Almond Burfi

IT's hard to resist an Indian sweet treat. I don't really have a sweet tooth but each time I go past an Indian restaurant and catch a glimpse of the array of sweets on display, I stop and stare. No, really I stare. I don't buy these treats much because, well, they're terribly sweet, but whenever I get one at a wedding or party (they're traditionally distributed at weddings and festivals), I never refuse. Especially if it's barfi (or burfi), a milk-based candy.

I've tried my hand at making burfi several times, each time following a different recipe and each time coming up short. After I think about a half a dozen attempts (and going through a couple of litres of milk, lots of sugar and way too much ground almonds), I decided to throw in the towel. It wasn't that I wanted to eat the burfi so badly, I just wanted to be able to make it.

I hate failure, you see. And then I found a recipe that I instinctively felt would work. Instinct is a strange thing.

The recipe seemed almost too simple to be real. But, like I said, I had a gut instinct. Unlike some of the other's I tried, this one didn't call for condensed milk. This already won some points with me. Real sweetened condensed milk is a wonderful thing but it's hard to come by here in Malaysia. What we get here is a bastardised version of the original: a sweetened creamer that is palm-oil based. (Incidentally, I read on Wikipedia that one can make condensed milk by adding sugar to evaporated milk and heating it until all the sugar dissolves and then cooling the mixture. Haven't tried it but perhaps one day soon I will). I haven't had great success baking with the creamer and so I try to avoid recipes that call for condensed milk.

Back to the Burfi. I was surprised that this recipe required very little milk. Just a few tablespoons. What? I began to doubt my instinct but decided to give the recipe a go.

Guess what? I ended up with a batch of delicious candy. Really delicious. I was pleased. Clap, Clap, Clap. I have my doubts about how authentic this recipe is (I tweaked it from the one I spied) but the result was fantastic and I am happy.

Now the good thing about making your own candy is I get to adjust the sweetness to a level I am comfortable with. The recipe called for close to two cups of sugar (for just two cups of ground almond which will yield about 30 pieces of candy). I reduced it by a little more than 1/2 cup. I was worried initially that the reduced sugar would make it difficult for the candy to set but thankfully, though the burfi was a little soft, it set quite nicely.

Almond Burfi

2 cups ground almond
5 tbsp whole milk
11/4 cup sugar
1 tsp ground cardamom

Grease a rimmed baking sheet or square baking pan (a 6 or 8 inch pan is fine)  and set aside.

Sieve the ground almond and add the milk, bit by bit and mix until the mixture becomes like a paste.

Place the almond paste, the sugar and cardamom in a saucepan and heat on low fire, stirring as the sugar melts and the mixture thickens and comes off the edges to almost form a ball.

Remove from the heat and quickly transfer into the greased pan. Flatten it with a wooden spoon till it's about 1/4 inch thick, making sure the sides are nice and compact. Smoothen the top with aluminum foil and leave it to cool, covered by the foil, for at least a couple of hours.

When cool, cut. Store in the fridge.

Choc-onut candy?

That chocolate and coconut go together wondrously is no secret.  All you gotta do is gnaw at (or chomp down, if you are like me) a Bounty bar or have at a lamington (squares of chocolate-coated sponge cake rolled in dessicated/flaked sweetened coconut) to realise that chocolate and coconut, when combined, is just divine.

So, on a particularly restless evening some weeks ago, I decided to try and determine if the choc-onut pairing would work also work in a favourite Malaysian dessert: coconut candy. Now I was aware that I was treading into dangerous waters because a true fan of the classic Malayisan (yes, I am claiming it to be Malaysian) coconut candy doesn't tolerate the bastardisation of the classic recipe.

As a rule, coconut candy must be either pink or green: the more garish the colours the better (see below). Also, the flavour should be pure coconut enhanced only with vanilla or rose essence.

So, seriously, I was a little nervous about messing with a classic. But curiosity always gets the better of me and so I pressed on.

I didn't have a recipe to go by and so, it took some experimenting to find the right amount of cocoa for the candy to be just right.

The first batch I made was weak. I was too stingy with the cocoa and as a result the chocolate flavour wasn't apparent at all and the colour was unappealing too; kinda sandy brown. Unacceptable!

I decided to be bold with the second batch and doubled the amount of cocoa I used. It worked. The taste of chocolate was very apparent and the candy looked like a brownie. Well, kinda.

The verdict? I loved the choc-onut candy as did many of my friends whom I made sample it. Would I try it again? Yeah! Would they try it again? Well, yes but only if I also serve them the original.

"It's lovely but I will always feel a little unfulfilled unless I have a garishly pink or green piece along with this one," was the consensus.

Choc-onut candy

3 cups grated coconut

450g castor sugar

170g evaporated milk

40g butter

1/4 cup cocoa

pinch of salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

Grease a small baking tray with butter.

Place the coconut, sugar, salt and milk in a wok over low heat and stir until the sugar dissolves. Add the butter and then the cocoa. Stir to incorporate both ingredients and then keep stirring  as the mixture thickens so that the bottom doesn't get burnt.

The tricky [art about candy is knowing when to take it off the heat. Take it off too early and your candy will be damp and maybe even a little soggy. Leave it on too long and the candy crumbles. The secret is to watch closely and remove it once the candy starts to stick together and when you stir it with a wooden spoon, it comes together in a ball. Well, sort off. It will be a little wettish still but don't fret, it will harden as it sets.

When the texture is right, remove the candy from the heat onto the greased tray. Using a sheet of foil, press it into a flat layer about 1 inch thick. Compress it well and level the top with a bowl or the palm of your hand.

Leave it to set for an hour or longer. If you want, you may serrate the block of candy by gently running a knife through the wettish layer (so it will be easier to break up or cut up later) but this isn't necessary.