This is a classic Kerala recipe from the 1970s to which I have added little. Many of your moms (from Kerala) may already have their favourite version of this coconut pudding recipe.
This was one of the easy, go-to desserts of those times. The reason may be because all of us had coconut trees in abundance in every house. Even today people have all the means of getting tender coconuts very quickly, and so this could be called ones of the quickest and easiest to make, if you have a couple of hours (for the pudding to set).
I became a fan of this pudding when I went to India this year and my Mother-in-law made it for me. I made it myself again, and here's how:
Difficulty level: Easy
Preparation time: 10 min
Cooking time: 15 min
Setting time: 3-4 hrs
Ingredients:
Tender coconut water: 2 cups
Flesh of tender coconut: of 1 coconut, about 1 1/2 cups
Milk: 1 1/4 cups
Sweetened coconut milk: 200 gms
Agar-agar: 5 gms, dissolved in 1/2 cup water
Sugar: 3 tbsp
For Garnish:
Shredded coconut: 3/4 cups
Sugar: 4 tbsp
In a thick-bottom saucepan, heat the tender coconut water, milk, sugar, sweetened condensed milk until luke-warm. In the meantime, in another bowl, double-boil the agar-agar until completely melted. Add the melted agar-agar to the milk mixture and mix well and keep stirring for 1 minute.
Remove from fire and add the flesh of the tender coconut, mix well. Pour into a pudding dish and allow to set.
To prepare the garnish, heat the shredded coconut and sugar until the sugar has caramelised and the coconut is brown and crispy. Allow to cool slightly.
After the pudding is about 75% set (about 1 hr), sprinkle the garnish according to your liking. Allow to set completely.
Dig in!!!!!
