This chewy and delicious Thengai Burfi / Coconut Burfi is made with grated fresh coconut, sugar, and some nuts to flavor. A quick and easy dessert that is ready in no time.
This is one of the other sweets that I prepared for Diwali this year. Making this was a last-minute decision and made almost out of impulse, but I am glad I did. My little one who is a little choosy about what he eats loved this Thengai burfi/ coconut burfi.
That is when I realized that it has been a long time since I made Thengai Burfi. I have to admit that Coconut Burfi is one of my favorite and I look forward to those days of having extra coconut gratings just to make this.
Why Make this Coconut Burfi
The month of October was filled with festivals and happening at home. During those days for the rituals and pooja, we buy coconuts. Just out of fear of not having chosen the right coconut we end up buying multiple coconuts.
Yesterday I saw that we had 4 huge coconuts. I asked my husband to crack them open to see what was good and I thought I would grate them and freeze like I usually do.
Fortunately, this time each and every coconut was good and that’s when began my painful job of grating all of them. Once grated, there was a huge pile of coconut staring at me.
Instead of freezing a whole lot of coconut, I decided to make some burfi and then freeze the rest. I have this book by Mallika Badrinath called Traditional sweets. I used her recipe to make this burfi along with a few hints and tips from my mom.
The key to getting a pure white Thengai burfi is to make sure we use the coconut free of any brown skin and also to cook it right, so the color does not darken. It is a very simple recipe made with just a few ingredients.
More Coconut Recipes
Preparation time – 15 mins
Cooking time – 40 mins
Difficulty level – easy
Ingredients to make Coconut Burfi
- Coconut (grated) – 2 cups (packed)
- Sugar – 2 cups
- Water – 1 cup
- Cardamom powder – ½ tsp
- Cashews – few
- Ghee – 3 tsp
Procedure
- Grate the coconut and make sure you grate them in such a way that there is no brown skin in the gratings. I grated the top of my coconut and then took out the gratings for the burfi and then grated the remainder of the coconut. Measure out 2 packed cups of coconut and keep it aside.
- In a small pan, heat a teaspoon of ghee and fry the cashews. Keep it aside.
- Grease a platter with ghee and keep it ready.
- In a wide pan, add the sugar and water and let it come to a boil. Let the sugar syrup come to a soft ball stage. This is a stage when you drop a little bit of syrup in cold water, it forms a chunk and you could form a soft ball out of this.
- At this stage, add the grated coconut to the syrup and mix well. The syrup will liquefy a bit after adding the coconut. Keep mixing the mixture.
- Now when the mixture bubbles up and thickens a bit, add the fired cashew and the remainder of the ghee.
- Keep stirring until the whole thing comes to a thick mass and starts leaving the sides of the pan.
- At this stage drop the burfi into the greased pan and level it out with a spatula.
- When the burfi is still warm, make cuts in the burfi.
- When entirely cool, remove them and store it in an air tight container.
Expert Tips
- The sugar syrup when allowed to come to a softball stage helps in quickening the process. The sugar and coconut could be mixed together in the beginning as well, but it will take quite a bit of time to thicken.
- The last stage is very critical. If the burfi is taken too early, it will be very chewy. If it is left too long, the burfi will become very crumbly.
- To help you figure out the right stage, keep looking for the mixture to start to leave the sides of the pan. It will also start to change color slightly. This is the time when it has to be poured on the greased tray.
More Burfi recipes for Diwali
This post has a beautiful list of different burfi to make for Diwali.
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Coconut Burfi | Thengai Burfi
Ingredients
- 2 cups Coconut grated and packed
- 2 cups Sugar
- 1 cups Water
- ½ teaspoon Cardamom powder
- 2 tablespoon Cashews
- 3 teaspoon Ghee
Instructions
- Grate the coconut and make sure you grate them in such a way that there is no brown skin in the gratings. I grated the top of my coconut and then took out the gratings for the burfi and then grated the remainder of the coconut. Measure out 2 packed cups of coconut and keep it aside.
- In a small pan, heat a teaspoon of ghee and fry the cashews. Keep it aside.
- Grease a platter with ghee and keep it ready.
- In a wide pan, add the sugar and water and let it come to a boil. Let the sugar syrup come to a softball stage. This is a stage when you drop a little bit of syrup in cold water, it forms a chunk and you could form a softball out of this.
- At this stage, add the grated coconut to the syrup and mix well. The syrup will liquefy a bit after adding the coconut. Keep mixing the mixture.
- Now when the mixture bubbles up and thickens a bit, add the fried cashew and the remainder of the ghee.
- Keep stirring until the whole thing comes to a thick mass and starts leaving the sides of the pan.
- At this stage drop the burfi into the greased pan and level it out with a spatula.
- When the burfi is still warm, make cuts in the burfi.
- When entirely cool, remove them and store them in an airtight container.
Video
Notes
- The sugar syrup when allowed to come to a softball stage helps in quickening the process. The sugar and coconut could be mixed together in the beginning as well, but it will take quite a bit of time to thicken.
- The last stage is very critical. If the burfi is taken too early, it will be very chewy. If it is left too long, the burfi will become very crumbly.
- To help you figure out the right stage, keep looking for the mixture to start to leave the sides of the pan. It will also start to change color slightly. This is the time when it has to be poured on the greased tray.
Joanna Sztuk says
Thank you for sharing these mouth watering recipes, which I have missed!
Radha says
I love thenga burfi and will try to make it this Diwali.
I have a question - when should the heat be turned off - when the soft ball stage is reached, or right after adding the coconut, or only when the mixture starts leaving the sides of the pan?
Thanks.
Sandhya Ramakrishnan says
Thanks Radha! You have to add the coconut and keep stirring until everything comes together as a mass and starts leaving the sides of the pan. You will also notice the corners bubbling up and changing color to frothy white.
Catalina says
I love coconut flavor and I will love these for sure! A must try recipe!
Mahy says
These are really good to start the day with. I like thow they look and I bet they are very light, easy-to-make and flavorful!
Veena Krishnakumar says
I love thenga burfi and this plate of burfis is so yummy. I wish i could come and eat it away
harini says
My favorite burfi since childhood!!
Sapana Behl says
Coconut barfi looks so amazing and totally delicious. I shall try it soon your way as mine always become chewy.
Priya Suresh says
Prefectly sliced ultimate burfis, i love these burfis to the core, irresistible and am drooling here.
Pavani says
Those coconut burfi look perfect Sandhya.
All the coconuts that I bought in the recent times had been bad -- I've almost gave up on fresh coconuts 🙁
Mayuri Patel says
I could eat so many pieces of coconut burfi. I love the one made with fresh coconut as opposed to the desiccated one. I also like your explanation as to how to make the syrup.
Vaishali says
The burfi is beautifully made and I am really fond of this mithai . Now you are tempting me .