Fruit custard

We tasted this fruit custard in a nearby Indian restaurant called Mirchi in a buffet and loved it very much. This simple dessert which could have taken only a few hours to prepare was seemed to be cherished by many on that day.
I have a passion for 'easy to cook recipes' as they come handy for a weekend lunch :) I prepared this dessert on a Friday evening and we shared and enjoyed it with our friends on that weekend. In this recipe I have used Brown & Polson brand vanilla custard powder along with assorted fruits. Try this and enjoy a very quick dessert !

Fruit custard

Fruit custard : ingredients

Ingredients: (makes 5 1/2 cup approx)
Any Custard powder - 3 tbsp
milk - 2 1/2 cup
condensed milk - 2 tbsp (optional)
powdered sugar  or sugar - 4 tbsp (to taste)
mixed fruits - 2 cup
(apple - 1/2 , pear - 1, banana - 1, seedless grapes - 10, pomegranate - 1/2 cup, dates - few)
cardamom powder - 3/4 tsp

Method:
Peel the apple, pears, pomegranate. Chop the apple, banana and pear into bite size cubes and keep aside. chop dates, grapes and keep aside.
Bring milk to boil and add the chopped apple, pear and cook till semi-soft. switch off. Then add chopped banana and cook in that heat.
Dissolve the custard powder in few tbsp of cold milk and add to the cooked fruits. Start heating and cook for 2-3 minutes or till the custard gets thickened.
Add required sugar, condensed milk , cardamom powder, chopped grapes, dates and pomegranate arils. Let cool to room temperature. Keep refrigerated for 2-3 hours or till chilled.
Fruit custard is ready!

Serving suggestions:
Serve chilled as dessert.

Note:
I am suggesting condensed milk, as we generally have fat-free milk only at home and this dessert tastes nice with a rich milk content.
Instead of fresh fruits, we can use canned fruits too, to save time.

Vanilla Ice cream

I got this recipe from my younger brother.When hubby presented me this beautiful ice-cream scoop(one of the gifts for my birthday), I couldn't control my eager to try Venkatesh's recipe:)  He is our favorite ice-cream maker and I like that homely version very much:). He is good at making jellies too:) Though he is much younger than me, he pampers me with this ice cream once in a while.  At that time he would hurry to the near by shop on Fridays to buy a small pack of this ice cream mix (which we later found out as custard powder) and prepare the ice cream in a jiffy. Hubby and myself think that this resembles an ice cream sold in Kalimark shop in Palayamkottai. At that time, they  used to make their ice cream and beverages on their own. The good thing about this ice-cream is the less calorie count (when compared to my other versions). But we have to beat the mix in a blender multiple times to get that fluffy ice cream.

Home made vanilla ice cream.

Ingredients:

Milk (full fat) - 2.5 cups / 1/2 liter
custard powder - 2 tbsp (vanilla flavor)
sugar - 1/2 cup (or) 3/4 cup
condensed milk - 2 tbsp (optional)
butter - 1 tbsp
vanilla extract - 2 drops

Method:

Bring to boil 2 cups of milk.
In the remaining 1/2 cup milk  add sugar, condensed milk, vanilla, custard powder and mix well.
Add this mixture into the boiled milk.
Start heating in low fire. It will become somewhat thick. Take care not to burn it at bottom.
Switch off , add butter, essence and let it cool.
Place it in freezer. Then after 30 minutes take out and beat it in the mixie for a minute or more.
Freeze it again for 30 minutes and beat for a minute in mixer.
Then freeze it for 4 hours or till it sets completely..

Tips:
For more creamy ice cream, add 4 oz whipped topping before freezing.
By this we can reduce the usage of blender. I just blend it for 1 minute and only once before freezing.
But if we can't get the topping, then do the blending twice or thrice or more till its hard to churn.