Dodol is a type of sweet meat commonly made with rice flour, coconut milk and jaggery, it is dense in texture and gooey in texture. There are many types of dodols available in the stores. In India, It is called halwa and can be bought easily from sweet confection shops. Women and kids are fonder of eating dodols. Some women use it as a face mask for making their skin glow.
Preparing the dish is a time consuming task and the major ingredients used for this dish are rice, coconuts, jaggery, sugar and chopped cashewnuts. For making dodols, coconut milk is extracted by grinding the coconut with warm water. Rice flour is added to coconut milk and is stirred well. The mixture is cooked on low heat. Chopped or grated jaggery and chopped cashew nuts are added to the mixture. The ingredients are cooked, till the mixture gets dense. Once done, the cooked liquid is poured in a greased pan and is left to cool. The sweet cake is cut into toffee like pieces and served.
A traditional dodol dish takes at least 8-9 hours to cook. It is very important to keep stirring the dodol to avoid it from burning.
This sweet dish is a very popular delicacy of Indonesia. It is also eaten widely in Ilcos region in Luzon and in the Lanao areas of Mindano. Dodol is also a common sweet meat In Kelantan and Terenganu states of Malayasia. It is widely eaten at the time of Christmas in Goa state of India. This jaggery flavored sweet is also like by the people of Middle Eastern countries, including Persia and Iran.
This sweet toffee is also as montkalama in Singapore, Sri Lanka and Burma and is called halwa in India and Zanzibar. With flavors of Durian fruit, it is called lempuk. Lempuks are mostly sold in Thai markets and stores.
In Bali, these sweet meats are sold after wrapping them in dried corn leaves. A dodol recipe is basically used during the auspicious days of Galungan and Kuningan.
A number of varieties of the dish are available in Asian countries. Here are some of them