Fresh Mango Caramel Custard (Flan).

"Fresh Mango Caramel Custard (Flan)" ... Caramel Custard is my childhood favorite dessert ... there were very few restaurants in Mangalore; my hometown that served them those days, In Mumbai too 25 yrs back few had them on list, but when ordered would sheepishly say its over ... Really ?? I wondered ... So I tried making them at home after going through some cookery books. This is the first time though I am trying with fresh mango puree added on ... Sorry, Not very good at fruit crafting, but Dessert is simply delicious ... Yummilicious ...

** Caramel Custard also known as Flan, is a delicious dessert treat that can be relished after lunch/ dinner. Many of us have a sweet tooth and would like to have some sort of sweet dish after a lovely lunch at weekends or when we have guests dropping in. Off course there are many who love to have something everyday. Summer time it is usually some cold dessert like Ice cream etc. Caramel Custard is a sweet dessert that can be savored all round the year. Though this dessert is served straightway from the fridge, it really does not chill that much unlike ice cream etc. This is one of my favorite dessert from childhood to date. For years now I have been preparing this dessert, but it is only for the past few years that I have started experimenting with new flavors.

** When we go out for lunch/ dinner to restaurants, usually we end it relishing with some sweet dish. However, nowadays I have stopped this habit. I would rather have my sweet dessert another day or at another time, than gulp down everything in one go at one time. With advancing age, you cannot and should not have all odd sorts of combination at meals/ dinner to avoid an upset stomach. Coming to dessert during my teens I had eaten this dessert at a well-known restaurant, but to my dismay I could never find this on the menu in most of the other places. Married and settled in Thane outskirts of Mumbai), my search continued for this dessert, sometime I found it, but did not like the taste of it. But most of the time I never could find it to my utter dismay, and if it was there on the list, the waiter would always come back and sheepishly say it’s over.

** I sometimes wonder if they just put things on menu card for creating impression. It so happened that I tried my same request in the same restaurant at least 4-5 times and always the reply was same. LOL; I had enough, before leaving, I wrote in the visitor’s book, exactly what I felt. I wrote, Sir, plz. Stop goofing, if you do not have it strike off the same on your menu card, do not mislead customers and I added my phone no. too. I was really surprised when I got a call in a week’s time apologizing for the same and that it was difficult to prepare the same blah, blah and in order to show that they were truly honest, he offered me 15% discount on my next visit. Hubby queried what to do, I said let us go to his surprise, he was hesitant, but I said wait and watch and he was game.

** After lunch, we paid the full bill and then asked to meet the manager; the one who had rang me up. He promptly came up and was surprised to note that our bill was paid. He said he was sorry for the mess up, I convinced him it was not at all the issue, I also told him the food was excellent, biryani is always delicious, so why do want to do this goofing. You don’t need to, I told him, though he insisted that we at least take home some packed food, I declined to my hubby’s relief, well I never take anything free that is my policy. Hate free rides, which end up in total mess in future. That is what my parents taught me and that is what my husband also stands for and me, all I wanted was the owner of the restaurant to realize there is no need to lie and that which is built on lies is always a doomsday.

** I have previously posted 2-3 types of flavored caramel custards and will be including many more, as and when I prepare, so do watch out for this space. Now that I have said enough and bored many of you, I guess its time to move on to the recipe, before some of you snooze off. Before doing so, I would like to apologize on the rose craft above the caramel custard which is I guess passable, I confess I am not an expert in food crafting and frankly not interested in learning too. My reason to it is, If what is prepared is edible then I have no issues at all, however if they have to be disposed off like those prepared with raw veggies then I disagree at the total wastage of food done, which I often see in Marriage food counters, so I avoid trying out any of them, I hope I sound good. 

** Here is my recipe for "Fresh Mango Caramel Custard (Flan)" ... my style ...

** Ingredients:

Milk/ Doodh/ Haalu : half litre/ 500 ml of skimmed/ full fat milk.

Skimmed Milk Powder : 4-5 tblsp

Sugar/ Shakkar/ Sakkara : 1 cup + ½ cup

Eggs/ Motto/ Andey : 5 large sized

Mango Essence : 2-3 drops

Yellow Color : 2-3 drop

Ripe Mango/ Ambo/ Mavina Hannu : 1+1 large sized. I used Aapus Ambo (Alphonso Mango)

** In a thick bottomed vessel add in the skimmed/ full fat milk and bring to a boil. When the cream is about to rise, lower the heat and simmer for 10 mins. Keep stirring in between to avoid it rising often. In a small bowl add in the skimmed milk powder, add some hot milk that is simmering to it and mix well. See to it that it has mixed well and there are no lumps. Add this to the simmering milk and mix well. 

** Continue to boil for another 2-3 minutes. Now add in 3/4 th of the sugar and mix well. Check and add the remaining 1/4 only if necessary. The sweetness depends on individual taste and also on the milk, if using full fat milk you will need less sugar and more if skimmed milk. Remove from heat and keep aside to cool.

** Note : Use full fat milk as it will taste much tastier and give you a better set custard/ flan, in which case you need not add on the milk powder or you may add lesser quantity. Just boil the full fat milk and simmer for 10 minutes and cool, rest method is same. I have used skimmed milk as I wanted to cut down on excess fat. 

** Note : In case you have neither milk powder nor full fat milk and if milk cream is available, you can mix it with milk well to a smooth consistency and then heat the milk which will also give you a good thick milk. I have followed it in my last recipe and it turned awesome, you may check it out for more information. 

