Sweet Lineage

The last day of Durga Pujo is tomorrow. The last of anything is incomplete without a dessert. Last year on this day I had made Rasomalai: sweet soft cheese dumplings in fragrant milk.  Rasomalai is one of my favourite Bengali desserts from home. I get my affinity for milky desserts from my mother.  She is easily pleased.

She says she gets her affinity from her father who in turn got it from his. I heard her often lovingly talk about Dadu’s (my mother’s father) evening meal. Apparently no supper of his was ever finished without a big brass bowl filled with kheer (thickened milk), a habit shared by his father as well.

My mother loves kheer too, and so do I.  Kheer made of full fat milk consumed by the bowlful every evening would probably send me into the next world. Dadu and his father never had a thing to fear. Ma and myself, we both have occasional trouble digesting milk products. Sometimes I wonder why didn’t Ma and myself inherit the kheer eating monster gene?

 

This dessert has kheer and oranges. It has the perfect balance of sweet and tanginess. It is easy to make and can be made the night before or a day ahead. As for how long it lasts in the fridge I can’t tell you. I don’t know what that means!

Shubho Bijaya and Dusserah!

 

Oranges in Thickened milk (Kheer Komola) revised

Kheer is made by boiling full fat milk over a long period of time, till it is reduced to a custard like consistency. Here I have taken a short cut and used powdered milk to easily save time yet get a very desirable product.

Ingredients:

• Whole Milk: 4 cups
• Powdered Whole Milk: 1/2 cup
• Sugar: 1/4 cup (more or less as per taste)
• Mandarin, Clementine or Tangerine Oranges: 2 or more

Method:

• Peel orange segments by hand. Do not use knife as it will burst the orange flesh aka, the carpel. It is time consuming but every bit worth at the end. Also, please don’t go out and buy a can of mandarin oranges!
• Once peeled refrigerate the oranges.
• In a saucepan over low heat heat the whole milk.
• Stir once in a while and do not let it boil.
• Reduce the milk till the 4 cups become approximately 2 cups.
• Add the milk powder and the sugar to the milk and keep stirring till you get a nice custardy consistency.
• Take off heat and let cool. Taste to check for desired sweetness. Refrigerate. It will thicken as it cools.
• Once it cools add the peeled oranges segments reserving  few for garnish.
• When ready to serve spoon in desired dish and garnish with a few orange segments on top.
• Enjoy

* If the kheer gets too tight it can easily be loosed with the addition of cold milk by spoonfuls and stirring.