A custard recipe can satisfy your soul, whether it is to be served as a Sunday brunch or a dessert bowl after your stressful day. For example, a bowl of creamy, delicious fruit custard will flow into your mouth and elicit happiness in your heart and peace in your mind. The custard is one fantastic dish that is capable of doing that magic to you and surprisingly is highly suitable for both types of dessert lovers – one that likes a high amount of sugar and the other that prefers a less amount of sugar in their dessert bowl.
Talking about fruit custard, it is undoubtedly one of the most popular global dessert recipes that are easy to cook and fun to have any time of the week. Most certainly, it is the chilled custards that can be fantastic for your parties, special meals, and family gatherings. Fruit custard is a dessert that is prepared by mixing custard sauce with chopped seasonal fruits. The old and traditional way of making custard involves mixing cream, milk, and eggs in accurate amounts and cooking the mix to prep a sauce.
However, our current lifestyle does not allow us so much time to relish the cooking bit of the dessert experience. Thus, you may count upon the ready-made custard mix powders and there are in fact quite a few good ones of them available in the market today. The best part is that they taste great. The custard recipe is easy, comprising very few steps yet resulting in a superb dessert. You can even infuse various flavours like vanilla, chocolate, pineapple, and mango to make your custard even more delicious.
Ingredients Required for Custard Recipe
Today we will focus on two approaches to making custard - the first is without a ready-made custard powder, and the second is with the help of an already prepared (ready-made) custard powder. However, for both custard recipes, there are certain essential ingredients that you will need.
So, let us have a look at them:
Without Custard Powder:
• Milk
• Sugar
• Flavouring agents like vanilla essence (you can also use fresh vanilla pods)
• Home-Made Custard Powder - Mix of Corn Starch and Arrowroot Powder
• Chopped Seasonal Fruits of Your Choice
• By Using a Ready-Made Custard Powder
• Milk
• Sugar
• Chopped seasonal fruits of your choice
• Custard Powder (ready-made)
In this case, the custard powder is already flavoured, so there is no need to use any additional flavouring agent.
Utensils and Tools Required for Custard Recipe
As already mentioned, the custard is one of the easiest desserts you can prepare at home. It is quick and hassle-free to prepare any custard recipe. One needs only scanty tools and utensils to make an excellent bowl of custard.
The tools are as follows:
• A heavy-bottom pan
• A stirrer or hand whisk
• A wooden spatula
• Few small bowls for mixing
• Few tablespoons
• An oversized ceramic/glass bowl
Making Custard Without Custard Powder
Today, custard powder is readily available around us as well as online. It is a mixture of corn starch and arrowroot powder. The recipes for custard were made with eggs and cream.
Let us look at the custard recipe without using custard powder.
• Mix full cream milk and cream in a deep-bottom saucepan.
• Turn on the heat after mixing and let the mixture simmer for about 5 minutes.
• While simmering, add some split vanilla pods into it.
• After 5 minutes, remove the pan from the heat and let it cool to average temperature.
• In a big bowl, take egg yolk, cornstarch powder, and sugar powder and mix them well.
• Remove the vanilla pods from the milk and cream mixture, and now add the mix over the egg yolk and corn starch.
• Mix them all. The mixing should achieve consistency to prevent the formation of any lump.
• Now put it back on the stove and turn on the heart.
• Then, on low to medium heat, boil this whole mixture for 15 minutes. Your custard is finally ready.
• Chill the custard and serve it with your favourite fruits
Fruits
Since we are talking about fruit custards, fruits are essential to discuss. Usually, almost all types of fruits other than the citrus ones are perfectly complementary to any custard recipe. The best-suited fruits to add to your custard bowl are:
• Pomegranate
• Mangoes
• Apples
• Bananas
• Berries
If you are in a dilemma about how to make fruit custard, just add your favourite custard with some seasonal fruit topping. You can practically use any sweet seasonal fruit. Sour fruits are not complementary to custard in case they are being used generously. They can also cause the milk to curdle, so it is better to avoid them.
How to Make Custard
Preparing a fruit custard recipe requires minimal ingredients and has an easy cooking process. It is a healthy summer dessert that is refreshing and perfect for all groups.
So, let us look at how to prepare custard without a ready-made custard powder.
• Take a heavy bottom deep pan and pour milk into it.
• Now place it on the gas stove and turn the heat on. Keep the flame low in the beginning.
• If you are using ready-made custard powder, simply add the powder to the milk when it comes to a boil. However, if you do not have the powder at hand, mix some corn scratch and arrowroot powder and add some flavouring agents.
• Now it is time for a good stir. Keep stirring this milk continuously with a hand whisk to prevent any lump formation.
• Set the flame at the lowest such that the milk simmers. Let it simmer for a few minutes.
• Once the milk has simmered sufficiently, and the raw smell of corn starch has eloped, it is time ready.
• Serve the custard in a ceramic or glass bowl. Add your favourite chopped seasonal fruits over the custard and put it inside the refrigerator.
Take out the fruit custard from the refrigerator just before serving, and you are ready with the best dessert to make you happy.
Caramel Custard
Are you wondering how to make custard with caramel? Here is what you must know.
There are two ways of making caramel custard. First, for both ways, preparing the caramel is the standard step - either the caramel can be mixed when preparing the mixture of custard powder and milk, or it is placed at the bottom of the bowl in a thin layer, and the ready custard is poured over it, followed by refrigerating the custard.
To prepare the caramel, heat half a cup of sugar and two to three tablespoons of water in a deep saucepan until the sugar turns dark brown. But be very careful and show caution to not burn the sugar. To ensure the proper caramelization, keep the heat low.
Armed with all the information, are you now ready to set your foot in the kitchen confidently and get to making a yummy custard bowl for yourself?