Yesterday dawned as a gloomy, lousy day for me. A day when I wished the sun had set the moment it had risen. Looked at the sky now and then through my window and eagerly waited for the  shades of darkness to spread the sky. It bloomed as a bad day and it ended in the same way too. After all the frustration, I was neither in the mood for cooking nor for devouring anything.

Late in the evening, while surfing through the refrigerator my eyes fell onto the canned lychee that had been sitting there for several months. Every time I opened the refrigerator for no specific reason, this continued to happen. Finally I seized the can from the refrigerator and placed it on the counter top hoping for some ideas to trigger me. First thought I had was to eat the fruit straight from the can, which didn’t sound that impressive to me. Slowly my frustrated brain started to get active and on the other hand my exhausted taste buds pleaded  for something sweet. When these two combined, I felt like I was getting out of my blues and was soon seen myself getting along well with the lychees. After a couple of mixings, canned lychee turned into a delightful pudding. Witnessing this, my taste buds danced with joy and a forkful of this lychee pudding managed to put a smile on my face.

This pudding having the flavor of both coconut and lychee and the crunchiness from the almonds and pistachios will turn your any day into a delicious one.

Lychee Pudding

Ingredients

• Milk- 1 cup
• Coconut milk, thick- 1/2 cup
• Canned lychee, rinsed, coarsely pureed- 3/4 cup

• Condensed milk- 3 tbsp if using sweetened canned lychees or depending upon your needs
• Vanilla extract- 1/2 tsp
• Almond slices- 2 tbsp
• Pistachios, shelled, sliced- 1tbsp
• Agar-agar strands or china grass, 1 inch strands- 1/4 cup, (soaked in water and boiled to melt the strands)
• Unsweetened Cocoa powder- 1 tsp/bowl to sprinkle over the pudding

Note: You could substitute agar-agar with Gelatin.
Gelatin-1/2 tbsp, sprinkle gelatin over 3 tbsp cold water in a small cup and keep aside to soften the gelatin.

Preparation:

• Soak the agar-agar strands in 1/4 cup water for 5 minutes and boil it stirring continuously to melt the strands.
• Keep aside the melted agar-agar, don’t keep it too long as it hardens pretty easily.
• In a saucepan, heat milk over medium heat.
• Add coconut milk and lychee puree to the milk.
• Add condensed milk, vanilla extract and combine everything well.

• Heat the mixture but don’t allow the lychee mixture to come to a boil.
• When the mixture is heated through, add the melted agar-agar or softened gelatin and give it a stir.
• Remove from the heat, add the sliced almonds and pistachios.

• Pour into dessert bowls or ramekins sprayed with non-stick cooking spray and let cool down.

• After it has cooled down, keep it in the refrigerator to set, maybe for an hour.
• While serving, cover the dessert bowl with the dessert plate, turn it upside down and tap on the back of the bowl, the pudding will fall onto the plate.

• Sieve cocoa powder over the pudding.

Tips:

• If you are using sweetened canned lychees, add less condensed milk, taste it and add according to your needs.
• You could use gelatin instead if agar-agar.

Celebrating India’s 61st Republic day with this tri color pudding, which represents the flag of India…

Although India obtained its independence on August 15, 1947, the Constitution of India came into effect only on January 26, 1950. To mark the importance of this occasion, every year a grand parade is held in the capital, New Delhi. The different regiments of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force march past in all their finery and official decorations. The President of India who is the Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Armed Forces, takes the salute. The parade also includes vibrant displays, floats and traditionally ends with a flypast by Indian Air Force jets. Celebrations, though on a much smaller scale, are also held in state capitals, where the governor of the state unfurls the national flag.


The Indian flag was designed in 1921 by Pingali Venkayya, an agriculturist from Machilipatnam. The Indian flag is a horizontal tricolour of “deep saffron” at the top, “white” in the middle, and “green” at the bottom. In the centre features a navy blue wheel with twenty-four spokes, known as the Ashoka Chakra, taken from the Lion Capital of Asoka erected atop Ashoka pillar at Sarnath

The Saffron colour denotes renunciation or disinterestedness. The white in the centre is light, the path of truth to guide our conduct. The green shows our relation to (the) soil, our relation to the plant life here, on which all other life depends. The “Ashoka Chakra” in the centre of the white is the wheel of the law of truth. Again, the wheel denotes motion. There is death in stagnation. There is life in movement. India should no more resist change, it must move and go forward. The wheel represents the dynamism of a peaceful change.

India’s National:

• Language- Hindi
• Anthem- Jana Gana Mana
• Animal- Tiger
• Flower- Lotus
• Bird-Peacock
• Dish- Rice and Curry
• Song-vandemataram
• Sports-Hockey

Tri Color Pudding:

For Green color pudding:

Ingredients:

• Avocado, ripe-1
• Pistachios, shelled-1/4 cup
• Milk- 1 1/2 cups
• Condensed milk- 4tbsp or according to your needs
• Agar-Agar strands- 6gm

Preparation:

• Place agar-agar strands in 3tbsp water and heat it by constantly stirring to dissolve in water. Strain it to remove any tiny strands present in it.

• Blend avocado and pistachios into a fine paste by adding little water to it.
• In a saucepan, heat milk and condensed milk.
• When it comes to a boil add the dissolved agar-agar and combine well.
• Remove from the flame and when it is slightly cooled, add the avocado-pistachios puree and combine well.

• Pour this mixture into a cake pan, dessert bowl or ramekin, after it cools down refrigerate to set.

For White color pudding:

Ingredients:

• Apple-2
• Almonds-1/4 cup
• Milk-1 1/2 cups
• Vanilla extract- 1tsp
• Condensed milk-4 tbsp or according to your needs
• Agar-agar strands-6gm

Preparation:

• Place agar-agar strands in 3tbsp water and heat it by constantly stirring to dissolve in water. Strain it to remove any tiny strands present in it.
• Blend apple and almonds together into a fine paste by adding little water.
• In a saucepan, heat the milk along with condensed milk and vanilla extract.
• When the milk comes to a boil, add the melted agar-agar to it and combine well.
• Remove from the flame and when it’s slightly cooled, add apple-almond puree to it and combine well.

• Slowly pour this mixture on top of the green pudding that has already been set in the refrigerator.

• Let it cool and place in the refrigerator for further setting.

For Orange Color pudding:

Ingredients:

• Cantaloupe juice or Carrot juice -1 1/2 cups
• Milk- 1/2 cup
• Condensed milk- 4tbsp
• Agar-agar strands- 6gm

Preparation:

• Place agar-agar strands in 3tbsp water and heat it by constantly stirring to dissolve in water. Strain it to remove any tiny strands present in it.
• Blend fresh cantaloupe and strain it to get the juice out of it and keep aside.

• Heat milk along with condensed milk.
• When the milk comes to a boil, add dissolved agar-agar and mix well.
• Remove from the flame, let cool slightly and add the cantaloupe juice to this.

• Pour this mixture on top of the white pudding that has already been set in the refrigerator.

• Again, keep this in the refrigerator for further setting.

• After the pudding has set well, cut into different shapes and serve.

Happy Republic day!