Darjeeling and Ginger Infused Crème Caramel

A luscious crème caramel infused with Darjeeling tea and ginger. Perfect for any tea lover.
By Amrita Chowdhury

You can either be a tea person. Or a coffee person.

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It is the sort of situation that we are born into. A Universal Rule, that the entire world be divided between important matters such as choosing dogs over cats, tea over coffee, milk chocolate over dark, summer over winter, soup over salad. Or vice versa. And so on and so forth. And against all my efforts to be an equal-opportunity cook – or eater really – I’ve failed miserably. But I try. I really do.

For example, there was the time when I lugged home a 3-pound sack of Brussels sprouts (that’s almost one and half kilos of sprouts, if you’ve been metricised like I have), seemingly adamant that for once I was going to try and eat more than just 3 or 4 of them. I wanted to like vegetables as much as I like pork. I wanted to give them equal-footing. I was going through the phase where I wanted to add a salad to every meal. Stuff dreams are made of.

The phase lasted about 12 hours – a personal best – and it did lead to two very good meals. Both meaty, glazed with fat and buried under mountains of sprouts. They will be forever remembered as The Two Meals That Would Make My Mother Proud. Two hours following that, I emptied the sack dividing its remaining contents among several small Tupperware boxes, and distributed them between my college-mates. Considering what a raging carnivore I am that was an honest effort. And that has to count for something. Right? RIGHT?

Believe me, dear reader, I have grown since. And the wisdom I have acquired over the last two years allow for a diet generous in vegetables. But a girl’s got to eat what a girl’s got to eat – I would always choose meat over veggies. And as a general rule endorsed by my family, I would choose winter over summer, salad over soup, pork over Brussels sprouts and dark chocolate over almost anything.

Also, I am a coffee person. Which is, for lack of better words, out-of-place in my world. This is a serious hitch. The tell-tale sign of a prospective black sheep. You see, I’ve spent all of my life within the expanses of two countries who don’t get out of bed without tea. Any sort of greeting from any citizen of either country is always followed by the inevitable question: Would you like a cup of tea?
Amidst all that, I sit traitorously nursing my morning latte.

But I have a crème caramel here with me today that transcends all favouritism. It overlooks all treachery and weirdness. It could kick any damn Universal Rule’s arse in a flash if it wanted to without even blinking its caramel-coated eyes. It is infused with tea. Darjeeling tea.

Its baked chai with a wobble and a silky texture and a melting robe of powerful, powerful caramel. It tears away at the slightest touch of a spoon and slithers down your throat leaving a trail of milky tea behind. Its a sexed-up housewife in fishnets. The tea infuses the eggy custard with a fragrance the way only Darjeeling’s finest can. And for a coffee-lover, that’s saying a lot.

Then there’s the ginger. It wouldn’t be chai without ginger now, would it? The ginger does not blare out loudly like it does in most ginger-infused goods. Its gentle and nurturing in this case. And the best bit is the high pleasure-to-effort ratio. The pudding is utter gorgeousness compared to the minimal effort I put in it. There is this deep satisfaction that courses through your body when you run a sharp knife along the edge of the ramekin and turn it upside-down over a plate. The pudding softly plops down onto a pool of burnt amber glaze – something that could easily make you want to bathe in it.

For this pudding I’ll choose tea over coffee any day. In fact, if I weren’t so close to my skinny jeans, I’d say this could easily replace my morning cuppa.

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Darjeeling Tea Crème Caramel


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  • Author: Amrita Chowdhury
  • Total Time: 1 hour
  • Yield: 4 small ramekins 1x

Description

A luscious crème caramel infused with Darjeeling tea and ginger


Ingredients

Scale
  • 2 cups (500ml approx) of whole milk
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 tbsp good-quality Darjeeling tea leaves
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 tbsp ginger paste
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract

For the caramel

  • 1 1/2 cup of granulated sugar
  • Juice of 1/2 lemon
  • 1/2 cup of water

Instructions

  1. Pre-heat oven to 170 deg C.
  2. Grease the ramekins lightly. Set them on a deep baking pan.
  3. In a bowl crack the eggs and whisk them lightly.
  4. Heat milk in pan and stir in the sugar till the sugar dissolves and the milk just starts bubbling.
  5. Take the pan off heat and add the tea leaves. Cover pan and set it aside to steep for 10 minutes.
  6. Strain the mixture and pour the milk into the bowl with the eggs.
  7. Keep whisking while pouring taking care that the eggs don’t scramble.
  8. Squeeze out the juices from the ginger paste through a sieve and into the custard. Discard the pulp.
  9. Add vanilla and stir to mix.

Make the Caramel

  1. Set the custard aside.
  2. Stir the sugar, lemon juice and water together in a pan over medium heat.
  3. Stop stirring the moment the mixture starts to bubble.
  4. Let the mixture foam, sputter and froth all it wants but make sure you don’t take your eyes off it. The caramel will become golden at first and then very quickly thicken into a slothy amber syrup.
  5. Take it off the heat immediately and carefully pour into the ramekins to coat their bottoms. Be careful – this is boiling sugar we’re talking about.

Assemble the pudding

  1. Pour the custard over the layers of caramel to fill the ramekins 2/3 of the way.
  2. Pour boiling water into the deep baking dish so that the water comes about half-way up to the sides of the ramekins.
  3. Bake for 30-40 minutes.
  4. To check if the puddings are done give them a quick shake – the centres should still wobble a good deal. Touch the surface of a pudding lightly with the tip of your index finger and if it doesn’t break away, then they’re done.
  5. Cool the ramekins on a rack and refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.
  6. To serve, just run a sharp knife along the edge to loosen the pudding and quickly turn over on a plate.
  7. This crème caramel doesn’t really need adornments but you could add a few pieces of crystallized ginger if you want.
  • Prep Time: 20 mins
  • Cook Time: 40 mins

 

What do YOU think? Leave a comment! (3) What do YOU think? Leave a comment! (3)
  1. I used to be a coffee person, then became a tea person. Now I prefer tea over coffee but do enjoy both. Your creme caramel sounds fantastic. Darjeeling is pretty high on my favorite’s list. Great flavor pairings.

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