Mamta's Kitchen

Apricot Mousse From Hyderabad (India)

Khubani ka Meetha

Munzoor Khan

DessertIndianSweet

Hyderabad is well known for it's rich cuisine, their food is exotic and full of rich flavours. The Nawabs of Hyderabad had a grand life style, employing cooks of greatest expertise, producing delicious meals for their 'Dastarkhan', the low dining table favoured by them. The food that comes from Hyderabad is often referred to as Nawabi, meaning fit for Nawabs, as opposed to the Shahi food of Northern India, which is supposed to be fit for Badshahs. This dish is quite easy to make.

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

  • 500 gm. dry apricots or khubani (do not buy the soft variety for this dish)

  • Apricot almonds, from the stones of the khubanies (or use 10 blanched almonds)

  • 100-125 gm. sugar, adjust according to taste I would start with less and more later, if needed

  • 1 cup or 225-250 ml. double cream or malai (thick skin off the boiled full cream milk)

Instructions

  1. Wash apricots well and soak in 2 1/2 – 3 cups of hot water overnight.

  2. Next morning, remove stones using a sharp knife.

  3. Place in a pan along with sugar and the water they were soaking in. Bring to boil and simmer on low heat until softened. This takes a couple of hours and the apricots turn brownish in colour. They become soft enough to be mashed with a spoon

  4. Meanwhile, the stones can be cracked open to get out the ‘khubani almonds’. These give a nice flavour to the dish. If that is too hard for you, use ordinary, blanched almonds*.

  5. If the apricot flesh is not soft and pureed enough already, you can blend it with the water they were boiling in.

  6. If not smooth enough, strain it through a sieve, to remove any tough fibres. But this is not usually necessary.

  7. Heat a wok or karahii and cook the pureed apricots until it begins to thicken and come off the pan. If the puree is thick enough, like a mousse, already, you may not need to cook it again.

  8. Transfer to a bowl and chill.

  9. Serve chilled, topped with whipped double cream or beaten-up malai or a good Vanilla Ice-cream and garnished with almond halves.

  10. *To blanch almonds, boil in water for 15-20 minutes. Their skin will just slide off and they will split open into halves.

Notes

  • Stewed apricots from step 3 can be served whole. remove stones and chill. Serve in Champaign glasses, garnished with almond halves and topped with cream/ice-cream.


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