Kobri Mithayee or Tenga Burfi - Coconut Sweet

Kobri Mithayee or Tenga Burfi - Coconut Sweet
This name brings back memories of the numerous “potti kadais” (“Box shops” when literally translated, to denote their tiny size!), selling betel leaves, scented nuts, ‘goli’ sodas, tobacco, snuff, beedies and cigarettes, which dotted every corner of our ancient city not so long ago. Ripe Nanjangood Rasa Bales - a special sweet variety of bananas, were hung in bunches from the ceiling of the ‘shops’. These shops were mere wooden boxes which sat conveniently on any and every corner of the compound walls which ran along the busy city streets. A garland of newspapers and magazines were strung across the 10’ x 10’ ‘shop’. The ‘bennae’ biscuits ( butter biscuits), ‘karada kadale’ (spiced up ground nuts), kodu balae (a crispy savory dough ring), lemon peppermints, the mint candies with zebra stripes , the mini sized ‘kadlekai undaes’ (a sweet made of ground nuts and jaggery ), and the ever adorable kobri mithayees were all lined up in shiny glass jars in the front row of the shop attracting school children who passed by.
Kobri mithayee has been the favourite among school children through many generations. The school where my children studied had a ‘tuck shop’ where they sold goodies to the children during tea breaks. My children often pestered me for two rupees before going to school, just to buy their favourite ‘tuck’. I wondered what this 'tuck' was all about until finally I found out that it was nothing but our old kobri mithayee in a new caramelized form.
Mother prepared the best of kobri mithayees , which looked like snow white crystals ,soft and chewy at the same time .We hung around while the sweet was being prepared enjoying the aroma to our heart’s content. The moment they were cut, the hot sweet squares melted into our eager mouths and disappeared without a trace. Somehow, I never got the same texture when I tried to prepare kobri mithayee. A friend of mine gave me a fool proof method to prepare this sweet. Though it can never match mother’s preparation, I think I have managed to get a satisfactory mithayee.


INGREDIENTS:



Requirements are 1 coconut, 1 tumbler milk and 2 tumblers of sugar. When I measured the gratings of one moderate sized coconut it measured up to 1.5 tumblers. The measures are given accordingly below.


Fresh grated coconut - 1 and 1/2 portions
Sugar – 2 portions
Milk – 1 portion

METHOD:
1. Mix all the ingredients in a thick vessel and place it on flame.
2. Keep stirring till the sugar starts to melt.
3. Decrease flame to low, and go about your other chores.
4. Stir the liquid mass now and then.
5. When the whole mass thickens, it will gather into a big ball while stirring.
6. Pour this into a greased plate and flatten with a spatula.
7. When it cools and solidifies cut it into squares with a sharp knife

Store in a dry air tight jar, if anything is remaining after relishing your kobri mithayee!

Comments

Lakshmi said…
I just visited Gayatri who made Kobbarimithayee too. Enappa suddenagi kobbari mithayi male? They look tempting in the picture :) Dabba angadi mithayi maja ne beere bidi :D
kittymatti said…
Amazing! Reminds me of my grandma.. the pic looks sooo perfect!
children enjoyed mithayee very much with me. one week's items consumed in half an hour. appa
lubnakarim06 said…
Oh wow that's so simple and yum...
Unknown said…
my favourite sweet..though I have them rarely these days..but it is ceratinly prepared especially for me when I visit India..I like the measuremnets you have stated..will be easy for me to make..
jayasree said…
Your version sounds easy. No paaghu business with sugar as in my method.
Ivy said…
Wow, I love coconut and this sounds amazing.
Indian Khana said…
Ahh just today one of my frd was talking abt tenga burfi and here you are....looks so delicious
FH said…
I love my ajji's Kobbari mithai she used to make every time we visted. Freah sweet coconut gives you whole different taste than the Spanish coconut we get here.

Looks perfect Dibs, one of those sweets I can't make perfectly like home like Mysorepak!:D

I am off blogging until June, happy Mother's day to your mom. hugs to you!:)
A_and_N said…
One of A's all time fave sweets :)
anudivya said…
I like nice high Thengai burfis... I am not very fond of the yellow, thin, wet ones that some shops have... yours fits the bill perfectly. I love the whiteness and sweetness of it.
How have you been?
Priya Suresh said…
My all fav burfi, just ove it..
Manju said…
ohh..i love this!! when i was a kid, this was my granmoms contribution to my bday parties!! :)
Dori said…
Yum, this looks so good!
Cham said…
That looks so scruptious ur barfi!
ananyavishwanath said…
hi,as usual rocking with my alltime favourite thenga burfi-wow very nice yummy burfi...
Happy Mother's Day to chitra Amma.
vidyavishwanath
YOSEE said…
The crunchy , melt-in-the-mouth, snow white burfis were heavenly. BTW, Mani-angadi still sells the same kobri mithai, kodubale etc. in the same shiny glass jars.
Kayal said…
I can feel the taste of ur burfi..hmmm yummy
dsdsds said…
oh I miss those days.. This post reminds me of my childhood.. and thats yet another reason, it is special!!
Harish Krishnan said…
Wow! Looks yummy! I normally use Coconut Milk instead of milk to make it a bit different :)
Jayashree said…
Nice pic....shows off the milky white burfis perfectly.
Unknown said…
i tried the burfis and they came out so good..posted in my blog today..thanks a lot for the recipe..
Roochi said…
my fav sweet... i tried this out pouring milk, however it turned out soft only even after it cooled down... not sure what mistake i made. However i enjoyed the soft sweet :) i shall try it again to make it like urs as in the pic