar will stick to the corners of the pan.
6. Add 1 teaspoon ghee to the mixture. This will prevent the formation of lumps in the mixture.
7. Turn off the flame and put the pan on a wooden board.
8. Stir the mixture continuously to cool it down.
9. Break any pieces of sugar crystals using a ladle.
10. Take a strainer and sieve the sugar mixture to get lump-free boora/tagar powder.
Tagar is ready and can be used to make laddus, pedas at home. You can use it for over a month!
Notes
- As I have used organic sugar, I have skipped the step of adding milk.
- Even the color of boora powder I have prepared is slightly golden yellow in color because of its organic property.
- If there are any chunks of sugar left after straining the boora powder... just pulse it in a mixer jar and sieve it and use it as tagar.
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