kamarkat

Sometimes, on a leisurely day, after lunch, you need a sweet to round off the lazy, replete, lie around and do-nothing feel. And if there are none in the house , but there is  some coconut already grated in the fridge, one can whip up a batch of kamarkat in 10 minutes. The simplest, nicest, back to childhood, long- lasting- in- the- mouth sweet. Its hard to call it a sweet because its has no expensive , high calorific ingredients. It’s a poor man’s toffee, sold outside school gates (I don’t know if it still is).

Ingredients:

Grated coconut – 1 cup

Jaggery –  1 1/2 cups

Cardamom- 2 –powdered.

Method:

Heat the jaggery in a strong pan with a few tsps of water till it melts. If the jaggery is dirty, you may have to strain it to remove the dust.

Keep cooking the jaggery till it gives off a great aroma, looks dark brown and gets to 2-string consistency .

Put in the grated coconut and stir for a bit. Add the cardamom powder

Pour onto an oiled plate. Leave to cool for a few minutes and then, with oiled hands roll into balls.

I agree that my kamarkats don’t have the dark brown colour of yore. Maybe the jaggery is cleaner. Still they do taste good. The best description of the taste of a kamarkat I found was by a nostalgic Tamil  on Madras Memories. Read it for the authentic taste.