A sweet ending - Coconut Burfi

Having effectively blogged about an Indian starter and main already this month, I felt it was rather remiss of me to leave out the most important course of all, pudding...or dessert if you are not (Northern) British. I sometimes think that Indian puddings are a bit of a faff, and end up with generally serving fruit to cleanse the palate...not a bad thing, but I did fancy something a little different.

This pudding is remarkably easy actually, and even better has to be prepared ahead of time so less hassle when you've finished off the main course. It is undeniably sweet though, so a little goes a really long way. It has the texture of rice pudding even though there is no rice in it and even though a coconut might not be on your shopping list ordinarily, it's worth the slight diversion in the fruit and vegetable aisles. Plus lopping the top off the coconut was quite satisfying really, as was drinking the coconut water before removing the coconut from the husk. A pretty small coconut gave up the 200g of coconut required and Lola and Finn were happy because the coconut husk was happily used as horses' hooves for about half an hour afterwards. Who needs a Nintendo DS really?

The recipe is taken from Gordon Ramsay's Great Escapes. And it was delicious, if very rich. But that isn't a bad thing.

Coconut Burfi, taken from Great Escapes by Gordon Ramsay

Serves 4 - 6, plus Lola and Finn

Ingredients:

200g freshly grated coconut

100g dessicated coconut

100g caster sugar

400ml tin (well, 397ml) condensed milk

4 - 5 cardamom pods, seeds finely ground

4 tbsp unsalted butter, plus extra to grease

Ground pistachio nuts to decorate

Method:

I grated my coconut (sort of) in a whizzer.

Put all the ingredients except the cardamom and the butter into a wide pan and gently cook for about 20 - 25 minutes. Be vigilant because the mixture should not colour so you will have to stir pretty often.

When the mixture is quite sticky, add the butter and the cardamom and remove the pan from the heat.

Pour the mixture into the a lightly buttered baking dish and spread out evenly. You are looking for a depth of two to three centimetres ideally but I don't think it is crucial.

Once the mixture has been placed in the dish, put it in the fridge for at least half an hour but ideally a couple of hours to allow it to firm up.

To serve, cut the burfi into diamonds, or squares. (I decided on squares, I cut out the square shape and then levered the square out with a fish slice).

Decorate with ground pistachio and then serve.