Crème caramel, Flan, Caramel dessert, or Pudim (in Portuguese speaking countries) is a custard dessert with a layer of clear caramel sauce. This dessert originated in Spain/France. You might have come across its variations such as crème brulée (custard with an added hard clear caramel layer on top) or crema catalana. The best crème brulée I have tasted was in Hidesign cafe in Pondicherry…yum! Haven’t forgotten the taste, it still lingers on!
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My Brazilian teens are home because of Navratri holidays and wanted to make a Brazilian dessert. I barely had a clue what they wanted to make until they showed me a Portuguese video & I was like…oh, caramel pudding!
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While I was getting all the ingredients ready, I asked João if he had made this earlier… He said “no” and I skipped a heartbeat! 😅 Then I asked Cris if he had made it before and he said, this was going to be his 3rd attempt… There goes another heartbeat.🤣
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While I’m all in favour of experimenting in the kitchen, doing it right before I was about to get started with making lunch was the catch here! Anyways, lunch was delayed by two hours but it was totally worth it. The caramel pudding turned out delicious. The caramel was perfect and the pudding held its shape pretty well and João couldn’t help but go OMG OMG… It’s so goooood!🤣 (One has to hear his accent to get the feel of this sentence!)
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Writing a decent caption for my posts is a luxury these days. By the time I type two sentences somebody goes…Mom… Another two sentences, another one goes… Mom! Sometimes I wonder if i have three teens or three toddlers!?🤣 So, here is an early morning post before anyone wakes up…sshhhhh🤫
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Even before they set out to make the pudding, João said, “Mom, when we make it, you can post on your Instagram and write Cris & João made this!” Now, that’s what I call confidence!😊
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Here I am… a proud mom showing off her kids’ work! 🥰
Hope you all appreciate their humble effort.🙏

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Turning out larger dishes of crème caramel requires care, as the custard easily splits. Larger dishes also require more care to avoid undercooking the interior or overcooking the exterior. Thus, crème caramel is often cooked and served in ramekins. Many people even use a bundt pan so that the centre part is cooked well. The objective being to obtain a homogeneous and smooth cream on the surface of the crème caramel, and that the base, being the caramel, remains liquid after being cooked in a water-bath.

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Do check my other quick & easy dessert recipes too:

Serves 5, 1 cup = 240 ml

Ingredients:

• Condensed milk – 1 tin (400 gm)
• Milk – 2-1/2 cup
• Eggs – 3
• Sugar – 1/4 cup
• Vanilla essence – 1 tsp

Instructions:

1. To caramelize sugar, heat it in a pan on medium flame. Stir it continuously until it melts and starts turning golden to golden-brown. Turn off heat. Do not over-do the caramelising process, else sugar turns bitter and spoils the taste of the entire dish.
2. Transfer the caramel to a pressure cooker safe container with flat bottom and make sure the entire bottom of the container is covered with caramel. Work it fast, else the caramel hardens. Keep aside.
3. Break eggs into a blender jar and run it for one minute. Add condensed milk, regular milk & vanilla essence and blend them together for four minutes.
4. Using a fine mesh sieve strain the mixture into the container with caramel base.
5. In a pressure cooker/a large vessel place a separator stand/mesh at the bottom. Add enough water such that it is comes upto half the height of the pudding mixture when placed inside.
6. Cover the pressure cooker/vessel and bring the water to a boil.
7. In the meantime, cover the caramel pudding mixture with an aluminium foil. Seal the edges well such that water doesn’t get in during the cooking process.
8. Once the water begins to boil, keep the container with caramel pudding mixture inside it. Cover it with a lid. Allow to steam-cook for about 10-12 minutes just like you would do for idlis or dhokla.😊
9. After 12 minutes, turn off heat and let it sit for 2 more minutes. Remove the lid. Carefully remove the container outside and let us at for a few more minutes.
10. Remove the aluminium foil and allow the pudding to cool down to room temperature. The pudding will be a little jiggly but not too worry.
11. Once the pudding cold down to room temperature, chill out in the refrigerator for about 2 hours.
12. Remove the pudding from the refrigerator. Keep a serving plate on the top of the container and invert it to unmould. Ta Da… You’ll see a well set caramel pudding with a lovely golden-brown caramel top and a puddle of caramelized liquid around the pudding. Serve cold and enjoy with your family! 💕