Coconut (Narial) Barfi with Nuts

Today is Dussehra / Vijaya Dashmi - A day where good prevails evil - A day when Ravan was killed by Bhagwan Ram to restore peace. Overall a festive say with lots of fun, food, colors, puja's etc etc.

Was wondering what to make for prasad today - and then dear husband asked me to make his favorite Narial Barfi . Just added some toasted and ground nuts to make it a little rich. Turned out to be good. 

Ingredients

2 cups fresh coconut (grated) - I get frozen coconut here and I used 2 cups of that (thawed)
2 cups sugar
1 cup nuts (cashews, almonds, walnuts, pistachios)
1 tablespoon khuskhus (poppy seeds)
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 tablespoon rose water (optional)
pinch of saffron
3 to 4 drops of yellow food color (optional)
1 teaspoon ghee (for greasing the cookie sheet)

Method

Lightly toast the nuts either in the oven or in a karahi. Let them cool and them have them coarsely ground. In a non-stick karahi add the coconut, sugar and the khuskhus and let it cook on a medium flame. Keep stirring continuously as you do not want the sugar and the coconut to get burnt. You will see that the sugar starts to melt and you will get a faint cooked coconut smell. To this add the ground nuts mixture, saffron and the cardamom powder along with the rose water and yellow food color. Mix well. this takes about half hour to 40 minutes - you will see that the mixture leaves the sides of the karahi. Get this mixture off the heat. Pour this hot mixture on a greased cookie sheet or a greased plate and flatten the mixture to get it even on all sides. Cut it into cubes while it is hot. Now let it sit and cool completely. it will get into a nice hard/soft barfi consistency when cool. Remove the cubes from the cookie sheet and relish.