old fashioned egg pudding

This post is dedicated to my Sakunthala athai (my dad's sister), who makes every one around cheerful by her kindness and high spirit  . Our summer vacations get sweeter upon her arrival.  Even from February we would start waiting for her letter and plans.On her arrival we would go and wait in that train station to take her and kids home with lots of joy. In those days there were no in-law fights or ego problems and the whole family would cheer-up for each others' victory. Still I remember how my mom and Athai compliment each other in everything they did.  Her incredibly long thick black hair is her specialty. Athai is a very thin and beautiful lady (now also) and so energetic in such a way that she would play hide and seek, make kootan choru (camping food), long healthy gossips till midnight  etc. We would sit around her and listen as if it is a live show :) We all sleep together and the bed time stories were endless. I love the way she listens the Ceylon Radio, watching the cricket matches . She and her husband (mama) never fail to help others whenever there is a need. She is a great mom and good friend to all of us. Her tips on house management, grocery purchase always works for me and I held her as my guru while mingling with my family.

Athai makes this pudding for fuzzy egg eaters, when they need some protein. Many days she gives us this with breakfast (may be we are the odd family who craves for a dessert in breakfast time also) and I get satisfied with the dessert alone:) Recently I got this old fashioned pudding recipe from her  and   here goes the recipe.

Egg pudding served with apple....A complete breakfast!

Egg pudding cooked in a vessel.

Ingredients:

Egg - 1 or 2
milk - 1/2 cup
sugar (brown or white) - 3  tsp
salt - a very small pinch
cinnamon - a pinch (optional)
vanilla essence - a tiny drop

Method:

Start heating a pressure cooker with 2 cups of water.
Beat egg well. Add other ingredients and beat again.
Pour into an ever-silver bowl and steam cook in an idly cooker or pressure cooker (without putting the pressure valve weight) for 10 minutes.
If touched it should be like a jelly (spring back) at the edges and slightly loose at the center. It should retain the shape while transferring it.
Take out, empty it to a serving bowl. Garnish with fresh fruit.
Serve chill as dessert or a simple breakfast.

Note:

*This recipe seems to have some historical background. While googling I found out that,  this is a British recipe and hope the British settlers could have passed on this delicious pudding to my home town (which was known for its British settlement at that time).
*An egg pudding should be essentially cooked in high humidity to get that real taste. I have narrated an Indian pressure cooker method here. My aunt won't add salt or cinnamon. But I did so to enhance the sweetness of the recipe.
*cooks.com says, we can bake this pudding in oven at 300 deg F for 40 minutes. They suggest to keep the pudding vessel inside a pan of water.
*We can use this pudding as a custard base for ice creams and cakes.

Vanilla Ice cream

I got this recipe from my younger brother.When hubby presented me this beautiful ice-cream scoop(one of the gifts for my birthday), I couldn't control my eager to try Venkatesh's recipe:)  He is our favorite ice-cream maker and I like that homely version very much:). He is good at making jellies too:) Though he is much younger than me, he pampers me with this ice cream once in a while.  At that time he would hurry to the near by shop on Fridays to buy a small pack of this ice cream mix (which we later found out as custard powder) and prepare the ice cream in a jiffy. Hubby and myself think that this resembles an ice cream sold in Kalimark shop in Palayamkottai. At that time, they  used to make their ice cream and beverages on their own. The good thing about this ice-cream is the less calorie count (when compared to my other versions). But we have to beat the mix in a blender multiple times to get that fluffy ice cream.

Home made vanilla ice cream.

Ingredients:

Milk (full fat) - 2.5 cups / 1/2 liter
custard powder - 2 tbsp (vanilla flavor)
sugar - 1/2 cup (or) 3/4 cup
condensed milk - 2 tbsp (optional)
butter - 1 tbsp
vanilla extract - 2 drops

Method:

Bring to boil 2 cups of milk.
In the remaining 1/2 cup milk  add sugar, condensed milk, vanilla, custard powder and mix well.
Add this mixture into the boiled milk.
Start heating in low fire. It will become somewhat thick. Take care not to burn it at bottom.
Switch off , add butter, essence and let it cool.
Place it in freezer. Then after 30 minutes take out and beat it in the mixie for a minute or more.
Freeze it again for 30 minutes and beat for a minute in mixer.
Then freeze it for 4 hours or till it sets completely..

Tips:
For more creamy ice cream, add 4 oz whipped topping before freezing.
By this we can reduce the usage of blender. I just blend it for 1 minute and only once before freezing.
But if we can't get the topping, then do the blending twice or thrice or more till its hard to churn.