Coconut Nougat- Nouga Fannen

Coconut Nougat-Nouga Fannen– is a coconut candy made with freshly coarsely-grated coconut, flavoured with vanilla and nutmeg. It is delightfully sweet and nutty and a childhood favourite of mine.

Nouga is derived from the French word ‘nougat’ which is  a family of  confections made with sugar or honey, roasted nuts, whipped egg whites, and sometimes chopped candied fruit. The consistency of nougat is chewy.  The coconut nougat is quite close to the classical definition except that it has no egg white and is made with coconuts instead of other nuts.

The word fannen is also derived from the French ‘fanner’ which means  to disperse or radiate from a central point, loose and  not compact, which is exactly how this nouga is.

Make them colourful

The nouga fannen is quite a pale white looking candy and in fact it is rarely seen ‘au naturel.’  In order to make them more appealing and lively, they have traditionally been brightly coloured, ranging from  pale blue, orange to red. I personally tend to like them natural, without any colouring added. Please note that food colouring comes in a variety of concentration.  Always start with one drop and add more until you get the colour you require.

Purchasing your coconut

It is not very common to buy unhusk coconut but you can now purchase  husked coconuts from most  Asian Shops or major grocery stores.  When you purchase your coconut you have to pay special attention to the following:  A coconut should weigh heavy in the hand. Shake the nut to detect the swishing sound of the coconut water. If there is little  or no water in the nut , it is old.  Make sure the nut has no cracks. If the coconut is damp or has wet spots, the shell is probably cracked and the coconut water is leaking. Avoid those with white spots, particularly around the ‘eyes’ . These could be white mould that has  probably developed from the water leaking from a tiny crack. The flesh and the water should smell and taste fresh and slightly sweet.

Koko Barb

Being an islander, I try to access semi-husked coconuts. They are now also available in some Asian shops and major grocery stores. In creole they are called  koko barb , literally meaning bearded coconut. It is a special way to husk a coconut. Some people, in order to preserve their coconuts for long period would leave some husk on the coconut at the stem end. It is sometimes termed ‘nature’s bottle cap’. It protects the eyes from rodents and other insects and also assists in lengthening the freshness of the coconut. It’s easy to knock or cut the “cap” off later since there are no long fibers in this section.  

Draining your coconut

You will need to drain the coconut water from the nut before you break it open and this is done by puncturing the soft eye of the coconut. A coconut has three eyes and one is always softer that the other two. Use a sharp object like a knife, screwdriver, or wine opener to puncture through the eye and into the flesh of the coconut. Once punctured, turn the coconut over and drain the water out of it into a bowl. If you want, you can drink the drained coconut water. It is very refreshing.

Cracking  the coconut open and remove the flesh-

The traditional way

For this recipe you are aiming for large chunks of coconut flesh because they will facilitate the grating process.

Place the coconut on a folded cloth and hold it firmly in the palm of your non dominant hand, the eyes on the horizontal.

Hold the blunt side of a chef’s knife or cleaver in your dominant hand and make some swift but not too hard hits, rotating the nut as you go along. Don’t go using your best knife here, for obvious reasons.  The idea here is not to crack the shell too early. The hits are supposed to assist in loosenening the flesh from the shell when the time comes. After you have made about 10 hits you can now hit harder in order to crack the shell. Your coconut will now break into large pieces.

Gently pry the coconut flesh from the shell by shoving a thick blunt knife in between the white flesh and the shell. However, care must be taken as the process could involve peril to the knuckles and nails.  Aim for large chuncks of flesh because they will be easier to grate than small chunks. Once you have dislodged all the flesh from the broken shell, wash the flesh and pat dry, ready for the grating. If desired, the brown skin on the coconut flesh may now be removed with a potato peeler or a sharp knife. I usually do not remove the brown skin. It is perfectly edible and adds some colour contrast to the nouga.

The modern way

Remove as much fibres from the coconut, drain it and place it a hot oven at approx. 250°C  for about  10 minutes or until until the outer shell cracks.   Remove from oven.  Allow to cool and then follow the same process as the traditional method. Once the meat has been removed, plunge it into a dish of cold water for a few minutes to prevent further cooking.  Wash and pat dry. The heating in the oven assists the separation of the flesh from the shell and replaces the need for the hits that are performed in the traditional method.

Grating  the flesh

Grated coconut can be either coarse or fine. For this recipe we require coarsely grated coconut.  Coarsely grated coconut is obtained by using a box grater which incidentally was invented by François Boullier in the 1540s.  This process may also be termed shredding and the procedure is as follows:

Place a flat tray on a cloth on a bench. The cloth will stop the tray from sliding during the grating process. Place your box grater on the tray and using your non-dominant hand, grab onto the top handle of the box grater and hold it tightly. Hold the pieces of the white coconut flesh   with your dominant hand and carefully move it back and forth against the holes or grating slots  of the grater. As you grate, keep the grater pressed tightly against the tray .

Alternatives to freshly grated coconut

For those of you living in Seychelles or in a place where coconut trees abound and you don’t have to pay an arm and a leg for them, be thankful.  How I miss those days when I could just go out to the back yard and husk open coconuts that just fell off the trees.

Normally, you would use freshly grated coconut for the nouga fannen  but if it is not  available where you are,  you can substitute it with desiccated coconut,  frozen grated coconut or even dried grated coconut . If you use dried grated coconut you will need to rehydrate it with some water before use. Bear in mind though that the end result will be far from what you would get if you were using freshly coarsley-grated coconut.  If you are using frozen grated coconut, make sure it is frozen mature coconut and not young coconut. The flesh of the young coconut has a lot of moisture and you will have to experiment with the amount of sugar you use. Young coconut will also give you a different texture.

Making the Nouga Fannen

This recipe calls for 400g of coconut. However, bear in mind that coconuts vary in weight but most will yield close to 400g. If you have more than 400g , do not waste the extra. Once you have grated your coconut weigh it and add the same weight of sugar ….

In a heavy pan dissolve the sugar in the water and bring to the boil until sugar solution starts to brown slightly . Do not caramelise your sugar. Then add the coarsely grated coconut, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon and cook  for about 15 minutes  or until all moisture is evaporated . You then add the vanilla essence, orange zest and nutmeg and mix thoroughly.

If you plan to add food colouring to your nouga, heat a small pot and transfer some of the nouga into it, add drops of food colouring, according to your liking, and stir to thoroughly mix in the colours. You will require one pot per colour. Do not allow your nouga to cool down during this process or it will go crumbly.

Remove from heat and immediately place a tablespoon full in small loose heaps a platter which is lined with grease-proof paper or a piece or banana leaf as was traditionally done.. The nouga will be soft initially and will harden up on cooling.

Allow to cool completely before serving or storing

Storing

The nouga koko fannen is traditionally made quite a few at a time and stored in air tight jars for up to 3 weeks at room temperature. You may even decide to freeze them and they will keep for a quite a long time.

Here is the recipe for Coconut Nouga-Nouga Koko Fannen

Did you make this recipe?

I hope you will enjoy cooking this dish. Please let me know how it turned out for you. If you have a different version of the recipe or have related questions, please leave your comments below.

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