Strawberry Fool

I was so excited posting this recipe for two reasons ---- 1. this recipe marks the arrival of one of my absolute favourite fruits ..strawberry ! and 2. the photo of the pudding came out absolutely gorgeous..look at it please ! Also this is such an easy dish to make and you can make it out of any fruit of the berry family and kiwi as well ...but nothing can beat the colors of strawberryyy...sigh !
So why is this pudding named so ? well,quoting Wikepedia.." Foole is first mentioned as a dessert in 1598 (together with trifle), although the origins of gooseberry fool may date back to the 15th century. The earliest recipe for fruit fool dates to the mid 17th century.Why the word "fool" is used as the name of this fruit dessert is not clear. Several authors derive it from the French verb fouler meaning "to crush" or "to press" (in the context of pressing grapes for wine) "..so A fool is an English dessert generally made by mixing puréed fruit, whipped cream, sugar..this recipe uses custard made from low fat milk ,but if you want to stick to the original just use heavy sweetened whipped cream.

Ingredients (serves 6)

For the custard
1/2 litre milk 
3 tablespoons vanilla custard powder, dissolved in 1/4 cup cold milk
5 tablespoons sugar

For the puree
200 gms strawberry (approx 12 medium sized)
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
extra strawberries, for garnishing

1. For the custard, bring the milk to a boil. Add the custard powder paste on a slow flame, stirring all the while. Add the sugar and let it simmer for 2-3 minutes. Turn off the gas and leave to cool.
2. For the fruit puree, grind all the ingredients in a mixer till you get a smooth puree.
3. Layer the custard and puree in individual glass bowls or wine glasses..you can add chopped strawberries as a layer in between. Garnish the top with a strawberry half.
4. Leave to chill for at least 3-4 hours and then sllllurrrp away...

A vertical picture now..