Roasted coconut candy - கமர் கட்டு - step by step - Friendship 5 series

Next in Childhood memory series, I have kamarkat. Its one of the fast moving candies in petty shops.Kamarkat is a hard candy made of roasted coconut and jaggery. This is a one of the favourite candies of kids of 1980 's. This is a traditional cadies, which can be available in small petty shops in our home town. The colour of the kamarkat depends on the colour of the jaggery. I got a light colour jaggery from Indian store, hence the colour. If not the colour of the candy should be dark brown. 

Preparation time : 10 minutes

Cooking time : 10 minutes

Yield :12 approx

Ingredients:

1. Shredded coconut - 1 cup

2.Shredded jaggery - 1 1/4 cup to 1 1/3 cup

3.Rice flour - 1 tbsp

4.Cardamom pwdr - a pinch

5.Ghee - 1 tbsp

6.Water- as needed

Method : 

* Shred the coconut and jagger and keep it ready. I have used 1 1/4 cup of jaggery, if you have a really sweet tooth, then increase it to 1 1/2 cups.

* Take a heavy bottomed pan, add ghee and heat it. Roast the shredded coconut in ghee .The whole process has to take place in medium flame.If not the coconut will turn colour quickly, without getting roasted well.

* Here is the roasted coconut. Always use heavy bottomed pan to roast the coconut, if not it will change colour quickly. Transfer the coconut to a plate and let it get  cooled. Mean while let us prepare the sryup.

* Take jaggery  in a pan. Cover it with water. Don't add too much water, then syrup will take more time to cook. Let the syrup come to boil. Strain the jaggery syrup using a filter. Transfer the filtered syrup to the pan. Turn the flame to medium low. Now check for the conistancy often. Stop the flame , when the syrup reaches hard ball consistancy.

* If you are using a candy thermometer, then the reading should be,260 degree Farenhiet or 126 degree celcius. We can also check the consistancy, by dropping the syrup on a plate of water. We should be able to take the syrup out like a hard ball, as shown in picture.

* Turn the flame to low, once hard ball consistancy is reached. Slowly add the roasted coconut and rice flour. Mix them well and let them get cooked for a minute. Add the cardamom powder to the mixture and mix.

* Now our kamarkat mixture is ready to be shaped. Grease your hands with ghee or just wet your hands. Scoop out a tbsp of kamarkat mixture and roll them into a ball.

* Take a plate and sprinkle rice flour on top of it. Place the rolled kamarkat on the plate. This prevents the kamarkat from sticking to the plate.

                                     Store the kamarkats in clean air tight containers.

Notes:
* If the sugar syrup is not right ,then we cannot shape the kamarkats .
* We can increase or decrease the jaggery .
* The coconut has to be roasted well.
* We can store the kamarkat in air tight containers for atleast 2 days.

Linking this to "Friendship Five " series started by "Geetha Achal" and "Savitha Ramesh"