The first thing of necessary preparations is to grate the white ‘flesh’ of the coconuts. I believe one can even buy already grated coconut but we are used to grating it by hand ourselves. Take care of your hands and grate it without any accidents.

Now take a wok, add the coconut pieces and place it on the stove. Heat it up and while stirring roast the coconut until it changes its colour slightly. Take it out when it is a little bit pinkish and has spread a lovely coconut smell in your kitchen.

In the next step you put the water into a pot, place that pot onto the stove and heat the water up. Add the sugar and let the sugar dissolve in the pot. Now you need to keep on stirring while this sugary sauce is getting warmer and thicker. It will take ten to fifteen minutes for it to be as thick as we want it. You can check whether it is thick enough by taking a bit out with a spoon and trying to form a ball of it in between two fingers. Once the sauce does not flow down your finger anymore but can be formed, it has reached the right consistency.

This is the point when you add the coconut pieces. Mix them well into the sauce and stir for another five minutes. Once you see that a white layer of sugar starts separating at the side of the pot, you can take your pot off the stove.

Now you take a big plate and put a little bit of liquid ghee onto it which you spread over the full plate. This is done to keep the sweet from sticking to the plate, so you don’t need much, just a thin layer. Spread the coconut Desserts on the plate and let it cool down. After ten minutes, take a knife and cut it into pieces of any size you wish for. The cooler the barfi gets, the more solid it will be. Once it is cold, you can break the pieces from each other easily – and enjoy a great Nariyal ki Barfi!