Coconut Burfi with Desiccated Coconut and Coconut Cream or Milk
Narial aur Narial Cream ki Barfi
Reeta Kumar
Note from Reeta: This recipe was made with these ingredients because that is what I had at home at the time and I needed to make a sweet. There are always dry coconuts in an Indian home because they are used for many festive occasions, as an offering to Gods, priests and even family members. I had bought some coconut cream on a recent trip to Thailand. So I used them both and the burfies came out very nice.
Ingredients
2 whole dry coconuts. You can use coarsely desiccated coconut-about 3 cups
1 tbsp. ghee
200 ml. tin of coconut cream or milk
Caster sugar or ground sugar to taste
1 tsp. ground cardamom seeds, green ones and not the large brown ones
1-2 tbsp. thinly sliced almonds/cashew/pistachio (not salted) mix –optional
A greased, flat tray.
Optional: A few sheets of silver leaf (varak)
Instructions
Scrape the brown peel off the coconuts, using a sharp knife. Grate.
Heat ghee in a wok or karahi, add grated coconut and fry on medium heat, until lightly browned.
Add coconut cream, sugar and cardamom powder. Continue stir-frying on low heat for further 5-6 minutes to make halva; till it begins to come off the pan or looks quite thick.
Turn the heat off, add cardamoms, half of almonds/cashew/pistachios and mix.
Spread out on a greased tray and sprinkle rest of the nuts on top evenly. You can garnish it with varak (edible silver leaves, often used to decorate Indian sweets). Allow to cool. Cut into squares or diamonds.
You can also serve it as halva, while still warm
Notes
Reeta is my younger sister and lives in Noida, in India-Mamta.
