Ingredients and Method to make coconut burfi
2 cups grated coconut ( nariyal/ thengai) ( see notes)
1 and 1/2 cups sugar ( shakkar/ sakkarai)
1/2 tsp green cardamom seed powder ( elaichi/ ellakkai )
5 tsps clarified butter ( ghee/ nei) + a little extra for greasing
Grease
a tray or a pan and keep aside. I used a 9" X 9" brownie pan this
time, alhough in the past I have used any kind of tray or glass dishes
too.
Place coconut and sugar in a
heavy bottomed pan and place on a low to medium low heat.mix and stir
the mixture frequently. At first the mixture begins to melt then
slowly the mixture begins to thicken.
Add clarified butter/ ghee and cardamom powder/ elaichi and continue to cook on even heat.
Stir
frequently and cook until the mixture begins to come together and no
moisture remains. One thing I do to know if it's almost done, is towards
the end, lower heat and put a little mixture on a plate, blow to cool a
little and try to roll into a small ball. If it rolls easily and smoothly it's almost done, not
fully but almost there, stir just a little bit until the moisture is
almost gone and it comes together. The fourth pic below was just before I
took it out to spread on the tray. You can just go by the visual check
to see if the moisture has evaporated too, I just find this a useful
technique to let me know its almost done :)
Pour onto
pre greased tray/ dish/ pan and place a parchment paper on top and with
the help of the back of a smooth backed cup or a spatula spread the
coconut mixture evenly. If you do not have parchment paper on hand
grease the back of a smooth backed cup and smoothen out the mixture.
When it cools a little cut into desired shape with a sharp knife.
Yields approx about 36 - 1 inch square pieces.
Notes:
Grate and use only the white part of the coconut, make sure not to mix in the brown part of the coconut for this sweet.