Fruit custard is a timeless recipe which makes its presence in many special meals and parties. It is one of those desserts that I have enjoyed growing up. I am happy to see that my son loves it as well, although he likes it with more bananas and apples (just like me!!), so I save some extra apples and bananas on the side to add to our bowls.

This is a fast and easy dessert, using fruits and served chilled. It is also a great make ahead dessert, which can be customized using any seasonal fruits on hand and is completely fail proof! Fruit custard is one of those desserts that you can indulge in without feeling guilty about high calories and it is relatively healthy, I think 🙂

Chilled fruit custard will definitely be a hit with your family and friends, especially on a hot summer day! Enjoy…

Ingredients:

• 1 liter Milk, (can use Almond or Soya milk. I used 2% milk)
• 7 tablespoon Custard Powder, (Readily available at any Indian or Persian grocery store)
• 1 cup Granulated Sugar,
• 1 cup chopped Banana, cut it in 1/4ths
• 1 cup chopped Apple, about the size of chopped bananas. (I have removed the skin of the apple, you can leave it on if you prefer)
• 1½ cup Grapes, (can use Red or Green or both grapes. Cut in halves if too big)
• 1 cup Blueberry,
• ½ cup Raspberry,
• 2 small Oranges, peel off the skin and remove seeds if any (If using big orange cut in halves)
• ½ cup Pomegranate, (optional, or use it for decoration)
• Mint leaves for decoration.

How To:

• Heat milk in a thick bottom pan on medium flame, stirring occasionally so that it does not stick to the bottom.
• Once the milk is hot ladle out about 1 cup milk in a bowl and set aside.
• Add sugar to remaining milk, let it simmer on low, stirring occasionally to avoid it from sticking to the bottom.
• Meanwhile, add custard powder to the set aside milk while it’s still warm and mix well. Make sure there are no lumps.
• Add this custard mix to the milk few tablespoons at a time, stirring continuously to avoid creating lumps. This way you can also keep a check on the consistency.
• Cook on Medium to low flame for 2 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent it from sticking to the pan.
• At this point check for sweetness and consistency of the custard, adjust per your liking. Note that the consistency of the custard will reduce a bit upon adding fruits and also its sweetness.
• Remove from flame and cool to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate it till you are ready to serve, at least 1 hour.
• Chop fruits and chill them in the fridge till ready to serve.

Serving suggestion: 

• Remove custard 1/2 hour before you plan to serve and whisk it nicely to get a smooth custard consistency.
• Add fruits to the custard and gently toss them together. Refrigerate it till ready to serve.
• Decorate with pomegranate or raspberry and mint.
• You can adjust the consistency of the custard to your liking. I have added the picture for both thick and medium consistency custard.

Note:

• If using Almond milk, do not overheat it. Just make it warm and add the custard mix to it.
• Use custard powder per the package info as they might be slightly different based on brand.
• If the custard is too runny then make a smooth custard paste like before using few tablespoons of warm milk and custard powder. Add this little by little to the custard till desired consistency is achieved.
• If custard became too thick, then add little milk and stir till desired consistency is achieved.
• You can prepare this with any other combination of fruits. Just make sure that the fruits blend well with each other. Avoid using watery fruits like watermelon, cantaloupe as this will thin down the custard.
• You can make custard a day before. However add fruits only ½ hour before serving, as adding fruits will make the custard a little runny.
• You can completely customize this desert per your liking by adjusting custard consistency and also using different seasonal fruits.