Desserts

General Materials

General Notes

• All vanilla-based recipes need to be adjusted to the strength of the vanilla extract, so you just have to taste them to find the right amount
• I wrote down a lot of the recipes when my extract wasn't very strong yet, so you may need to put in a lot less than I wrote down

Vanilla Extract

• Ingredients
  • 1-2 vanilla beans (more is better)
  • 0.7 L bottle of vodka
• Instructions
  • Slice vanilla beans in half and put into bottle
  • Leave bottle for at least one month (preferably several), shaking occasionally
  • Get drunk

Vanilla Sugar

• Ingredients
  • 1 vanilla bean
  • 500 g sugar
• Instructions
  • Cut vanilla bean into small pieces
  • Place in coffee grinder together with some sugar and grind until no large pieces remain
  • Mix resulting powder with rest of sugar
  • Note: The pieces of the vanilla bean may not let themselves be ground well since they are usually moist still, so you may need to grind them as well as possible, wait for a few days so the sugar can soak up the water, filter them out with a sieve, and then grind them again

Pakistani/Indian

Barfi

• Ingredients
  • 3 L milk (preferably raw)
  • 2 pods green cardamom
  • 10-11 Tbsp sugar
• Instructions
  • Boil milk while stirring every few minutes until enough water has boiled away to turn it into a thick liquid.
  • Add ground cardamom seeds and sugar.
  • Note: only add sugar and cardamom near the very end (before it turns hard), or it will be more likely to burn.
  • Continue simmering on very low flame until it is a thick mass - stir constantly to prevent it from burning.
  • Pour into mold and let cool.
  • Cut into squares (other shapes are lame).

Ras Malai

• Ingredients
  • 2 L milk
  • 5 Tbsp sugar
  • 5 pods green cardamom
  • Juice from 1 lemon
• Instructions
  • Put 1 L milk each into two separate pots and start heating
  • Keep one simmering to boil off some of the water while curdling the other one with the lemon juice when it boils
  • Strain curdled milk through thin cloth, rinse with cold water, and try to squeeze out as much water as possible
  • Form this into ~8-10 balls - it requires a lot of kneeding to get it smooth enough to form proper balls
  • Boil these in water for ~5-10 minutes covered with a lid
  • While they are boiling, add sugar and cardamom (ground) to the other milk
  • Take the balls out of the water and add them to the sweetened milk
  • Boil for a few minutes, then leave to cool and eventually refrigerate

Kulfi

• Ingredients
  • 2 L milk
  • 5-6 pods cardamom, ground
  • 1/3 cup sugar
• Instructions
  • Boil milk until it has about 1/3 of the original volume
  • Add ground cardamom and sugar, stir well
  • Freeze mixture after cooling to room temperature

Other

Magic Fudge

• Ingredients
  • 1 can (~400 g) sweetened condensed milk
  • ~140 g biscuits - "Butterkekse", broken into small pieces
  • 6 Tbsp cocoa powder
  • 3 Tbsp butter
• Instructions
  • Heat condensed milk, butter, and cocoa powder
  • Cook for ~6 minutes, or until it becomes stringy
  • Quickly mix in broken biscuits and put into form

Sweet Milk Rice/Milchreis

• Ingredients
  • 2-3 Tbsp Sugar
  • Cinnamon - ~1/8 tsp (just sprinkle on top)
  • 1 tsp Vanilla flavoring (adjust based on strength of extract)
  • 1 cup Boiled rice
  • 1.5-2 cups Milk (depending on whether rice is fresh or already dried out)
  • Pinch salt
• Instructions
  • Boil ingredients in pot and leave simmering for at least 10 minutes, or until it turns nicely thick
  • May need to cover with lid for a while if rice is dried out
  • Note: You can do this straight away with dry rice but may need to add more milk and leave it to soak longer

Chocolate/Vanilla Pudding

• Ingredients
  • 1/4 cup cocoa and 1 tsp vanilla extract OR 2 Tbsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 3 cups milk
  • 3-4 Tbsp cornstarch (3 is fine for normal eating, but you need more if you want it to be properly thick)
• Instructions
  • Mix cocoa/vanilla, sugar, cornstarch, and a bit of milk in a bowl and set aside
  • Note: mixing the sugar and cornstarch together well before adding milk helps avoid clumps
  • Heat remaining milk until it starts boiling
  • Slowly add the cocoa, sugar, and cornstarch mixture
  • Keep boiling on low or medium heat for a few minutes, until it thickens
  • Pour into bowl and leave to cool

Semolina Pudding

• Ingredients
  • 50 g semolina (Hartweizengrieß)
  • 1/2 L milk
  • 2 Tbsp sugar
  • 1-2 Tbsp vanilla extract (adjust based on strength of extract)
• Instructions
  • Boil milk
  • Turn down heat and add other ingredients
  • Simmer on low heat for ~5-10 minutes, stirring frequently
  • Leave to cool

Sago Pudding

• Ingredients
  • 50 g sago
  • 1/2 L milk
  • 2 Tbsp sugar
  • 1-2 Tbsp vanilla extract (adjust based on strength of extract)
• Instructions
  • Boil milk
  • Turn down heat and add other ingredients
  • Simmer on low heat for 20-30 minutes with pot covered, stirring occasionally
  • Leave to cool

Vanilla Sauce

• Ingredients
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 3 cups milk
  • 2 Tbsp cornstarch
  • 2 Tbsp vanilla extract
• Instructions
  • Same as vanilla pudding, just with less cornstarch
  • Note: if you need it to cool down more quickly, cook everything with a little bit of milk to make a really thick pudding, and then stir in the cold milk quickly - it may not become as nice but it won't be boiling hot