Happy Navratri to all you dear Indians

Happy Navratri to one and all wherever you are ~ Coconut Burfi

“Nav” means “nine” and “ratri” means “night”. Thus, he meaning of “Navratri” is “nine nights’. It is one of the most significant festivals for Hindus; especially for Gujratis and Bengalis and one can see it in their enthusiasm and celebrations with which they indulge during this season. Dandiya and Garba Rass are in full swing during this season, again especially for the Gujrati’s with all those lavish lehengas and elaborate dance. The farmers celebrate it by sowing seeds and thank the Goddess for her blessings and pray for better yield. My mom also did pooja, prepared sweets and of course, we danced all nine nights at this huge Dandia venue. Now, far away from home I want to preserve tradition and introduce it to my son if not that elaborately at least with whatever I can. So, I made Coconut Burfi for sweets keeping in mind that’s the fastest sweet I could make with a little one. Yes, we are going for Dandia over the weekend; weekend only, again because of my little one. But I am glad I could at least this much.
There were lots of recipes available for coconut burfi online but the one I am making is the closest to my Mom’s. I made this for the pooja and will enjoy it afterwards.

Coconut powder

Recipe:
1 cup shredded coconut
3/4 – 1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1 tsp elaichi powder
A few slivered pistachios (optional)
A pinch of kesar (optional)
Some ghee

Heat a pan, add just enough ghee to toast the coconut until the aroma is released.

Toasted coconut powder

Remove it from the pan and now add sugar and water to the same pan and dissolve the sugar. Add elaichi powder and let it boil until you see a thick syrup consistency. Meanwhile grease a pan with some ghee and keep it aside. Once the syrup consistency is reached, add the coconut, kesar and quickly pour into the greased pan, even out with a spatula. Sprinkle the pistachios.

Coconut Burfi poured into a pan for cooling

Cut squares before it cools. Let it cool. If you have edible silver, apply that. Enjoy these delicious homemade burfi. Something for the sweet tooth.

Homemade Coconut Burfi for this Navratri Pooja

NOTE: I used store bought coconut powder to cut short my time, but by all means try to use fresh coconut if you can. Also, adding the silver, pistachios, kesar is all my own choice.