Kopra pak
Naral wadi/Coconut fudgeYou would say potato- "potahto"- whats the difference? Thats what P said to me when i told him what i was cooking. But my dear friends, there is..... for coconut burfi is made using milk while kopra pak is made using sugar syrup, i.e. sans milk. And what prompted me to make these delicious Indian sweets?
Well, if you have read my previous posts you would know that these sweets are P's favorites and he swears by them. Since the past couple of days i have been cooking mostly for blog events. As a result, P who loves a simple, everyday fare of dal, chawal, roti, sabzi had an overdose of my trysts with cooking. To make it upto P, i made his favorite dishes- the coconut burfi is the first one.
I experimented with dessicated coconut instead of fresh grated coconut for the first time. For the most part, the coconut burfi and kopra pak turned out pretty awesome except for some technical difficulties. I will talk about it a little later on in the post.....
Now, onto the recipe....
Coconut burfi
Makes 8-9
1/2 cup dessicated unsweetened coconut (you can also use fresh coconut)
2/3 cup 2% milk (you can use whole milk or condensed milk too)
1/3 tsp cardamom powder
4 tbsp sugar (you can add more or less depending on your taste)
3 coarsely crushed almonds
a few strands saffron(mixed in 2 tsp of hot milk)
1/2 tsp ghee
1. Heat the ghee and add the dessicated coconut. Saute/Mix it well for 2 minutes (dont let it turn brown).
2. Add the milk, cardamom powder, almonds, saffron and sugar and let the concotion boil, stirring it once in a while till it thickens and becomes dry and firm (of a fudge consistency) but still soft.
3. Pour into a plate already greased with a little ghee and with a flat spoon roll/pat out evenly in the plate. Cut it into diamond shaped pieces and let it cool. Do not remove from the plate.
4. After its completely cooled, put it in the refrigerator so that it sets in firmly and doesnt break.
5.Remove after 5-6 hours and relish....
Kopra pak
(I made these from this recipe i found on the internet- that claimed that the recipe source was the "Dakshin Vegetarian recipes" by Chandra Padmanabhan- Hence i decided to give it a try - the only change being use of dessicated coconut instead of fresh grated one)
Makes 13-14 pieces
Ingredients
1 cup dessicated unsweetened coconut (you can also use fresh coconut)
3/4th cup sugar (i reduced the sugar by 1/4th cup, yet found the kopra pak to be very sweet and i do have a sweet tooth- if you prefer less sweet you could lessen it to your liking)
1 cup water
1/2 tsp cardamom powder
3-4 sliced almonds
a few strands of saffron crushed with some sugar (the sugar helps crush the saffron- do it in a mortar and pestle)
1. Heat the water and sugar till it becomes thick and of a syrupy consistency.
2. Add in the cardomom, saffron, almonds and coconut and mix well. Cook it for another 5 minutes.
3. While its still pourable, transfer it to a plate greased with little ghee and pat it evenly.
4. While its still hot, cut into diamond shaped pieces but do not remove from plate. Allow to cool and set.
OK, now onto the difficulties that i faced while making these sweets-
The coconut fudge didnt set in firmly as it should have. Some of the pieces kept breaking off. I dont know the reason for that. Any help or suggestions would be helpful.
The Kopra Pak turned out to be a little too sweet for my taste- I thought that P who doesnt have a sweet tooth would not eat them at all and i would have to finish them off. However, P couldnt stop licking his fingers when i gave him some to sample. He finished off half the plate of kopra pak right then- just goes to show how much P loves Naral wadi/Kopra Pak. Next time if i make it again, i would either reduce the sugar by another 1/4th cup or increase the coconut by another half cup and keep the rest of the ingredients the same.
The Naral wadi looks yum and I have a sudden craving for it. Sadly I am on a diet.
BTW you have been tagged on my blog and also take a look at my food event. Would love to have your entry
Also read your Ekadashi post. Its a classic case of Ekadashi Duppatkhashi.HeHeHe!!!
My fave childhood snack we ate non-stop!!:D
Looks wonderful.Good job.It's pretty hard to get that firm consistency.
Naralachi wadi masta jhaliye...its been a long time since I made these, must get to it.:)
this looks great!! nice texture:)
great yaar.. I am looking to make this desert from a long time, now i got it. i am going to try this sweet now..
I would say instead of making Sugar syrup in water, if milk is used, it'll make it smoother (creamy) to eat and still keep the same texture... :)
very nice yummmmmmmmmm
i am cofused same like parag said before i can use milk instead of water can i
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