All new..Part II

To introduce the product, we are back in our healthy snacking space with a milk based snack for children. French food giant Danone, recently launched a brand called 'Fundooz' (they should have called it FunDude - with a fun dude looking character). They first came out with Fundooz Yum Creamy, flavored in strawberry and vanilla. Flavored yogurt. This product is called Yum Chuski which comes in chocolate and kulfi flavors.

The problem is that I have no idea what exactly this product is. Pudding? No. Milkshake? No. Evidently, it is a launch meant for children, so clearly, it doesn't appeal to 30+ me (not even the child in me). Right from the packaging, to the product and the caricature, I found down right ugly.

Then comes actual product (that the only word that come to mind) - the texture is exactly that of milk with lots of cornflour added to it. Goop.

Danone Fundooz Yum Chuski Plus comes in easy squeeze pack which I couldn't pry open, even when I tried to neatly pull it along the 'tear here' perforated dotted line. I used a scissor to cut it neatly. And no chuski business here, I scoooped all the goop out with a desert spoon. The husband liked the product - he works in the food business so I guess he knows better - this product certainly didn't work for me. Let me try it out on my almost 2 year old.

No bake cheesecake

I love cheesecakes. I can't remember from when, but I always have. From the day of yore, where there was no internet, I'd sit for hours looking a cookery books with recipes of cheese cake and long to make it. But for this ingredient called 'cream cheese'. Unfortunately, cream cheese in India comes with scary prices & even scarier expiry dates. So cheesecaking was limited to friends and relatives arriving from anywhere out of the country.

An unforgettable experience was having that one giant slice of Juniors cheesecake after watching a show at Broadway. This humongous slice of creamy cheesecake - just YUM!

A few months ago, my college friend Aysha shared this wonderful recipe, which has been modified slightly to suit ones taste. Here goes a cheesecake recipe with well, no cream cheese!

Ingredients:

Crust

2 packs of digestive biscuit

25 gms of butter (you can add more if you want a crunchier harder crust)

1. Crush biscuits in the mixie, add butter to the crumbs and mix till it all come together.

2. Line a springform tin (or any tin with a loose base) with foil and pack the crumb mixture into it.

Filling

Yogurt made from 1 lt milk (full/regular - both work well)

Paneer made from 1 lt milk (full/regular - both work well)

200 ml cream

3/4 cup powdered sugar (can be increased to 1 it you like it sweeter)

1.5 tbsp gelatin

1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Hang the yogurt in a muslin cloth till all the water has drained out - usually around 3 to 4 hours

2. Dissolve gelatin in warm water and keep aside

2. Blend together the hung yogurt and cream till smooth

3. Keep adding little bits of paneer till to achieve a smooth texture
4. Add gelatin and vanilla to the above mixture

5. Pour over prepared crust and refrigerate.

You have a choice of toppings, since strawberries are in season you can made a coulis by blitzing about 100 gms of the berries with a little sugar added (depending on how sweet the fruit is). With such gorgeous fruit how can one not use it.

I have also made it earlier with blueberry spread by St. Dalfour. But nothing like using fresh fruit.