DRAGON FRUIT FIRNI

This is a fruit I was skeptical about buying for few years after coming to this island. I tasted it only on flights. Hailing from a state that worships mango, jackfruit, litchi, watermelon; I found it's taste too bland; in fact dragon fruit seemed tasteless to me. It is only in the recent years, may be since last year I started getting it home and I so like it these days. I get fruits for myself that are low in sugar; I got very used to having them. These days, any amount of excess sugar in desserts is what I cannot take. Sweet and Juicy fruits will always remain my love but I am asked not to have them much. I forgot to have a whole mango fruit. It's always half for me; once or twice a week.

I do not deprive myself of tasting what I love. I had litchis in litchi season, get longan & rambutan too but in less frequency. This dragon fruit; the white or purple variety come for me alone, Cristine too eats I think. I serve the men apple, orange, grape, mango, pear; the common varieties. Banana goes to the son's smoothies. They definitely would have a dessert kheer / pudding made of dragon fruit, rice flour, full cream milk, sugar, honey. Flavoured with green cardamom powder, this DRAGON FRUIT FIRNI was liked by the family, it is a keep.

It is India's special occasion in two days. I am so caught up at this time that I could not think deeper what to serve on India's platter. Last month, a long time friend of mine who lives in the same neighbourhood in Kolkata as mine, told me they get a lot of dragon fruit in the Baguiati area  or may be in Kolkata. I was so surprised. Then I do a brief research and find states like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra are doing dragon fruit farming these days, exporting too. That is wow. So, for a month I am planning to cook and blog about this vegetarian dessert DRAGON FRUIT FIRNI. I finally did it last Monday afternoon. Thereafter, when I sat on the sofa set letting it to cool before refrigerating, I saw a fellow blogger sharing a dragon fruit smoothie in the respective space. I just smiled; it is a coincidence off-course. I expect people to try both of our dishes or as per their food preferences.

INGREDIENTS :

PURPLE DRAGON FRUIT : 1 STANDARD SIZED
RICE FLOUR : 2-3 TBSP [I USED STORE BOUGHT]
FULL CREAM MILK : 350 ML
EVAPORATED CREAMER : 150 ML
HONEY : 1/2 SMALL TEA CUP
SUGAR : 2-3 TBSP
GREEN CARDAMOM POWDER : 1 TSP
LIGHTLY TOASTED DRY FRUITS TO GARNISH

PROCEDURE : 

We will be using these few things to prepare the kheer / pudding / firni.

We will take 1 small tea cup of full cream milk in a bowl, add the rice flour little by little; whisk to incorporate well. There shall be no lump present.

We will take the milk in a deep bottomed vessel and put for boil at minimal heat.

We have washed, cut half, scooped out and blended the dragon fruit to a paste. 

When the full cream milk has boiled for 12-14 minutes; we will add the evaporated creamer.

We will give a stir and boil at low heat for another 10-12 minutes. We will stir every 2-3 minutes.

Thereafter, we will add the rice flour & full cream milk paste.

We will continuously stir at low to minimal heat at this stage to let the entire thing cook and incorporate well.

When it starts thickening, we will add the fresh dragon fruit paste and fold in well. 

It is not a citrus fruit, so there is no fear of curdling of the content. 

We will continuously stir and let it boil for 10-12 minutes. Dragon Fruit releases a lot of water. 

When the pudding thickens more, we will add the honey, sugar and the green cardamom powder. 

We will fold in well and stir cook continuously for 5-6 minutes.

We will let it cool completely before refrigerating it for at least 2-3 hours. It should always be served chilled garnished with lightly toasted dry fruits.