Celebrate this Diwali by adding a tasty twist to traditional desserts

Show your beloved that you know your way in the kitchen with these contemporary dessert recipes.
Rose rasmalai panacotta (Chef Rakhee Vaswani of Palate Culinary Studio)

Ingredients

- 250 ml rasmalai - 125ml cream - 10g gelatin - 4tbsp condensed milk - 1tbsp pista slivers - Rose essence (a few drops)

Method

1. Remove the rasmalai from the milk and cut them. 2. In another vessel, bring the cream, the milk and condensed milk to a boil. Cool it down. Add the rose essence. 3. Add the gelatin to a little water and warm it in a microwave until it is transparent and cool. 4. Add the chopped rasmalai pieces, gelatin and the pistachio slivers. Pour the panacotta mixture in shot glasses or in silicon moulds. Leave it to set for at least 2-3 hours in the refrigerator

Saffron phirni & caramelised nut tart (Vinayak Gupta of Tawak)

- 100g cashew nuts - 100g almonds - 275g sugar - 20g dehydrated rose petals - 75g rice - 800ml milk - 20g ghee - 5g green cardamom - 6-7 saffron strands

Method

Tart

1. Chop the nuts fi nely and roast them in pan. Set aside. 2. Place the pan on high fl ame and add sugar. Stir continuously till sugar caramelises. 3. After the sugar has caramelised, add the roasted nuts and rose petals. 4. Oil the mould and line it with mixture while it’s still warm. 5. Let it set for a few minutes and de-mould.

Phirni

1. Clean, wash and soak the rice for at least an hour. 2. Drain the water from rice and grind into fi ne pieces. 3. Heat the milk in a pan and bring to boil. 4. Lower the flame. Add the ground rice and sugar. 5. Keep stirring till the rice is cooked. Add the ghee, cardamom powder and saffron. 6. Take it off the flame and cool.

Presentation

After the tarts and the phirni cool down, take the tarts and fi ll them with phirni. Garnish with dried rose petals and serve. Do not keep the tarts in refrigerator. Chill the phirni, fi ll and serve when required.

Sutarfeni Mill-Fooey (Sucres Des Terres, The Bombay Canteen

Ingredients

- Sutarfeni — 720grams - 200ml lemon juice - 300ml heavy cream - 250g sugar - 3 tbsp corn fl our - 50g salted butter (cold & cut into cubes) - 4 egg yolks - 500ml milk - 30g corn fl our - 30g fl our - Vanilla — 1/2 pod - 150g whipped cream - 1tbsp roasted ground fennel seeds - 30g candied lemon zest

Method

Lemon curd

1. Mix the lemon juice, heavy cream, sugar and corn fl our and whisk together for a couple of minutes. Place it over a double boiler and cook until the mix has reached 95°C. Ensure that the mix is stirred occasionally. ​2. Mix the cold cubes of butter and the lemon curd. Allow to cool.

Pastry cream

1. Whisk together the egg yolks, fl our, corn fl our until it becomes an uniform consistency. 2. Heat milk and the vanilla to about 85°C. Add the heated milk in four parts into the egg mix, while continuously whisking the mixture, so that the eggs don’t cook. 3. Transfer back into the pan and continue to cook for about fi ve to seven minutes, until the mix achieves a custard-like consistency. 4. Transfer into a bowl and place cling film.

Lemon cream

1. Mix together 550 gms of the lemon curd, 200gms of the pastry cream and 50gms of the whipped cream until the mix is of an uniform consistency. 2. Fill into a piping bag. Refrigerate for 3 hours.

Assembly

Layer the dish by placing the Sutarfeni disk on the base of the plate. Then pipe lemon cream in the center of the disk and place another disk on top. Repeat with more lemon cream and one more disk. Pipe a little of the remaining whipped cream on to the 3rd disk and garnish with crushed roasted fennel seeds and lemon zest.