And that's the story of my first guest post- The Kitchen Affaire

Guest post? ME? Are you insane? You must be joking or mocking or definitely taunting me !

This was my first reaction when Gopika asked me to do a guest post for her blog- THE KITCHEN AFFAIRE.

I remember denying vigorously stating that I was way too an amateur blogger/ writer/cook to blog myself, let alone the idea of doing an entire guest post. But wasn’t my newest and one of my best friends in the virtual space persistent! And she went on to say how this idea was perfect and how much this would mean to her if I did this.

Now when someone puts it like that (rather blackmail :-) ), you have no choice but to agree !

Though me and Gopz (as I call her) discovered each other just two months back, it astonishes me the extent to which we have gotten close. Just goes on to refute the assumption that two people needn’t meet in person to go on to become great friends, because the fact remains that we both are currently based in two continents and bonded instantly due to numerous similarities such as that we both are newly married, located away from parents, started cooking post marriage, love for reading and movies and most importantly, the ardent love for cooking /baking or to put it aptly -we are truly baking-crazy. Infact, not exaggerating or utilizing my writer’s license,  we both ended up baking a banana bread and a zebra cake in the exact same month at around the exact same time with absolutely no prior planning. Would saying – “Great minds think alike” be too clichéd?

Oh ! Not to forget the passionate love we share for cakes/ desserts/ sweets/ chocolates/ baked goodies etc etc etc..

So I thought what would be more perfect to present here than a dessert to celebrate the sweetness of our newly found friendship, our blogs and to propose a toast to many more such friendships.

The recipe I have decided to share is that of a COFFEE PUDDING, which was initially experimented by my mom from the popular Malayalam TV show hosted by Dr. Lakshmi Nair. When I recently went home for Onam, I insisted that we make this so that I could capture it for this post. Here goes:

  

                               

COFFEE PUDDING
(Serves approx 8 people)

• Water- 0.5+1.5=2 cups
• China grass/ Agar-agar flakes- 2.5 tbsp (I used these kinds which looked exactly like this and this)
• Sugar- 4 tbsp
• Instant coffee powder- 2  tsp
• Sweetened condensed milk/Milkmaid - ½ tin of 395g (I used Nestle brand)
• Fresh cream (or Whipping cream) – 1 cup/250 ml  (I generally use Almarai or KDD brand)

Take ½ cup of water and soak the china grass flakes in it for about 15 mins. Boil the remaining water in a pan.Once it starts boiling, add the sugar and the coffee powder and keep stirring till the sugar gets dissolved.  

Post that, lower the flame and add the soaked china grass mixture into this. Mix well and boil until the china grass flakes dissolve fully. This would take approx 10 mins. Now switch off the flame and allow it to cool. Pass this mixture through a strainer and please do not avoid this step as otherwise, some of the china grass strands might be found floating in the mixture.

In another bowl, add the condensed milk and the cream. Combine well with a balloon whisk or wooden spatula.

Now, incorporate both the mixtures and pour the final mixture into a greased pudding tray. Allow to cool completely under room temperature.Then refrigerate the same for 1-2 hours, which can be cut into wedges.

How to serve? 
This can be served with some chocolate/butterscotch sauce or even with vanilla/coffee/butter pecan flavoured ice-cream, if you like or for that matter, just as it is.

                       

Notes:

The original recipe uses gelatin. Inspite of being non-vegetarians, both me and mom are averse to using gelatin in our puddings. If using gelatin, use 2 tbsps instead .
When using cream, we preferred to use fresh cream which is generally produced daily and comes with a shorter expiry date as opposed to Nestle tinned cream. My mom has experimented with both and though not distinctive, she said the pudding with fresh cream tasted better.
The pudding tray can be greased with butter for easier unmoulding.
• On setting, the pudding can be inverted just like one would do for a cake and be cut into various shapes as per your liking.
I further decorated it with Hershey’s semi-sweet chocolate chips and cadbury’s drinking chocolate powder.
This recipe can be doubled (which we tried) and I am assuming can be tripled as well.
The pictures you see is here is that of the doubled version and hence each wedge is thicker as opposed to that of a single version.

How we liked it ?

We loved the subtle coffee flavour and the creamy texture of the pudding. I personally also liked the crunch and bitterness of the chocolate chips accompanied with the slight hint of the drinking chocolate powder.

                       

To my dearest Gopika, thank you so much from the bottom of the heart for this gesture. The emotional boost that you have given me by demanding and trusting me to do this can’t probably ever be expressed here.