Making Kalu Dodol in Microwave, in Less Than 40 minutes! - A Sri Lankan Sweet

Kalu dodol is a very popular sweet in Sri Lanka. However making Kalu dodol is a time consuming process. I wanted to try it for a long time but was lazy to start as I knew the effort required would be quite high. I have to thank Gayani Silva for posting this easy to make recipe in Facebook & also my dearest Friend Nilu Manatunga (Nilu Akka) for inspiring me to try this recipe :-) !!! I tried this recipe twice! The taste and the colour of the dish are the same as the authentic Kalu dodol, but the texture of the dish is little different. Very close to the texture of Mascat (another Sri Lankan sweet). So you can try the recipe and give me the feedback! Really looking forward to seeing the feedback of this dish :-) Good luck with the recipe!


INGREDIENTS:
550ml thick coconut milk
230g jaggery – grated
½ cup unroasted rice flour
2 – 3 tablespoons caster sugar
25g cashew nuts – whole or chopped
¼ teaspoon cinnamon powder
3 cloves - grounded
3 cardamoms – grounded

DIRECTIONS:
First pour the coconut milk into a microwave safe, somewhat tall bowl. Dissolve the jaggrey in the coconut milk, then add rice flour and mix it well until there are no lumps. Now add the rest of the ingredients to the coconut milk mixture and mix well. Place the bowl in the microwave oven and set the timer for 10 minutes. When time is up, mix the mixture well and again pop the bowl into the microwave oven and set the timer. You have to precede this until the mixture comes together as a very thick paste, hard to stir and the colour change to darker brown. (After the first 10 minutes, I cooked the mixture for another 25 minutes. During that time, every 5 minutes I took the bowl out from the microwave and gave a quick stir!) Take out the excess oil which will come from the mixture. Now transfer the mixture into a baking tray or what you can use as a tray and press it down a bit, so then it will get the shape of the tray. Let it cool for nearly 1 hour. When Kalu dodol is cool down transfer it to the serving plate. ENJOY!!!

NOTES:
1. Even though I mentioned you can make this dish less than 40 minutes, it depends on your microwave oven and the quantity you are going to use. (your microwave may need more or less time) 2. This mixture is extremely hot, so be careful when you are handling it!