Coconut Barfi (Write For Us Contest Entry - 30)

Coconut taken in raw form can benefit the body in many ways. Coconut helps to cleanse and detoxify your system. Many people consume raw coconut to derive all its goodness in natural form. Coconut in raw form can be used for cooking purposes. It can be used to prepare various meals. For this particular recipe may be we are spoiling the natural goodness of coconut by adding sugar, but definitely it tickles your tastebuds. For health benefits, you can use jaggery instead of sugar. The texture and taste may differ but personally I feel sugar barfis are tastier as they are a bit crunchy on the outside and soft inside.

Ingredients:

• Coconut - 2 cups(shredded coconut)
• Sugar - One and half cups
• Water - Half cup
• Cardamom powder - Pinch
• Milk - Few drops
• Ghee - To grease the plate

Preparation:

Scrape the coconut using a coconut scraper. Measure 2 cups of the shredded coconut and keep it ready. Alternatively you can cut the coconut into very small pieces and grind it using the mixer.

Add sugar along with water. Let the sugar melt add a few drops of milk. The impurities in the sugar if any will float on the top. Remove the impurities using a ladle.

Check for two string consistency of the syrup, when you touch the syrup with your thumb and forefinger, you should be able to see two threads.

Add coconut and cardamom powder and let the coconut cook well in the syrup. Keep stirring until the mixture becomes thick.

Grease a plate with ghee and add the cooked coconut burfi in it. Let it cool for a minute and draw the lines to cut the barfi into desired shapes. On further cooling, remove the pieces using knife. The barfi comes off easily.

Alternatively, you can grease your hands and make warm mixture into laddus also. Delicious coconut barfi is ready to be served.

Contributed By: Sharanya Csl