Creamy-Fruity-Custard

Creamy-Fruity-Custard

Custard powder though does not have much nutrition value except pure calories due to corn flour, flavor and coloring agent being the main ingredients; it is the filling in custard which makes it more tasty and nutritive. Lots of fruits coated with custard is a wonderful and healthy dessert. It is the simple, tasty and easy to make dessert. Children love it for the taste of it and mothers love it not only for the taste of it but also for the less work they have to put to make family happy.

Preparation Time: 15 min. (Fruit cutting time)

Cooking Time: 15 min

Servings: 4 Large Serving

Ingredients For making Creamy-Fruity-Custard:

• 250 ml. whole cream Milk

• 2 Tea spoon Custard Powder

• 50 gm. Cream (Optional)

• 50 gm. Sugar

• 1 banana

• 1 Small size Apple

• 20-25 Grapes

• 10-12 Straw berries

Directions For making Fruity Custard:

• Dissolve 2 teaspoon custard in 50 ml. milk. (Not hot milk).

Custard Powder Dissolved in milk

• Boil milk in a thick bottom container.

Milk for Custard boiling in thick bottom container

• Add sugar to the boiling milk and stir till the sugar dissolves in the milk.

• Lower the flame and add custard powder- milk mixture and stir nicely.

Custard-milk mixture being added to boiling milk

• Cook for just one minute with continuous stirring. Switch off the gas. Cover and allow the custard to cool.

Custard cooking on low flame

Consistency of custard before cooling

• When the custard comes to room temperature add cream mix nicely cover and keep it in the fridge for chilling.

• Peel banana, slit from center lengthwise and cut to thin pieces.

• Peel and cut apple to small pieces.

• Cut the grapes to half.

• Cut straw berries to half lengthwise.

• Mix all fruits in a bowl with chilled custard.

• Take the Fruity-Custard in a serving bowl and top it up with some grapes and straw berries.

Creamy-Fruity-Custard

Tips:

• Guava, chickoo and pomegranate with small pink fruit having big seeds do not go well in custard. do not taste well in custard. 

• For one measure of cooked chilled custard two measure of fruits are the best proportion. If not so at least the ratio should be 1:1.

• Taste the fruits before adding to custard. Fruits should be absolutely sweet, little bit of sour taste will spoil the taste of Fruity-custard.

• Mix the fruits just before serving otherwise they will lose their moisture and will become limp.

• Cut the fruits just before serving.

• If the fruits are cut and kept in fridge, then bananas and apple will become red and will spoil the looks and taste of custard. Remember the freshness of fruits and their individual flavor gives the Fruity-custard unique delightful taste.

• Custard should neither be thick as cake nor too runny. It should be of the consistency of cake batter.

• Do not remove the cover at any stage of cooling.

• Do not cover while custard is being cooked.

• Immediate and continuous stirring after milk-custard powder mixture is added to the boiling milk is must to avoid lump formation as well as to avoid it selling at the bottom and getting burnt.

Suggested Variations:

• Mango can be cut to cubes and added to the mixture of fruits for custard. make sure the mangoes do not have fibers and is sweet.

• Cubes of any flavor cake can be placed at the bottom of serving bowl before putting Fruity-custard in the bowl.

Indian Brownies

Invention is the mother of necessity. I make ghee from malai at home to ensure my family gets unadulterated ghee. I realized that the left over after making ghee from malai is very tasty and I started giving it to my kids with sugar or make stuffed paratha with it. But then my children wanted to have something different, so the experimenting nature of mine resulted in these delicious Indian brownies. Since most of the ghee is drained out from the solid thus the fat content is not too high.

These brownies are ideal for children as they burn away calories faster than the intake. My children love eating them and do not mind exercising an extra bit for these luring brownies.

Preparation Time: 5 min.

Cooking Time: 15 min

Servings: 15-20 brownies

Ingredients Required for Making Indian Brownies:

• 1 Cup golden brown solid (http://jyotsna-pant.blogspot.com/2012/10/making-ghee-clarified-butter-at-home.html.)

Golden Brown Solid Left after filtering the ghee

• 150 gm. Sugar

• 200 ml. Full cream milk

• 10 Cashew nuts

• 3-4 Green Cardamom

Directions for Making Indian Brownies:

• Make ghee from Malai

http://jyotsna-pant.blogspot.com/2012/10/making-ghee-clarified-butter-at-home.html.

• The golden brown solid left after filtering ghee is s taken for making Indian brownies.

• Take milk in a thick bottom wok and heat it till the milk stars boiling.

Milk being boiled in a thick bottom wok

• Add the brown solid of ghee to the boiling milk.

Golden brown solid left from ghee added to the boiling milk

• Cook with continuous stirring till the mixture becomes thick.

The milk and brown solid mixed and being cooked on low flame

• Add sugar and cook for 2-3 min with continuous stirring on low flame. Sugar will dissolve.

