Banofee Pudding

Banofee = Banana + Toffee , a classic English dessert. Made originally as a pie, this version of mine just assembles layers in a glass serving bowl. The same can be made the original way, in a pie dish or a springform cake dish. The layers are of a biscuit base, topped with a toffee sauce and then finished off with bananas and whipped cream. I spiked mine with some Irish Bailey's liquor , just to break the slightly over sweet taste of this dish, optional of course. Super easy and loved by all, this one ought to be tried.

Ingredients (serves 8)

For the biscuit layer
200 gms powdered digestive biscuits
80 gms melted butter

For the toffee sauce
1 can (400gms) condensed milk
100 gms salted butter
3/4 cup brown sugar (necessary for the colour)
30 ml Irish Baileys liquor (optional)

For the topping
4-5 ripe bananas
20 ml Irish Baileys liquor (optional)
3 cups whipped cream
Grated dark chocolate (to garnish)

1. I used a rectangular baking glass dish, about 12 X 5 inches. You can make two medium pies if using a 9 inch pie base, divide the ingredients equally.
Mix the butter and the biscuits for the biscuit layer. Spread uniformly over the base of the dish (or along the base and the sides if using a pie dish) and leave to chill while the rest of the ingredients are prepared.
2. For the toffee, melt the butter in a non stick pan and add the brown sugar on a slow flame. Stir till the sugar melts.Pour in the condensed milk and mix well. Boil this liquid for a minute or two till it thickens and the texture appears like toffee (see picture below). Turn off the gas and add the liquor
3. If using a pie dish, carefully separate the pie from the dish and keep on a serving plate (requires some expertise) .Pour the toffee sauce uniformly over the biscuit layer.
4. Next layer the sauce with sliced bananas. Pour the liquor over the bananas and top with the whipped cream.
5. Finally top with grated chocolate. Chill for 4-5 hours before serving

Baked Mango Yoghurt

This is the quickest dessert I have ever made. So simple and still delicious. Once you get the basic curd mixture baked properly, you can choose any topping of your choice. I went with the obvious choice,being the flavour of the season - mango. Instead of making a mango sauce, just add chopped mango to make this even easier. Talking about flavour choices,I have once eaten a gulkand flavoured baked yoghurt at a wedding- was divine! Also, using curd made from full cream milk would make this creamier but at the cost of some extra calories:)


Ingredients (serves 2-3)

1 cup hung curd (Read here how to)
1/2 cup condensed milk
1/4 teaspoon powdered cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon grated lemon rind

1 mango, chopped into small pieces
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon custard powder (or cornflour)

1. Pre-heat oven to 170 degrees Celcius
2. Whisk together the curd and condensed milk
3. Pour into a ceramic bowl or individual ramekins. Sprinkle the cinnamon and the grated lemon rind on top of the curd.
4. Bake on the center rack for about 25 minutes till the curd mixture looks set. The edges will turn a light brown and the mixture will wobble very slightly.
5. Dissolve the custard powder in the milk. For the mango topping, heat the mango pieces in a pan with the custard powder and milk paste on a low flame . Turn off the gas when the mango looks cooked and the paste thickens, roughly 2-3 minutes.
6. Pour the mango sauce over the curd and serve. This dessert tastes as good warm as it does chilled.