JOIN USI still remember 30 years ago when I first entered the kitchen to cook for myself while I was doing my Masters. Observing my mother cook, I took to it quite easily. I would prepare authentic Kerala dishes like ‘puttu’, ‘egg roast’ or ‘Kerala fish curry’.
After marriage, I ventured into cooking Chinese and Italian dishes as my husband and kids loved eating a variety of things.
Having a family full of foodies, I liked experimenting with new dishes and enjoyed spending time in the kitchen. I tried to infuse art in my cooking as my favourite pastimes are sketching and painting which I haven’t given up till date.
I learnt cooking through trial and error but the basic authentic Kerala preparations came to me easily as they were taught to me by my mother, who is also popular for her food among family and friends.
After marriage, I was to go and live in Doha, and this is when I got a vast exposure to various cuisines and opportunity to taste a variety of food. I would often try these out in the kitchen.
As a cheese and dessert lover, I can say that I have eaten the best cheesecake at Ritz Carlton in Doha, Qatar. The minute I tasted it, I fell in love with it. The love for desserts was my biggest inspiration for making the cheesecake pudding whose recipe I am sharing today.
Always wanting to remake the beautiful cheesecake I once tasted in Doha, I went about creating this dish. But at the same time, I wanted the recipe to be my own, so I went about making the dessert differently. I did not bake it, rather I refrigerated it. And my family took an instant liking to it.
I started making the cheesecake pudding for small parties and it became popular with everyone. My friends made it a point to ensure that I was always assigned the dessert for any potluck meal. To make the dish different, I would add flavours and layers like chocolate, mint and strawberry cheesecakes each time I was asked to make the dish.
This cheesecake pudding doesn’t require any sort of external heat or baking. Only your refrigerator will do. The dish is quite easy to prepare and the ingredients are easily available in the market.
It is not so tricky and with a little experience in the kitchen, I’m sure anyone can pull it off! One must be careful that the gelatine is of the right texture when mixed with water because only then is it going to set properly. The dessert is perfect for any occasion and you can add your own flavours to it as well.
(As told to Tapan Menezes)
Recipe: Cheese cake pudding
Ingredients:
Digestive biscuits, 2 nos
Unsalted butter, 50 gm
Juice of one lemon
Condensed milk, 1 tin
Fresh cream, 1 tetrapack
Cream cheese/ plain cheese spread, 1 tin
Powdered sugar, 100 gm
Gelatine powder, 2 1/2 tsp
Water, 50 ml
Method
Crush the two packets of digestive biscuits and mix the melted butter into it till the texture is like wet sand.
Set firmly in a well-greased dish and leave it in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
Dissolve the gelatine in 50ml water and keep aside.
Add the rest of the ingredients in a blender.
Add the juice of the lemon and grate the rind for zest.
Add the dissolved gelatine and blend.
Pour the mixture on top of the layered biscuit mix.
Leave in the refrigerator to cool and set until firm for about two to three hours.
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