Purvi Sanghvi

I was used to having custard at home when my mom either made fruit salad or custard pudding with green grapes and Marie biscuits and sometimes with red jelly.

I will not be going home this summer due to the Covid-19 restrictions and also because I will be starting the PhD program in Fall which  brings several changes along with it. I am already missing the mango season and the food cooked by my mom. To fill the void, I wanted to make the custard pudding with grapes. There are several pleasant memories attached to this dessert which reminds me of home.

I had never made custard pudding before so I had to ask my mom for the recipe. My mom is not very good at giving exact amounts of the ingredients in a recipe hence the first time I made the custard, it was too thin and did not set well. I realised my mistake so the second time I made the custard, I increased the amounts of custard powder and sugar. I also followed the instructions behind the custard powder pack (Bluebird brand) Thankfully, the second time I made the custard, it was much better and almost as good as my mom.

I hope you enjoy this recipe. There are several versions on the internet.

Ingredients :

Custard powder ( Blue bird) – 3 tbsp

Sugar – 4 tbsp

Milk – 2 cups ( 500ml)

Black or green grapes – as little or more as you prefer

Marie biscuits – 4 nos. crushed

Boil 1+3/4 cup of milk with sugar stirring often. Once it comes to boil reduce heat to low.

While the milk is coming to a boil, mix 3 tablespoons of custard powder to 1/4 cup of cold milk. Be careful that there are no clots. Add this custard powder mix to the milk which is simmering. Do not add the mix (milk +custard powder) to the boiling milk.

The milk will begin to thicken but stir continuously. Turn the heat to medium and keep on stirring for a little more time. The milk will thicken a bit more. Switch off the heat but keep on stirring to cool the custard or you could place the custard vessel in another bigger pan filled with cold water so as to cool the custard faster but again stirring the custard intermittently.

Once the custard has cooled to room temperature or just about warm, pour it in a bowl to set but sprinkle half of the crushed biscuits on the bottom of the bowl first, pour the custard and then sprinkle the rest of the crushed biscuits on the top. Cut the grapes in half and drop them in the custard.

Cover the bowl and place it in the fridge. You can place the bowl in the freezer but I noticed that ice forms on the edges of the bowl. Hence, I would suggest to keep patience and let the custard set in the fridge.