Pork chops with pomegranate molasses glaze

When I was growing up, a winter’s day special meal was a small mound of hot rice with a generous helping of steaming ghee, topped with powdered khand. Khand was a form of unrefined sugar made out of thickened sugarcane juice. We loved it, and couldn’t have enough of the residual syrup collected during its making. We used to call it sira — but worldwide it’s known as molasses.

So, as you can see, my relationship with molasses goes back many years. In fact, the Muzaffarnagar village where I grew up was the land of sugar and molasses. Even now, when you cut through the area, you’ll get the strong smell of molasses in the air in winter.

My mother, of course, insisted that while the Uttar Pradesh gur was all right, there was nothing to beat the eastern nolen gur. She was never a cook, but the one heavenly dish that she prepared was payesh with gur. She should have met chef Chiranjib Chatterjee of Afraa in Calcutta. He would have told her that nolen gur — made with palm date — and other molasses aren’t good merely for payesh. You can use molasses very, very innovatively in a host of dishes — from savouries to desserts.

Pan-seared foie gras with molasses

Indeed, in many parts of the world, molasses — derived from the Portuguese word melaç, which in turn comes from the Latin mel, or honey — are used in the most interesting ways. Barbecued racks of spare ribs go particularly well with molasses. In fact, pork in many forms is served with the sweet and thick syrup. Chef Chiranjib likes to cook pork chops with cider, mustard and a pomegranate molasses glaze.

Because of its strong flavour, the syrup works very well as a flavouring ingredient. And the great thing is that it works so much better than sugar because it has not just taste but colour, texture and aroma as well. Chef Chiranjib uses this well to present a dish of caramelised nuts — walnuts and toasted peanuts, pine nuts and almond — flavoured with jaggery and herbs such as lemon grass, kaffir lime leaves and galangal.

Scallops glazed with coconut and molasses

If you work on it, your dish with molasses can be something out of the ordinary too. The chef’s speciality is the pan-seared foie gras which he cooks with balsamic vinegar and molasses, served with toasted bread.

I didn’t know it earlier, but now I see that there are some people in this world who are truly passionate about molasses. Chef Chiranjib is one such die-hard fan, and I am sure that thousands of people will be ready to pay 10 rupees and join up if he starts a molasses club.

Somewhere, I even read a list of 150 uses of molasses, which had some very illuminating nuggets of information. For instance, while we all know molasses goes into Worcestershire sauce, I didn’t know that it is also used — by some people, at least — for the treatment of boils. And if you want to tar and feather somebody, molasses will help.

If you don’t want to use molasses for any of the above, I would suggest that you use it in the kitchen — for instance to add flavour and sauce to scallops. The chef poaches scallops in a sauce prepared with coconut milk, molasses and sake. For this, heat oil in a saucepan. Add ginger and lemongrass and cook for a minute. Add sake, coconut milk and molasses. Strain and put back in the pot. Add the scallops, poach for 10 minutes, and the dish is ready.

It sounds almost as good as my rice with ghee and khand!

Wine-poached pears with nolen gur (serves 4)

Ingredients

2 ripe but firm pears l1 ½ cup red wine l½ cup orange juice l½ cup nolen gur l1 ½ tbs grated orange rind l3 whole cloves l¼ tsp nutmeg l1 (1-inch)
cinnamon stick l½ tsp grated ginger l4-5 whole peppercorns

Method: Peel the pears without cutting the stems. Cut a thin slice from the bottom of each pear so that they can stand. Set them aside. Take a deep pot and add the wine and gur. Mix and bring to a boil. Add the orange rind and orange juice, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and peppercorns. Allow this to simmer for eight minutes or so. Place the pears in the pot. Simmer. Keep turning the pears on their sides so that they absorb the liquid and the colour. Cover the pot partly with a lid and let the pears cook in the liquid for 35 minutes or so.

This can be prepared in advance since you can refrigerate the poached pears for up to two days. Before serving, remove the pears. Strain and boil the liquid till thick and syrupy. Reheat the pears with the syrup, and then place them on a serving dish, covered with the hot syrup. Or you can serve the pears and the syrup chilled.

Photographs by Rashbehari Das