Sunday, April 5, 2015

Coconut Chocolate Fudge (Burfi)




This is one of the easiest and quickest desserts to make. It is also much lower in calories than a typical Indian sweet dish and it has the added advantage of being gluten-free and vegan. It is also a no-fail dessert. The worst thing that can happen is either the burfi comes out too soft or too crumbly. It is still sweetly edible.

If you have shredded coconut and sugar on hand, you can actually do this in fifteen minutes. I usually have a packet of dessicated (shredded and dried)  coconut (you can buy this from any Indian store) which I store in the freezer. Sugar, of course, is a regular staple in most kitchens.



Coconut Burfi

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 10-20 minutes

Ingredients

Dessicated coconut  1 cup
Sugar 1/2 cup (Whatever the amount of coconut you use, sugar is half of coconut. For me using more sugar makes the burfi too sweet.)
Unsweetened cocoa powder 1/4-1/2 teaspoon (optional)
Cardamom pods 3-4
Water 1 tablespoon
Coconut oil or ghee

Instructions

This is stove top cooking. Use a deep pan or skillet to make the burfi.

1. Completely grease a cookie sheet or a plate with coconut oil or ghee.

2. In a bowl mix coconut and cocoa powder.



3. Add water and sugar into the pan and heat over medium flame. Let the sugar dissolve completely. Heat till it reaches a thin syrupy consistency.


4. Add the coconut mix into dissolved sugar. With a spatula blend in the coconut thoroughly into the sugar syrup.

5. Stir the mix over the heat till the mixture thickens and start leaving the sides of the skillet. As it thickens it will coagulate like a ball. When that happens, turn the heat off and let it sit for a couple of minutes in the hot pan.


6. Turn the cooked mixture over to the greased plate and with the back of a spoon spread it evenly and thinly across the plate. Using a knife, score diagonally to cut into diamond shaped pieces.



Enjoy and try to limit yourself to one piece a day :)

Thanks for visiting.