Coconut and Cardamom Burfi

Burfi are a type of Indian sweet made from condensed milk and sugar, usually with nuts and spices added for flavour. This is a quick version, using sweetened condensed milk to save you having to reduce milk and sugar together to form the sticky base of the mixture. These went down extremely well with the girls from work, they are perfectly afternoon-snack-sized.

I was pretty reserved with the cardamom to start off with but added more towards the end for a stronger flavour. Start off with a teaspoon and increase slowly, cardamom can be pretty unpleasant when it’s strong. The flavour will also depend on how fresh your spices are, so if you’re using cardamom that hasn’t seen the light of day for a whole year you may end up adding a lot more than a teaspoon before getting the flavour you want.

I convinced myself that I wanted bite sized balls so I started rolling teaspoon sized pieces of mixture, a decision I began to regret about halfway through. I forced myself to carry on and keep them the same size, something I’m not usually disciplined enough for (back in the day when I hand rolled cookie dough there would always be one giant cookie at the end, an indicator of the moment when I just stopped caring anymore). If you don’t mind balls that are two bites worth, save yourself the anguish and roll tablespoon sized pieces instead.

Coconut and Cardamom Burfi

Adapted from Raini Singh’s Coconut cardamom burfi over at SBS Food.

250g desiccated coconut

395g tin sweetened condensed milk

1 tsp ground cardamom seeds

1/2-3/4 cup pistachios, chopped roughly

big pinch of sea salt

In a medium pan combine 200g of the coconut with the condensed milk, cardamom, pistachios and salt.

Place the pan over low heat and stir as the mixture warms up.

Keep stirring until the mixture drys out slightly and you are able to easily roll a small piece into a ball.

Remove from the heat and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes or until cool enough to handle.

Place the remaining 50g coconut onto a plate.

Dampen your hands with water then roll tablespoon sized balls of mixture, roll in the extra coconut to coat (for bite sized balls roll just one teaspoon of mixture).

Will keep for one week in the fridge.