Caramel Custard - Eggless

Caramel Custard is one of my favorite dessert. The fact that it can be made without egg makes it to the top of my list. This recipe is adapted from Tarla Dalal. Agar agar is used instead of egg to get the texture of a custard. Agar agar is also called as china grass. When I made it for the first time, several years ago, there was so much anticipation about the end result because of excluding egg from custard. The end result, I should say, made me more than happy. One will never miss eggs anymore in their custard.

Ingredients:

• Agar agar - 5 gms
• Milk- 3 tea cups
• Custard powder- 3 tsp
• Sugar- 11 tsp
• Vanilla essence- 1/2 tsp
• Sugar for caramelising -4 tsp

Method:

1.Soak Agar agar in 1 cup of water for an hour and boil it until it dissolves.

2.Caramelize sugar by adding a tsp of water. Spread the caramelized mixture all over the mold.

3.In half a cup of milk, mix custard powder. Keep the mixture aside.

4.Boil rest of the milk with sugar.

5.When milk starts boiling, add the milk-custard mixture.Continue stirring the milk so that no lumps are formed.

6.When the mixture becomes a smooth and slightly thick paste, add the Agar agar Solution and boil for 2 more minutes.

7.Strain the Custard, add the vanilla essence and mix well.Cool it slightly and pour into the pudding mold.

8.Refrigerate the custard for at least 4 hrs.Tilt the custard on to a serving plate and serve .


Notes:

• Alternately, make custards in serving cups , chill and serve.