Quick Lemon Cheesecake

THIS is another one of my favourites when I’ve slaved all day in the kitchen and am loathe to slave some more in making an elaborate dessert. Trust me, it’s an instant hit with everyone and even until the dish is invariably scraped clean, no one can ever tell that it was whipped up with negligible effort. I owe this recipe to my cousin Jenny, who’s a wonderful cook and loves to innovate. Our long phone chats have dwindled to zero ever since she moved from Mangalore to distant Canada. Sniff. Sniff. Must all good things have to come to an end? This dessert will bring sunshine to anyone feeling under the weather.

What you need:

One 85 gm packet of lemon jelly mix
One 400 ml tin condensed milk
1 teaspoon Davis gelatine
200 gm paneer

Dissolve the gelatine in 4-5 tablespoons of hot water. Prepare the jelly as per instructions on the packet. Do not refrigerate yet. Add the dissolved gelatine to it. Set aside.

Break up the paneer and dump it into a blender. Empty the condensed milk too into it and run the blender for just a minute. Pour the jelly mix too into the blender and whirr for a minute. All that remains to be done now is to refrigerate it till set.

For this, you and I know that the most beautiful and correct way is to set it on a biscuit crumb base, made by mixing 180 gm of powdered Marie Gold biscuits with 75 gms of melted butter and pressing it evenly in a flan tin before chilling it to harden.

However, if like me, you sometimes don't feel up to it, have no worries. Just be happy pouring the mixture into a glass dish (as in the pic). You can also set it in individual dessert bowls - and decorate with swirls of whipped cream if you like. But my whole point is to avoid all that extra work.

Refrigerate until firm and set. For quick setting, first place in freezer for about an hour and then transfer to refrigerator shelf.

For variation, use any other flavoured jelly – strawberry, raspberry, lime, apricot, orange or whatever is at hand. But I vote for lemon.

A refreshing dessert while the crumbled paneer adds a delightfully rich and grainy texture to the cheesecake. Besides, it’s so simple to make! And don't be surprised if people pounce on you for the recipe, because they most certainly will.

PS: Now I don't mean to show off, but as a supporter of the Indian dairy co-operatives, I make a conscious decision to buy Amul products as far as is possible/practical. The condensed milk used in this recipe was Amul Mithai Mate, while the paneer was Nandini, a product of Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF).