Quickest firni you can make

I've always been partial to things that can be whipped up almost instantly. Which is why I am very partial to Top Ramen noodles. But we're talking about desserts here at my food blog, so no place for instant noodles. And I am not saying that even one bit disdainfully. We can discuss Top Ramen noodles on Facebook or Twitter if you want.

So, as I was saying, my mom found this recipe for firni in the recipe book that came with my Sumeet Mixer Grinder. She tried it once and immediately we were transported back years ago to Kolkata where we'd tasted similar firni and I'd never quite forgotten it. The delicate aroma, the texture and the taste seemed almost similar to what I'd had eons ago. While I do hold my olfactory senses to be very strong (or khatarnaak  naak as my husband says), I was very young when I had that firni back there. So it might actually be nothing like it, but it works pretty well for us now.

See, Kolkata was on our route to Hong Kong back in those days when there were no direct flights from Bangalore. The trip to Hong Kong was such a big adventure because we had to travel to Kolkata, go to Dhaka, take a flight to Bangkok and then go to Hong Kong, and I guess Abbu kept such a convoluted route because he had some work to take care of in each of these destinations. So in Kolkata, my memories were always of food. However, I don’t recall much about that also, except that the aromas of even the curries were sweet in a way that was very appetizing.

But the dessert was always firni. Yes, this same firni. The only difference was that it used to be much more thick, and set in clay bowls. So, we had to scrape off the firni from our bowls, and I think the clay added its own special aroma and taste to the firni. This isn't really like a recipe with ingredients and method unfortunately. It's more of me rambling on about how you can do it or how you shouldn't do it.

Soak half a cup of rice in water for half an hour, drain the water and run in the mixer until it becomes a smooth paste. Remove the paste from a mixer into a bowl and keep separately(I have a very good reason why you should do that. Will elaborate later)

Then, boil one liter milk and let it simmer for about five minutes. While its simmering, pour the paste into the milk while stirring continuously. – If you let the rice paste remain in the mixer, then what happens is that it becomes a bit difficult to pour with one hand. (Because you have to scrape out all the rice paste from the bottom, between the blades and all that jazz) And if you don’t stir with one hand while you’re pouring, you’ve got lumpy firni. And who wants lumpy firni?

So, keep stirring, scraping the sides and bottom of the pan until the firni looks a little thick. Add sugar(how much ever you prefer, or how much ever your sweet tooth allows you!). Stir well and switch off the gas.

Let it cool and then mix in a few drops of rose water or kewra essence and then sprinkle generously with slivered almonds and pistachios. Pour into individual cups and let it set in the fridge.

I'm pretty positive you can't make firni quicker than this. And if you want to know how we make traditional firni at home? It's very different from this quick fix firni, I assure you - You're going to have to wait till my book comes out. And I'm not kidding. I really have written a food book (given my penchant for laziness and inability to copy-paste traditional recipes) I will be just talking about the food there. I can see that you're not amused.

Look ma, a perfect cake!

I've had a long history with making bad cakes. Jokes used to abound in the house about how my mother would have to hunt out the hammer in order to break the cake and how we'd all end up cracking a molar or two while eating it. But I started early I think. I was just 11. So I could possibly be forgiven for thinking that a double boiler simply meant a pan double the size of a regular pan. Or that one cup flour didn't mean I had to pile the cup with flour till it resembled a mini mountain. Also, my father had just bought a microwave. Back then it was an absolute novelty. Which meant that I didn't know we shouldn't leave cake batter in it for 30 minutes at Medium because it felt right.

Anyhow, I was determined to learn how to bake a cake properly and even attended classes (yes!) to learn more about cakes and baking etc. One course that I did in 2003 was pretty good. It was conducted by the Institute of Cake Baking and Cake Art (that's the name I think) and we got a one hour lesson on the science of baking, something that pretty much boggled me considering that I still think that cooking is an art. So I learnt baking and I was finally able to bake proper cakes for the first time in my life, a fact that amazed me as much as it astounded my mother (who had to do most of the cleaning up after my cake adventures when I was small.)

Now, I'm considered something of an expert at home. Ahem. Yes.

See? See??? I told ya!!!

Yes, I made it. Not now though. Umm, a couple of years back and I can make it again if I wanted to. Really.

And I'm being very nice and giving you the recipe as well which I adapted from a book called the McCall Book of Cakes and Pies.

Ingredients for Cake (make 2 of these)

3 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup hot milk
3/4 cup maida + 1/4 cup cocoa sifted together with 1 tsp baking powder
vanilla essence

• Break the eggs into a clean bowl and beat them using an electric egg beater until they're foamy and acquire a light lemony colour.
• Add the sugar and continue beating on high for about 5 minutes until the mixture is thick.
• Add essence and slowly fold in flour+cocoa mixture and beat on low for a little while.
• Add the hot milk and mix properly.
• Bake at 200 degrees centigrade for about thirty minutes
• When cake is done, cool and invert on a plate

Icing

Fresh Cream

Sugar

Ice cubes

Beat the fresh cream with sugar over ice cubes until thick. Keep aside.

Decoration

1 tin cherries

grated choclate

Assembling

Moisten each cake with the sweetened sugar syrup present in the cherry tin can. Spread haf the cream over one cake, arrange the cherries and sprinkle grated chocolate over it.

Place the other cake on top. Spread the whipped cream all over the cake, and sides, decorate with cherries and grated chocolate.

I get these huge complexes when I watch shows like Masterchef Australia where they come up with such fabulous looking desserts but I just have to go back and see these pictures and it helps me feel tons better. While I would never survive even one episode of a Masterchef episode, forget winning anything, it's nice to know that for those who don't know any better (like my family and friends), I'm pretty much a master at what I do. I think.