Coconut Barfi - Variation

I had the coconut from the Lakshmi Puja.  And I had thought of making coconut barfi and coincidentally found the post on Rak's Kitchen.  I had made it earlier but I thought this seemed so much simpler and believe me it was!  My barfis did not come pearly white like her's but I suppose that was because I had to pry the coconut meat out of the shell with a knife and then put into the blender so the outer brown covering is present as brown specks.  I could have camouflaged it with some colour.  But I did not want to.

Ingredients:
Grated coconut - 1 heaped cup
Sugar - 1 cup ( I thought the quantity could be reduced a little )
Ghee - 1 tsp - for greasing the plate
Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp

Optional - cashew nut pieces fried in ghee

Keep a greased plate ready.

Take a pan and add the coconut and the sugar and keep on low flame.
Keep stirring.
The sugar will start melting and soon begin to froth.
Keep on stirring - and take care not to allow the coconut to brown
And as you go along, the sugar will become more bubbly and the mixture will slowly start to come together
As it begins to leave the sides of the pan - it is a sign that the mixture is ready for pouring onto the greased plate.
Quickly blend in the powdered cardamom and also fried cashew at this stage

Put onto greased plate / tin and flatten it with a greased foil to get a shiny smooth surface
Lightly cut the mixture into squares when the mixture is still warm
It is easy to remove the cut pieces when the mixture cools down

( If you remove the mixture from the pan a little too early - you will know - since the mixture refuses to set - as it did with mine initially.  Just put it back in the pan for a while and heat again.  This time from experience you will know when to remove it - and it probably just required a minute more of the heat)

Store the pieces in a closed container.  I guess it should last more than a week but one never knows.  The barfi gets over in no time so where is the question of shelf life?