My husbands grandparents (86 and 92 years young) visit us once a year. It is during these visits that I sit with them and speak to them about their childhood and life. During one such visit, I casually asked Ajja (grandfather) what was one sweet/dessert that Ajji (grandmother) made the best. 'Kobri mittai!'(coconut burfi) came the reply, eyes glittering with memories of the past . That was when I decided to become Ajji's apprentice in the kitchen for the day.When I mentioned to Ajji that we would be making a jaggery version of kobri mittai along with the sugar version of the same, she thought for a while and said, 'though I have never made it with jaggery, no harm in trying'. So here I share with you the recipe passed down from Ajji to me with a few modifications.
You will need
3 cups of grated coconut( 1 large coconut)
1.5 cup jaggery (powdered)
1 cup milk (optional)
¼ pod vanilla powdered (or the ''caviar'' of one full vanilla)
1 pod cardamom (powdered) or saffron
oil/ghee to grease the tray.
Method
In a heavy bottomed pan mix all the ingredients.
Method
In a heavy bottomed pan mix all the ingredients.
Cook in low flame with constant stirring. Take care to see that the mixture doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.
Burfi is done when the mixture forms a single mass and no longer sticks to the bottom.
.
Pour into a greased tray and cut when warm.
Note: Ajji lets all the ingredients to soak in the pan for at least 5 hours before heating.
Those who want a 'richer' version may include about 2 tablespoons of unsweetened Kova (condensed milk)
For those who are curious, Ajji loved 'jaggery kobri mittai' and Ajja later gave me a list of delicacies to be learnt from Ajji!
Incredible, but the recipe seems very much like the dulce de leche preparation of the Caribbean (Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic).
ReplyDeleteI guess Dulce de leche translates to sweet made from milk. Interesting, does the recipe use coconut too?
ReplyDeleteIt was a slip of my finger- the recipe that I was alluding to was dulce de coco.
DeleteYour recipe is definitely uncommon and looks very wholesome. I wonder if other wholesome sweeteners could be used in place of jaggery. Any ideas? Of course, I could try and post a comment.
ReplyDeleteYou could use sucanat,molasses,unrefined sugar. I don't know if sucanat has 'binding' properties. I know that molasses doesn't bind well with coconut (at least the ones we get here don't) and I cannot 'cut' the sweet into pieces. If you don't mind a softer version of the same sweet, you could give it a try and remember, if you cannot cut into neat squares, you could always roll it into balls and if it is too crumbly then you could eat it with a spoon! If you try this recipe with any other wholesome sweeteners please let me know:)
ReplyDelete