Coconut halwa

Here is what you need:

* Coconut - 1
* White rice - 1 cup(soaked in water overnight)
* Sugar - 1 cup
* Water - 1 cup
* Cardamom - 2 nos
* Ghee - 1/4 cup
* Chopped pistachios - 1/4 cup(optional)

1) Break the coconut into pieces and separate coconut pieces from the shell(this part can be tricky but according to Krishna the coconut shell has a point and if you can find that and start there then the coconut piece will separate from the shell at once . I am undergoing training for that, will let you know guys how it goes).

2) Chop the coconut into small pieces, so that you can grind them easily.

3) Grind the soaked rice into a smooth paste by adding approximately a 1/4 cup of water(this will probably take some time depending on the type of blender you are using).

4) Now grind the coconut into paste by adding a 1/4 cup of water(as sooth as possible). The actual recipe calls for extracting the coconut milk after grinding it into smooth paste but I decided to add the whole coconut paste in rather than just using its milk.

5) In a saucepan boil the sugar and 1/2 cup of water to prepare sugar syrup. Boil the syrup till it reaches a single string consistency. Crush the cardamom pods and add them to the sugar syrup.

6) Add the rice batter and coconut paste into the sugar syrup(actual recipe calls for adding some food color at this stage but I omitted that as well). You need to stir this mixture continuously from now on. While stirring slowly add the ghee in a multi step process. Stir it until the halwa thickens and the ghee starts coming out of it. Remove the saucepan from heat.

7) Spread this halwa on a flat surface and when its cool enough cut into pieces. Decorate it with chopped pistachios if you want.