Eggless Caramel Custard (Steamed dessert)

Exotic desserts are not just meant to be on the menu cards of star restaurants, they can adorn your home dining table too! Here is one such lip smacking dessert that requires very few ingredients and also can be prepared very easily by just steaming it. So why not try it out and surprise your kith and kin with this heavenly delight. I have adapted the recipe from madhurasrecipe.com and made minor changes in the process of cooking and in the preparation of caramel.

INGREDIENTS:

For the caramel:

• Sugar - 1/4 cup

For the custard:

• Milk - 1/2 cup, at room temperature
• Yogurt - 1/2 cup
• Condensed milk - 1/2 cup
• Corn flour - 1.5 tablespoon
• Vanilla essence - 1/4 teaspoon

METHOD:

1. Mix all the ingredients required for the custard and keep aside
2. Heat sugar in a pan and keep stirring it continuously. It will begin to melt and in a while start becoming brown in color 
3. The moment it changes color, remove from heat and pour it in a round cake pan or dhokla stand or any dish which you can use to steam
4. Swirl the pan, so that the caramel coats the entire bottom of it
5. Now pour the prepared custard mixture over the caramel layer
6. Cover the pan with an aluminium foil and steam it in an idli steamer/pressure cooker for 20-25 minutes (Make sure to add enough water in the steamer/pressure cooker)
7. Gently run a knife along the edges of the pan and demould the steamed custard on to a serving plate
8. Enjoy it warm and experience the melting moments to the fullest! (Yummmm)
9. You can also refrigerate it and have it chilled. It firms, but still melts in your mouth and tastes even better!

NOTES:

• In the original recipe, the pan was not covered with an aluminium foil while steaming. But I was concerned if the moisture would delay the cooking time. So I would prefer to cover it with a foil. You can try without it too
• For a rich texture, it is preferable to use full fat milk and yogurt. I had only the regular toned milk (3.5% fat)
• and yogurt and trust me, the texture would make you believe that full fat milk was used! But it is better to avoid skimmed milk or low fat yogurt for this recipe
• Burning the sugar more than desired, would make the caramel taste bitter. So remove from heat, the moment it changes color to brown. You could also add a teaspoon of water to sugar and heat it, if you are worried about burning it

Look at this delicious beauty! I'm sure you are drooling :P