Trifle a la mode

I have made this trifle before by following chef Rahat's mango trifle video but I thought it's better if I write the recipe too, because one can't possibly watch the video every time one has to make it.

This recipe makes 8-10 servings.

The basic measurements for custard are quite simple and easy to remember. For 6 cups of milk, you will need 6 tablespoons custard powder and 6 tablespoons sugar.

Now to prepare the custard. First dissolve custard powder using cold milk, in a small bowl. Heat remaining milk & sugar on low flame. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Cook for a while till milk approaches boiling point. Add dissolved custard powder gradually to heated milk while stirring/whisking continuously, to avoid the formation of lumps.

Then pour prepared custard in a bowl and cover it with a plastic wrap or cling film, so that no crust is formed as the custard cools down. Prick some holes to let the steam out.

The next thing that needs to be prepared is jelly.

But first, slice any plain cake or sponge cake. Any flavor will do like: orange, vanilla or even chocolate. Lay down the slices in a serving dish. Make sure the slices are of medium thickness and they are so placed that there is some gap between them. Sprinkle some orange juice or fruit cocktail syrup.

photo credit

Then prepare jelly by following the instructions on the pack. Two packets of jelly will be enough and any flavor will do. Try to keep it thick, like boil 1 cup water instead of 2 cups and add the jelly powder. Stir and dissolve it completely. Pour hot jelly liquid over the cake slices. Next spread the fruits ( chopped peaches, mangoes, bananas, or fruits from canned mix fruit cocktail) and then pour remaining hot liquid jelly. Leave it to cool and set.

For the final assembling whip some cream ( 1/2 cup or 1/4th cup). Beat well. Add 3-4 tablespoons of cream to cooled custard. Then pour it all over the fruits, covering the corners first. Decorate with remaining cream and few pieces of chopped fruits. Refrigerate and serve very well chilled.

Note: Once the cream has been added to the custard, the trifle becomes quite perishable and should be consumed within a day or two.

Oh and by a la mode I don't mean to say it's to be served with ice cream. :P This trifle recipe is just in fashion at our home these days. :) And, if it's chilled well enough it might even taste like ice cream.

Halo treat

It has been almost 3 months since I blogged. Seems like ages to me. I hadn't been making any desserts and no baking at all, so I had nothing to post. Sad!

I don't know why but dessert/baking recipes are much more dear to me than everyday cooking recipes (or any other type of recipe for that matter).

I feel it's really difficult to find any authentic baking or dessert recipe and when we do come across such a great recipe that gives excellent results each time, and that too without much effort, it ought to be treasured and most importantly, shared with the rest of the world for the greater good.

So here's my favorite recipe of doughnuts, or donuts as they are referred in the US. It makes around 24 doughnuts. I would recommend making half the recipe (i.e. 12 doughnuts) always, as it gets pretty tiring to fry 24 doughnuts. Trust me on this when I say 'tiring' because I tried it with my sister few days ago and my hands started to ache while frying. Don't be scared though, it's really fun otherwise. Credit for this amazing recipe goes to chef Rahat.

Sugar-coated Doughnuts

4 teaspoons instant yeast

3 and 3/4th cup flour

2 eggs, lightly beaten

50g butter

1/4th cup sugar

1 and 1/2 cup (or less) milk

Mix together above ingredients to form a sticky soft dough. Start by mixing together flour and sugar. Add soften butter and try to mix well by using a fork. Add the eggs. Lastly add yeast and gradually add milk to form the dough. Stop adding milk as soon as the dough becomes sticky.

Cover the dough and leave it to rise for half an hour or more.

Knead dough to remove air from it, sprinkling some dry flour, until the dough is one smooth ball. Roll it out but make sure it's not too thin neither too thick, just medium thickness-wise.

Now you can use a doughnut cutter or simply an empty tin can to cut out the outer round shape of the doughnut. I usually invert a glass and use it for cutting out the doughnut shape. And to cut out the center, use any small circular object like a bottle cap.

Let these cut out shapes rest for about 10 minutes on a flour dusted tray or plate. This step is important so make sure you don't skip it otherwise you doughnuts won't be light and fluffy when you fry them.

Deep fry. Oil should not be too hot. Fry slowly on medium heat. Give the doughnut a gentle turn when it gets light golden from one side and fry the other side. Be patient and attentive, you don't want the doughnuts to get a dark color.

When the doughnuts are still hot, dip them in a bag of powdered sugar. Seal the ends of the bag and give it a shake to coat the sugar. Now you're done!

Store refrigerated.

Most of the pictures here are by my sister. I have enhanced some of them using the online photoshop editor.