We’re almost halfway through summer vacations. Every day, my news feed is filled with pictures of family vacations, get-togethers, and trips to the northern areas of Pakistan (and new DPs everywhere). That’s display pictures, for the uninitiated. It’s the time of year when cousins meet, travel to their home stations, and spend time with their families and relatives. When we were kids, the summer holidays were defined by playing games, visiting play lands, watching movies, fighting, feeling bored, crying over the load shedding and humidity, sleep and of course, endless eating.
Like every year, my cousin and best friend visited us from Lahore last week. Since we all have kids now, we tend to be dependent on their schedule for such get-togethers. That said, this was one of the most happening vacations for all of us. I still remember how we used to spend our holidays every year in Lahore; making list of all the games that we had to play in those 10 days, playing in the rain, making boats to sail during the monsoon rains, and watching Ainak Wala Jin and Captain Planet on TV. We had to visit Joy Land and ride all crazy rides. Eating a toss (eggs and bread) as a midnight feast still brings back all my childhood memories. It was the time when our friendships grew into the strong lifelong bonds we have today, and I wish the same for our kids. (Did I take you back to your childhood memories?)
For my guests, I hosted a family dinner at my place. Everyone in my family has a strong sweet tooth and so I made a twist on a conventional custard (or trifle). Individual dessert bowls are in vogue nowadays, so that’s what I prepared. The dessert itself is a layer of rich pastry cream instead of custard, bananas, mangoes, freshly whipped cream, indulgent caramel sauce and a layer of biscuits. Each element in this is tasty on its own, and they do wonders when layered together.
Ingredients:
Biscuit Crumble- Biscuits (Marie or Digestive) – ½ packet
- Butter – 6 tablespoons
- Sugar – 1 tablespoon
- Sugar – ⅔ cup
- Corn Flour – ¼ cup
- Salt – ½ teaspoon
- Milk – 3 cups
- Eggs – 2
- Butter – 2 tablespoons
- Vanilla Essence – 1 tablespoon
- Mangoes – 2 (sliced and cubed)
- Bananas – 2 (sliced)
- Cream – 1 cup
- Sugar – 2 tablespoons
- Sugar – 1 cup
- Cream – ½ cup
- Butter – ½ cup
- Salt – ½ teaspoon
Instructions:
Biscuit Crumble- Crush the biscuits in a food processor
- Mix biscuit crumbs, sugar and melted butter in a bowl and stir until combined
- Spread into a baking tray and press to form an even layer. Bake for 5 to 10 minutes (or until light brown) at 180 degrees Celsius
- Let it cool
- First, slightly beat the eggs in a bowl and set aside
- In a saucepan, mix sugar, corn flour and salt while gradually adding milk. Keep stirring
- Now cook the milk over a medium flame while constantly stirring until the mixture thickens and is brought to a boil
- Simmer for another minute for so before removing it from the flame
- Add a few tablespoons of hot milk to the bowl of eggs and stir consistently
- Pour the warmed egg mixture into the milk mixture. Return to a slow boil and cook for another one or two minutes. Keep stirring
- Remove from heat and stir in the butter and vanilla. Set aside and let it cool then refrigerate it. Cover the pastry cream with a plastic wrap to prevent a cream layer forming on top
- Whip cream with sugar until soft peaks form. Use chilled cream for the best results
- Combine sugar, butter and cream in a small saucepan over a low flame
- Whisk until sugar has completely dissolved. Let it simmer for a while, keep stirring until the sauce thickens
- Remove from heat and add salt. Set aside
- Spoon biscuit crumble into individual serving bowls. With a spoon or another small glass, press the crumble into a firm layer
- Add a layer of pastry cream onto each serving
- Spread a spoonful of mangoes and bananas
- Top the fruit layer with whipped cream
- Repeat: pastry cream layer, fruit layer, cream layer
- Refrigerate for 3 to 4 hours
- Right before serving, drizzle some caramel sauce, add some crumble and a slice of banana on top
- Serve completely chilled
Fatima Ali
I am trained to be an IT professional. I served National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) for six years after graduating from the same university. As long as I can remember, cooking good food has been my passion and it makes me happy. My cooking lessons were a bit unusual though. Back in the day when digital did not mean much, my father would record cooking shows (knorr ka kitchen, kaukab khuwaja and Zee Khana Khazana – Chef Sanjeev Kapoor) for me to watch endless times later on, before trying the recipes out. I would make brownies and cold cake almost every day while my mother was asleep. This was my way of surprising her every evening. My mother cooks amazing food too and I have tried many of the recipes written in her recipe book. I draw inspiration from a number of chefs from televised cooking shows such as Late Chef Farah, Chef Rahat, Chef Mehboob, BBC Food, Masala TV, Chef Shai, Chef Sharmeen, Master Chef Australia and my ultimate favorite Chef Shireen Anwer. I would not be as good a cook I am now without passive guidance from each one of these.
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