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).

'Fire Your Passion' Cheesecake

‘FIRE YOUR PASSION!’ screamed the labels on passion fruit juice bottles that I had picked up in a supermarket in Ooty during summer last year and from which I’ve derived the name for this cheesecake.

It was a bountiful season of passion fruit for me, thanks to a couple of friends who have the vine growing in their gardens. There was the purple as well as the yellow variety and apart from making the usual juice, which is loved by all at home, I set out to make a cheesecake as well.

For a biscuit crumb base to fit a 9” loose-bottomed flan tin, you need to crush the life out (not to worry, it isn't a criminal offence) of 180 gms of Marie Gold biscuits and mix the resultant crumbs with 75 gms of melted butter. Then pat it firmly into the base and sides of the flan tin and refrigerate till it hardens.

For the filling, whisk together till smooth 250 gms of curd cheese (obtained by draining a litre of curd of its whey) with one tetrapak of Amul fresh cream, 6 tablespoons of icing sugar, a few drops of lemon juice, a dash of vanilla essence and 1 teaspoon of gelatine dissolved in about three tablespoons of warm water. Ensure the gelatine is cooled before adding it to the mix.

Spoon the mixture evenly into the flan tin and refrigerate till firm and set. Pour the passion fruit pulp over the cheesecake just before serving. Cut in wedges and serve.