Bibikan is a recipe from the Srilankan cuisine.

It is a sweet cake made with coconut,jaggery /

treacle . The authentic recipe was made with

rice flour,but now the all purpose flour has

taken it’s place.This cake like texture sweet is

available all over Srilanka. The expert hands

are mostly from the villages of Srilanka, and on

certain occasions, you can see the ladies having

rows of stalls , with these sweet meats.If

observed,most of the sweets of Srilanka are

prepared with jaggery only.

Today’s recipe,is my innovation of this sweet

mixture into tarts and flour replaced with

semolina/rawa.Awesome taste and texture,and

I’m excited to share this recipe with you all.

Do try and post in your valued comments!

INGREDIENTS

For the filling

2 cups grated coconut

2 cups jaggery / 1 cup treacle

1 cup roasted semolina

1 tsp mixed spice powder*

25 gm chopped dates

A few raisins ( I used leftover rum soaked

raisins)

25 gm pumpkin preserve

1/4 cup coarsely ground cashewnuts

1/2 tsp ginger powder

1 tblsp vanilla essence

1 tblsp rose water

Grated rind of lime

a pinch of salt

METHOD

Grind half of the coconut with 1 cup water and

set aside .

Now mix in the rest of the ingredients to the

ground coconut.

Mix well and pour spoonfuls into tartlets and

bake at 180C for 30 minutes.( You will get the

aroma of a rich cake)

For the tart shells

1 cup flour

20 gm butter

1 egg

1 tbsp sugar

a pinch of salt

1/4 tsp grated nutmeg

A little milk / ice water for binding

Method

Bind all ingredients to a soft dough , cover and

rest in fridge till you make the filling.

Divide into portions,roll dough and line tart

moulds.

Place filling and bake.

*Spice powder- cinnamon,cloves,cardamon,fennel seeds,nutmeg – a tsp of each powdered and stored.