Mani (Rice Sweet Dish)

Ingredients:

1kg rice (uncooked)
450g jaggery (or palm sugar)
2 coconuts
5 tbsp ghee
1½ tsp cardamom powder
120g plums
125g almonds or cashew nuts
salt to taste

Method:

Extract some 2.5l of coconut milk as follows: Grind the fresh coconut to a paste and when the paste is smooth add 1l water (and the juice of 1 coconut) and mix thoroughly. Squeeze as much coconut milk from the resulting mixture as possible. Then add a further 1.5l water, mix and squeeze the coconut milk out again.

Blanch and slice the almonds or cashew nuts then clean the plums. Finely-grind the rice and mix together with 750ml of the coconut milk. Add the remaining coconut milk, powdered jaggery (or palm sugar) and salt (to taste). Mix well.

Add a little ghee to a pot and pour-in the batter made above. Stir and when the batter begins to thicken add more ghee. Stirring all the time now, bring the batter to a boil and continue boiling until the batter begins to become sticky (about 45 minutes). Add the plums at this point along with the almonds/cashews and cardamom powder. Continue stirring as you perform the additions then take the pot off the heat.

Pour into plates or trays that have been coated in ghee then apply some ghee on top, level the surface with a flat knife and allow to cool completely. Finish by cutting into diamond-shaped pieces. Place in the fridge for at least two hours to cool then serve.