Sri Lankan Style Pol cake

INGREDIENTS:

4 cups scrapped coconut
2 – 3 cups sugar
1 ½ cups semolina
1 cup dates (small pieces)
1 cup cashew nuts
1 cup raisins
1 cup winter melon preserves
1 peeled lime skin ((small pieces)
4 tablespoons ginger (small pieces)
8 cardamom pods
½ cup wheat flour
1 teaspoon sweet cumin seeds (= Fennel seeds)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon rose essence
Salt to taste
Water



DIRECTIONS:

Making The Coconut Mixture (Pani Pol):
Heat a small pan in a medium heat. Place the cumin seeds & cardamom pods in the pan and roast it for nearly 5 – 10mintues.
Then crushed it to small pieces (Power is okay too.)
In the same pan, same heat roasts the lime skin & ginger too, and keeps it a side.
Now again heat a large pan in medium heat. Add water and sugar into the pan and stir the mixture till sugar dissolves and the mixture should be bit thick.
Take the pan from the heat.
Then add coconut and mix it well with sugar syrup. (This mixture we call “Pani Pol”)
Now into coconut mixture add semolina, dates & cashew nuts and mix it well.
Then add raisins, winter melon preserves, roasted lime-ginger mix and crushed cardamom-fennel mix. Mix it well with coconut mixture.
At last add flour,vanilla, rose essence & salt, and mix it well.
Mixture should be bit soft. (If you can stir it easily, then okay.)
If the mixture is hard, add little amount of boiled water at a time and mix it well, till you can stir the mixture easily.

Baking the Cake:
Heat the oven in 150 degrees C (302 degrees F) and place rack in center of oven.
Greased a parchment paper with little butter and placed it on the bottom of the cake tray, and pour the coconut mixture into the cake tray and spread it evenly.
Now bake it for 1 ½ - 2 hours.
The final colour should be dark brown (little bit).
Cool it and keep it cover till you use it.

SERVING:
This is a Sri Lankan sweet specially making for Sinhala & Tamil New Year. And also for the occasions too.


NOTE:
1. If you can find ginger preserves, just cut it into pieces and add it just like winter melon preserves.
2. You can use desiccated coconut instead of scrapped coconut.
3. When you are working with sugar syrup be carful because it’s try to get hard the mixture very soon. If you feels the mixture is too hard put some boiled water and mix it well.
4. If you can find Necto Drink, or something similar, you can use it instead of boiled water.
5. Keep the final mixture over night before you bake it, the taste is really good. (If you think it will spoil, then don’t do it.) But i´m keeping the mixture overnight :-).
6. If you are keeping like that, don’t forget to add some boiled water and mix the mixture well before you put it to the baking tray.