Coconut Cookies

Ingredients:
2 cups grated Dried Coconut / Kopra
4 cups All Purpose flour
1/2 cup Cashew nuts
3 cups powdered Sugar
5 - 6 Cardamom / Elakki
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
3 cups melted Ghee

Recipe:
Put sugar in a mixer, grind it to very fine powder and keep it aside. Put cashew nuts in a mixer and crush it for few seconds. Put dried coconut(grated) in a mixer and crush it for few seconds.

Put all purpose flour, powdered sugar, mashed cardamom powder, crushed coconut, cashew nuts and baking soda in a vessel and mix them well. Add melted ghee little by little, kneed and prepare the soft dough as shown in the picture below.

Preheat the microwave to 160 degree C in convection mode. Take lemon sized dough and make a round ball. Press it little bit to a round shape(1/4 inch thick) and place it over the microwave safe tray as shown in the picture below. (For oven, please follow the steps mentioned in Almond Cookies recipe.)

Place this cookies in a microwave (Lower shelf) and cook them at 160 degree C temperature for about 20 mins until the bottom part of the cookies turn light golden in colour.

Take the tray outside from the microwave and once they are cooled to room temperature, store them in an airtight container. The above mentioned ingredients will serve around 100 cookies.

Seme(Vermicelli) Payasa / Sevai Kheer

Ingredients:
2 cups Vermicelli / Seme / Sevai
6 - 7 cups Milk / Fresh Coconut milk
3.5 - 4 cups Sugar
3 tsp cashew nuts
3 tsp Raisins
2 tsp Nandini/MTR Badam powder
5 - 6 Cardamoms
2 - 3 tsp Ghee

Recipe:

Put vermicelli in a heavy bottomed vessel, add 2 tsp ghee and fry them in low/medium flame for about 5-8 mins until they turn light golden in colour as shown in the picture below.

Grind fresh/frozen grated coconut into smooth paste by adding little amount of water.(If it is frozen coconut, use warm water while grinding.) Squeeze the ground coconut, by placing it in a clean cotton cloth.

After this process, add 6-7 cups of water to the squeezed coconut, mix well and squeeze it again.
Put this thin coconut milk in a vessel and bring it to boil. Add vermicelli and cook them well by covering a lid.

Add sugar and bring them to boil. Keep this in medium/low flame for about 10 mins.

Put 1 tsp ghee in a pan and heat. Add broken cashew nuts, raisins and fry them in medium flame until they turn light golden in colour.

Add the coconut milk/milk, stir the Payasa and bring it to boil. 

Add mashed cardamom seeds, fried cashew nuts, raisins, badam powder and keep the Payasa in low flame for about 1-2 mins. Mix well before serving. Serve hot or chilled.