Thursday, March 19, 2009

Caramel Pudding



Caramel Pudding/Custard is my all time favourite. It reminds me of my childhood days entering my home after coming from school smelling the sweet aroma of caramel. A fight ensues with my brother as to who gets the biggest slice. This is the easiest dessert you can prepare in a limited time especially on occasions when your friends come over to your place after giving you a very short notice.There are many variations of this recipe. You can even make this by adding cream or condensed milk. This pudding is good especially for kids as it is made purely out of milk and eggs and has no artificial ingredients.This pudding is usually served after chilling in the refrigerator though sometimes I like to have it warm. I usually steam the pudding in a pressure cooker. For those people out there who do not own a cooker you can even bake it in an oven by first keeping the pudding mould in a hot water bath and baking at 350 F for about 50 min or until a knife inserted into the center of the pudding comes out clean. But frankly I have never tried it out in an oven but would like to know how it turns out.

Ingredients:
Milk: 2 cups
Granulated Sugar: 1/2 cup + 3 tbsp for caramelizing
Honey: 3tbsp
Vanilla Extract: 3/4 tbsp
Eggs: 3
Custard Powder: 2 tsp

Method:
  • Heat 3 tbsp sugar in the pudding mould until it turns golden brown. Take care to see that it doesnt turn dark brown else it would taste bitter. When the sugar has turned golden brown immediately swirl the pudding mould so that the caramel gets coated evenly on the the sides and bottom of the mould. Keep it aside. This is the first step to be followed always when preparing this dessert as caramelized sugar takes some time to set well.
  • Dissolve the custard powder in about 2 tbsp of cold milk and keep aside. Never try to dissolve custard powder in hot milk as it would tend to solidify.
  • Heat the remaining milk in a pan and allow it to boil. When it starts to boil add sugar, honey and the dissolved custard. Stir well and keep it as such for a min or so before removing from flame.Cool it well.
  • Beat eggs with vanilla extract.
  • Add the beaten eggs to the cooled milk and combine well.
  • Pour the above mixture into the pudding mould and cover the top of the mould well else it would be filled with water when pressure cooking.
  • Keep the above mould in a water bath(in a pan filled with water) and then transfer this to a cooker.
  • Pressure cook with weight for 8 min.
  • Refrigerate and unmould the pudding only after it has cooled well.
Pooja.

Other Desserts:

Black Forest CakeChocolate CakeRich Chocolate CakeKheerCustardPalpayasamBrowniesVanilla Butter CakeHoney Mango PuddingRava Laddoo

3 comments:

shaikh said...

addition of honey in custard is new idea for me. but i wonder why did u added eggs in to the custard? otherwise this is a wonderful recipe. thanks.

Pooja said...

Thanks Shaikh. In caramel custard eggs form one of the main ingredients. This is similar to mexican flan. The eggs help in binding the custard and gives the creamy flavour.

Aruna said...

Yummy this is my all time favorite. And its healthy too. :-)