Coconut Burfi / thengai burfi (Burfee / Barfi ) is a sweet confectionery from India and it is made with coconut, sugar, ghee and nuts. It is my brother’s favorite sweet and my mother makes this burfi at home for every Diwali. But the process of making coconut burfi slightly differs from one home to other home. In my sister in law’s home, they add rose essence to burfi and in one of my friend’s home, they add saffron to it. But I love to eat it plain without any flavors in it. This easy to make traditional diwali sweet can be made with very less ingredients. They are so moist, chewy and in every bite, you can feel the burst of coconut juice and ghee flavors . Even beginner can make this coconut burfi for diwali without any difficulty. Try this coconut fudge or nariyal barfi in your home and let me know how it turned out.

    Ingredients

1 Cup of Fresh Coconut
1 Cup of White Sugar
1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp of Water
1 Pinch of Cardamom Powder
1 Tbsp of Ghee (Melted Butter)
10 Roasted Cashews, Chopped
7 Roasted Almonds

Method

• Grind the coconut in a mixie without adding water, to get a fine powder but little coarse .
• Grease the tray with ghee and keep it aside.
• Take a wide bottomed non stick pan, add sugar and water, mix well until the sugar dissolves completely and starts bubbling as seen in the picture.

• Keep stirring, until you get a single string consistency. This can be examined by taking a drop of syrup between index finger and thumb as you see in the picture. Once you get the single strand consistency, add the coconut, mix well with sugar syrup.

• Keep on stirring until you get bubbles at the edges, now add the ghee, followed by the addition of cashews and cardamom powder, mix well. Again keep stirring until the coconut mixture thickens and starts coming off from the sides of the pan. Now turn it off the flame.

• Pour immediately to the greased tray, after 20 mins, cut into squares or any desired shape.

•   Cool completely and store it in an airtight container.

Tips

• Single strand consistency is most important. So always keep an eye on it while stirring.
• If you don’t get roasted cashews, roast the raw cashews in a tsp of ghee and add it to the coconut mixture.
• Don’t use dry dessicated coconut to make this burfi, it won’t taste good as fresh coconut burfi.
• You can use any nuts of your choice to this burfi.
• Always cook the whole process in medium flame.
• Adjust the amount of sugar according to your taste.
• While scraping the coconut don’t use the brown part of coconut.
• You can also roast the coconut in ghee before adding it to the sugar syrup.
• If you want colored burfis, add saffron or edible color like orange or green or both.

Health Benefits of Coconut

• Quick energy boost.
• High in dietary fiber.
• Improves heart health.
• It has anti-bacterial,anti-fungal & anti-parasitic properties.
• Coconut oil can improve blood cholesterol level, boosts brain function.

        Cornflakes mixture is a guilt free evening snack to munch with a cup of tea or coffee. My husband and I just love this mixture for evening snack, we also like Haldiram cornflakes mixture a lot. This is very easy to make crispy munchy snack.  Also it is ideal for children lunch box snack. Any beginner or bachelor who wants to try some simple and easy recipe for diwali, can try this mixture. So try this easy and instant mixture for diwali and enjoy.



     Ingredients

          1 Cup of Cornflakes
          1/2 Cup of Aval (Poha or Flattened Rice)
          1/4 Cup of Raw Peanuts
          2 Tbsp of Roasted Gram Dal
          1 Sprig of Curry Leaves
          1 Tsp of Red Chilly Powder or to taste
          Pinch of Sugar
          Pinch of Black Salt (Kala Namak)
          7 Roasted Almonds
          Salt to taste
          Pinch of Asafoetida
          2 Tsp of Oil


     Method

• In a microwave safe bowl, add the corn flakes to it and microwave it for 2 mins. Every 30 secs, take the bowl out and mix it. This is to avoid burning taste. Transfer this to a mixing bowl.
• In a pan, heat 1/2 tsp of oil, add aval, fry for a min and transfer it to cornflakes bowl. Again in the same pan, add some oil, and fry the roasted gram dal and peanuts for 2 mins, until they changes color. Transfer it to a bowl containing cornflakes.
• Heat oil in a pan, in a low flame, add the curry leaves, asafoetida, red  chilly powder, salt and sugar, give a quick stir and turn off the flame. Transfer this to a bowl containing corn flakes and add black salt. Mix gently until all the ingredients are well coated with spices.
• Cool down and store it in an airtight container.
• Serve it as evening snack for coffee or tea.

     Tips

• You can also fry the cornflakes in a pan with oil instead of doing it in microwave.
• You can take some cornflakes in a strainer and immerse it into heated oil and fry it, in that case you get a very nice taste. But this method is good for health.
• Add any nuts of your choice like cashews, raisin or walnuts.
• Adding black salt is optional. Just use table salt.
• Don’t use flavored cornflakes to make this mixture.

  
     Health Benefits of Cornflakes

• Low sugar and less in calories.
• It is easy to digest, quite light, and has all essential vitamins and minerals that your body is needed.
• Good diet plan to prevent heart disease and cholesterol.
• A good source of anti-oxidants as they contain carotenoid pigment which prevents the cardiovascular disease and cancer.