Rum&Raisin Chocolate Custard (Eggless)

"Recipes don't work unless you use your heart."
-Dylan Jones

 I had a couple of friends coming over for lunch and everything from the drinks to starters and main course were decided well in advance. I shopped for whatever I'd need...meats and vegetables, greens etc. A night before I did the spade work and was up at 5.30 am the next morning to cook! I know many who cook the night before and refrigerate and reheat when needed. I'm not making a comment on this practical approach, but I prefer to actually put things together and cook the entire dish on the day it is required. So, only things like chopping, grinding, marinating and such are done earlier. 

Come morning as I happily went through the frying, sauteing, 'bhunoing,' a horrible thought occurred to me. I hadn't decided about the dessert! A quick peek in the kitchen cupboard revealed custard powder, chocolate chips, cocoa powder, and raisins. Chocolate custard or perhaps my favourite Coffee and Walnut Hot Custard. This brought down the panic level by a notch...just a notch, custard needs time to cool, if you're serving it cold or needs to be made just before the meal ends so you can serve it hot! The latter wasn't even an option! 

I opened the cupboard again, and for some reason, the Spiced Rum Bottle caught my attention. Hmmm....something popped, "Rum & Raisin," I muttered. The next thing I murmured: "I wonder how the rum tastes." That was easy. A sip, and I found it was delicious. spiced with a lovely cinnamon flavour and other flavours I couldn't distinguish but liked a lot, and it was mildly sweet...just what a dessert needed. Out came the raisins and rum. I poured out a generous amount and dropped in the raisins. The rest was easy. The dessert was simple but rich in flavour! It came as a surprise, for the first sight revealed a pudding which looked like a chocolate blanc mange with raisins. The first spoonful however brought out the delicious surprise and the humble custard scored with the ladies, who were surprised that the custard was eggless too!


Ingredients

Custard powder (vanilla).........................5-6 slightly heaped tbsps (I used Brown & Polson)
Chocolate chips.......................................1/4, heaped standard cup
Milk.........................................................1 ltr + 3/4 cup
Cocoa powder.........................................1 tbsp level
Sugar acc to taste
Raisins....................................................3/4 cup
Spiced rum..............................................enough to soak the raisins
Cream (optional)....................................as required, whipped stiff. You can add the excess rum to it

Soak the raisins for 3-4 hrs.
Use the 3/4 cup of milk to mix the custard powder.
In a double boiler pour in half the milk and dissolve the chips. or alternatively you could just do it directly.
Put half the milk to boil in a thick bottomed pan. Add the sugar to the milk and stir to dissolve.
Drain the raisins well. remove excess rum.
When the milk is very hot, before it boils, lower the heat and drop in the chips and stir well until they dissolve. Turn on the heat and add the rest of the milk. Keep stirring.
Now give the custard mixture a good stir (custard powder tends to settle at the bottom)
Lower heat to medium and while stirring constantly pour in the custard mixture. Keep stirring briskly, or lumps will form.
When it is cooked and thickened, remove from stove top.
Add half of the soaked raisins to the custard and pour into a flat dish.
Sprinkle the rest of the raisins as garnish.
Allow to cool before putting the custard in the refrigerator. If you are going to frill the custard with cream do it after the custard cools.

Do leave a comment to let me know how it turned out.

_________________________________________________________________________________