Coconut Rock Buns

During the past week in Mumbai, I accompanied my mother and daughter to many friends’ homes for the ubiquitous Navrathri vethalapakku. The norm is to invite ladies of family and friends and present to them some beetle leaves, beetle nut, turmeric, coconut and fruit. Some people go the extra mile and give additional gifts as well and I got some amazing stuff this time. B what ended up happening was that, at the end of five days, we were buried under a coconut hill. We got so many coconuts from all the houses we visited which was compounded by the fact that the daughter asked for them when she didn’t get one leading to total coconut chaos. 

My mother made me take 6 coconuts (grated, thankfully) back to Bangalore and now I am using it across dishes even in those we don’t usually add them. The only good thing is that the husband loves coconut and is a very happy soul these past few days. So when I read about coconut’s popularity in th Caribbean cuisine, I was thrilled. But I found most recipes using coconut milk and not simply coconut as is. Then I found this coconut rock and I figured I had to make it. I added more coconut than the dish needed but that only ended up making it more flavorful. I also increased the proportion of sugar which worked out well. I also added the sweet cherries on top to give the Iyengar Bakery feels to the husband who was thrilled. So, I managed to hit many birds with one stone, or should I say rock. Yay!

Recipe adapted from here

Makes 8 rock buns

WHAT WE NEED

All purpose flour                1 cup

Butter, unsalted                  1/4 cup

Sugar                                     1/2 cup

Raisins                                   3 tbsp

Baking powder                    1/2 tsp

Ground nutmeg                   1/2 tsp

Ground cinnamon               1/2 tsp

Egg                                           1

Vanilla                                     1 tsp

Milk                                          4 tsp

Coconut, grated                      1/4 cup + 2 tbsp

Water            

WHAT TO DO

• Heat 1/2 cup water, add the raisins to it and cover. Once it plumps up, drain the water and set aside. It should take around 10-15 minutes
• Preheat the oven to 190C and grease a baking tray and line it with parchment paper
• Using fingertips, rub the butter with the flour till the mixture gets a sand like texture
• Add the sugar, raisins, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon and coconut and mix well to combine
• Mix the egg and vanilla in anothe bowl and then add to the flour mix
• Add milk and mix well to form a dough
• Use a spoon to drop the dough on to the baking tray. Since it is to be rocks, the shape need not be well defined 
• Bake for 15-20 minutes till done. Broil for 2 minutes to get the golden brown colour on top, if needed
• Serve warm
• Enjoy!

This is my post for the Blogging Marathon under the theme, ‘Dishes from the Caribbean’.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM

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