Sugar added to the thick mixture

Sugar dissolved and mixture being cooked on low flame

• Cook with regular stirring on low flame for 5 more min.

• The solid will become dark brown and will start leaving the edges of the wok.

After cooking for 5min. on low flame

Mixture leaving the wok edges

• Remove the green peel of cardamom and grind the seeds to coarse powder.

• Add powdered cardamom, mix nicely and switch off the gas.

• Grease a plate with oil and transfer the brown semi solid hot mass from wok to the plate.

• Pat the dark brown semi solid mass in the plate to uniform thickness.

Dark brown solid spread on the plate and patted nicely

• Oil a knife and with the help of oiled knife cut the flattened Dark brown semi solid mass to rectangular shape.

• Cut the cashew nuts to half.

• Press one half of the cashew nut to the center of the hot pieces in the plate.

Cut to pieces and cashew pressed on each piece

• Allow to cool.

• When cold they will become solid and hard enough to pick but not very hard.

• Serve with milk.

Children will love them ! 

Indian Brownies

 Tips:

• The malai should not be rancid else the brownies will also smell rancid.

• Do not add curd to malai, else brownies will taste sour.

• Keep the malai in the fridge (low temperature) not outside at room temperature.

Suggested Variations:

• If you do not make ghee at home then mixture of 1 cup cottage cheese and 2 tea spoon of butter can be taken instead of the brown solid mass we get in the process of making ghee.

• Paneer butter mixture should be cooked till paneer becomes brown.

• Milk should be added after the paneer gains brown color.

• This mixture should be cooked till all water evaporates and the solid gets dark brown color.

• Add sugar and cook till the solid leaves the edges of wok.

• Spread the mixture on a plate and pat to smoothness.

• Let it set.

• Cut the set solid to pieces and press halved cashew, almonds to each piece.

• Indian Brownies from paneer are ready.
• Add 3-4 tea spoons of Cocoa-powder /  Drinking chocolate children will love chocolaty Indian Brownies.

Paneer Tikka (Cottage cheese cooked with spices)

Juicy Paneer Tikka with salad on the sides

Cottage cheese is one of my favorite milk products. When it is made to Tikka it takes the subtle flavor of the herbs put in the marinade yet maintains the classic taste of its own. Though Paneer Tikka is made in different manner I write this recipe on the demand of my daughter-in-law’s sister Amrita. She liked it especially because it is literally oil less. Paneer Tikka can be had as snacks as well as side dish to the main course. I love it so much that for me every time is paneer tikka time.

Preparation Time: 45 min. (Including marination time)

Cooking Time: 10– 15 min.

Servings: 10- 12 Medium servings

Ingredients required for Paneer Tikka:

• 250 gm. Paneer (cottage cheese)

• 50 - 100 gm.  Cream (Malai)

• 100 gm. Thick Curd

• 1/4 Tea spoon Turmeric Powder

• 1 Tea spoon Amchur Powder (Dry raw mango powder)

• 1 Tea spoon Red chili Powder

• 1 Tea spoon Kasoori methi (Dried and powdered green leaves of methi)

• Salt to taste

• 2 Tea spoon Olive oil.

Direction for marinating Paneer:

• Cut paneer to 2cm.x2cm. pieces.

Cottage Cheese (Paneer ) cut into pieces

• Take Paneer pieces in a bowl.

• Add Turmeric powder, salt, chili powder and amchur.

Turmeric powder, Salt, Chili powder and Amchur added to Paneer pieces

• Add malai(cream).

Cream and curd added to Paneer pieces

• Add kasoori methi and mix well.

Mixed after adding Kasoori Methi

• Keep aside for at least 30 min.

Direction for Making Tikka

• Take a nonstick Tawa and keep it on high flame.

• When hot lower the flame and spread one tea spoon of olive oil on it.

Hot non stick tawa with one teaspoon of oil

• Place marinated paneer pieces on Tawa and let them cook for 3-4 min, without disturbing.

Marinated Paneer pieces placed on hot Tawa and being cooked

• The side of paneer which are in touch of tawa directly will become brownish pink.

• Carefully turn them upside down.

Turning Paneer pieces upside down to cook from both side

• Cook the other side also till brownish pink in color

Paneer Tikka with salad

• Serve the tikka with coriander mint chutney, 
•  http://jyotsna-pant.blogspot.com/2011/10/green-coriander-and-mint-chutney.html

• http://jyotsna-pant.blogspot.com/2012/06/hariyali-chutney-raw-mango-chutney.html

   

Tips:

• Do not make the paneer pieces very small.

• Tawa should not be smoking hot when you place paneer on it, because paneer will get burnt spoiling the taste.

• Curd should be thick and not too sour.

Suggested Variations:

• Kasoori methi can be replaced by oregano/ parsley/ basil to change the flavor of paneer tikka.

• Malai (cream) can be replaced by curd to reduce the fat content due to malai.

• Paste of green chili and coriander can be added to marinade instead red chili powder and methi, this gives very good flavor and color to tikka.