** Peel off the skin of the outer skin of one mango and squeeze out as much pulp as possible and discard the inner seed. Add into a mixer grinder and grind to a smooth puree WITHOUT adding water. Remove and keep this aside ready.

** In a glass bowl, break in the eggs and beat with an egg beater. I used electric beater, but you have to be careful with beating of eggs, do not over beat them till they are foamy. More bubbles is NO-NO in preparation of custards, though a few are fine. Just beat on low speed till they are just about mixed well and there are no visible egg white strings, that's it, immediately remove and keep this ready aside.

** Check if the milk has come to room temperature and then add in the beaten eggs, mango puree, yellow food color, mango essence and mix well. Do not add the beaten egg to hot milk or else it will curdle so it is a necessary step to follow. Sieve the mixture through a fine stainless steel sieve and keep it ready aside. Sieving too is a must procedure to remove any fiber from mango or egg strings from the mixture. 

** Caramelizing Sugar : I have always prepared this directly in aluminium cake molds used for steaming. Add remaining ½ cup of sugar+ 1 tblsp of water in a aluminium vessel/ mold and keep it on medium flame for 3-4 minutes without stirring to caramelize the sugar. This method is called wet caramelizing which gives you greater control in the process, especially in preventing the crystallization and too fast darkening.

** Once the sugar melts and it starts caramelizing and bubbles appear, it turns into slightly golden brown color. Now add in a tsp of water and mix well with a spoon and remove from fire immediately. This arrests further caramelizing of the sugar. Now swirl the mold a bit so that the caramel spreads evenly towards 1/3” of the sides at the bottom. Keep it aside and let it cool. It hardly takes more than a minute or two.

** Check if the caramel has set, by slanting the mold. If it has set it will not run in. Now gently pour the prepared milk~ egg~ mango mixture into the mold leaving 2 inches gap on the surface. Do not add mixture on till the top, the mold should be just about only ¾ th filled, so be careful, if you have excess mixture add into smaller molds and steam them separately, tastes equally good even if caramel is not added..

** Pour water into the Idly Steamer/ any steaming vessel and bring to a boil. Once it comes to boil, lower the heat to minimum. Place a thick towel over the divider in the steamer, so as to cover the mold from all sides. This helps in evening the steam temperature and also prevents direct heat from hitting the mold. This is the first time I am using this step as I used to steam the mold placed as it is, so its your choice. 

** Now gently keep the mold into the steamer without tilting it. Cover it with a well fitting plate and fold over the towel too. Keep a small weight on it to prevent the lid from having any gaps. I had some leftover custard put in smaller bows, so I placed them on top of it. Steam on low heat for 25-30 minutes. Remove and let cool completely before putting them in the refrigerator overnight to chill before serving.

** Note : The sides of the custard should turn out smooth, which is something I have yet to perfect on. After reading through many articles on do’s and don’t’s I have made some changes from my previous posts, like placing of the towel and taking care to see that the eggs and not beaten to foamy texture, but have never been successful to get that smooth flan effect. I guess I need to do some more modifications for perfection. However, it does not effect the taste and trust me the dessert is simply awesome.

** "Fresh Mango Caramel Custard (Flan)" is now done, chilled and ready to be served. To serve them remove from fridge and immediately run a blunt knife gently all round the inner rim of the mold to separate the custard from the mold. Keep a fitting flat plate/ dish on top of the mold and overturn it gently on one go so that the custard is inverted and gently rolled over fully into the serving dish. See to it that the serving dish can fully accommodate the custard without spilling over. There will be some lose caramel liquid also which will be poured into the serving dish, do not worry, serve it along with it.

** Note : You can also make small one’s in muffins aluminium cups, so that it can be served as a whole to each guest which is much easier.

** Cut into slices in triangular shapes or squares and serve with some freshly chopped mango pieces if desired. It tastes great served either way. Enjoy this yummy dessert with your family and friends at get together's or any other befitting occasions. The best part of this dish is it has to be prepared at least 12 hours before serving which means you can enough time to prepare and serve it as a surprise item without having to toil in kitchen on the function day. In my home caramel custard get over in no time and there is always demand for more. I  am sure all of you will love this new version of fresh mango caramel custard. Do try it out now that ripe mangoes are in season (you can use any variety of sweet mangoes) and enjoy with family and friends.

** For the preparing the Mango Rose (Optional) : Just slice off the skin of the ripe mango as thinly and smoothly as possible. Now slice off the two sides of the Mangoes horizontally and then cut them into thin strips lengthwise. You will get a thing semi circle sort of strips of small, medium and of large size. Now arrange them on top of the inverted caramel custard by placing each semicircle in rounds to form a rose. It is somehow difficult to describe and click picture too, in case you are interested you can give a search on the web/ You Tube and you will get plenty of posts on the same. 

** You can use the search option for "Custard" where you will get many more desert dishes prepared using it. Do try out various types of deserts and relish them with your family and friends and do give me a feedback if possible. If you have tips on better methods of preparing the same too, plz. pass on the same, it will really be helpful. Also do check up on other custard dishes too as there are many pictures that will help you grasp the procedures and also the changes I have made.

** An Earnest Request : There are many more recipes of similar type in the blog. For all my Recipes, use the search option or the label section in the Blog. If you are still not able to find it please leave a message in comment section or mail me the same. You can also go to my page (add on the left side of blog) and leave a message and I will try my best to get back to you as soon as possible … Thank you.