My Caramel Custard

I like to cook something out of the ordinary for Gin when he is on his evening shift. His shift goes on till 11:00 pm and he is back home a little before midnight on these shifts. They come only once in a blue moon and so it is exciting to plan the mid night meal and cook it. Though he discourages me heavily, I understand that he enjoys these meals immensely as it is something light and something that he definitely enjoys (read as in the sweet variety ) ..

I have been wanting to make this caramel custard for sometime. With the different lents that covered most of August and the first week of September, I couldn’t make it because it involved eggs. So when he went for his evening shift yesterday,I got all excited and decided to make it. Caramelising the sugar was new to me and as any sensible person does when doubt arises, I too researched high and low on faithful google. What I found out was quiet scary. Most sites equated caramelizing sugar to bursting a bomb keeping it in your hands. THe warnings went on like this "Make sure it doesn’t come in contact with water or it can spurt and splash on you and burn you with its very high temperatures ". One site even asked people to wear goggles during the process etc.

Anyway, I took it under my sleeves and went through the process. I was cautious and it was a relatively simple process. The challenge being to know when exactly to switch the stove off so that the caramel attains the right color and taste. I was on the phone with Amma during the process and I guess I caramelized it a bit too much. So much for multi-tasking!!!!!! Anyway, Gin was pretty kicked to see the whole thing when he got back. And can you imagine, between the two of us, we completely polished it off .. hehhehehehJ So now I know what exactly to make when we have guests over.. * When ever that will be…….*

I had actually followed 2 different recipes, because I didn’t want to bake the stuff. And here we go with the recipe which is quiet simple and with a yummy result

For the custard:

Eggs- 3 nos.

Milk -1.5 cups.

Sugar - 1 cup ( i used only .75 cup)

For the caramel:

Sugar - 4 tbsp

A dash of water.

How to make the custard:

Boil the milk.Whisk the eggs and sugar together. (I dont have a hand mixer orblender.So used good old mixie so that i can get a nice fluffy texture)Now add the milk to the blended mixture.Blend well.Keep aside

How to Caramialise :

Take the sugar in a pan and add a dash of water to it.Turn on the heat and swirl the pan inorder to dissolve the sugar.Let the mixture boil. Keep swirling in between.Slowly the mixture will turn it's colour. Once it is a golden browntake it off the stove and immedieately pour it into the dish kept forsetting the pudding in.Make sure the dish is dry, or there is a chanceof the caramel splashing once in contact with water.(I used a cake tinto set the pudding in)Now pour the blended mixture into the same dish.

How to steam:

Cover the top of this dish with a Al. foil.Immerse the dish into a vessel with some water in its bottom.Steam the dish for about 20 minutes or till a knife comes out clean.Now you can refrigerate the pudding . Once it is chilled, invert thepudding onto a serving plate, so that the caramel side comes on top :)

Now sit back and enjoy......