Indian
Gluten freeKopra pak
Fresh coconut fudge
કોપરા પાક: freshly grated coconut cooked with milk and sugar into a soft, moist, cardamom-scented Gujarati barfi with a saffron glow
Kopra pak is the sweet a Gujarati home makes when a coconut has been broken for a puja and there is too much to use. It is ready in under an hour: fresh coconut is cooked with milk until the milk is soaked up, then with sugar until the mixture comes away from the pan, and it is spread in a thali to set. The result is soft and moist, with the clean, milky sweetness of fresh coconut and a little chew, quite different from dry desiccated barfi. It appears at Diwali, Sharad Purnima and on Bestu Varas, and as prasad after Satyanarayan katha. Use only the white part of the coconut for a pale barfi. Chef's tip: grate the coconut finely or pulse it briefly; coarse shreds make a loose barfi that crumbles when you cut it.
- Prep
- 10 min
- Cook
- 30 min
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Serves
- 8
- Per serving
- 210 kcal
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp gheeplus a little for greasing
- 9 oz fresh coconutbrown skin removed, finely grated (about 1 coconut)
- ¾ cup full-fat milk
- 5 ½ oz sugar
- ½ tsp ground green cardamom
- 1 pinch saffron strands (optional)soaked in 1 tsp warm milk
- 1 tbsp pistachios (optional)slivered
Tick what you have; the rest goes in the basket.
Method
0/6 doneStep 1: Grease an 18 cm tray or thali with a little ghee and set aside.
Step 2: Heat the 1 tbsp ghee in a heavy non-stick kadhai over a low heat, add 9 oz fresh coconut and stir for 3 minutes until fragrant but still white.
3 minStep 3: Pour in ¾ cup full-fat milk and cook over a medium heat, stirring often, for 8–10 minutes until the milk has been absorbed and the coconut looks moist but not wet.
10 minStep 4: Add 5 ½ oz sugar; the mixture turns loose and syrupy. Keep stirring over a medium-low heat for 10–12 minutes until it thickens, gathers into one mass and leaves the sides of the pan. A pinch rolled between your fingers should form a soft ball that doesn't stick. Common mistake: taking it off too early; it will never set and stays sticky.
12 minStep 5: Stir in ½ tsp ground green cardamom and 1 pinch saffron strands, then spread in the greased tray about 1.5 cm thick and level the top with the back of a greased bowl. Scatter over 1 tbsp pistachios and press in.
2 minStep 6: Mark into diamonds while still warm, then leave for 1 hour to set before cutting through. Keep in the fridge for up to 5 days.
KrazyBadal
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Perfect for:Raksha Bandhan