Floating Island

Floating Island is a classic French dessert with floating meringue clouds. These poached meringues are floated on a soft vanilla custard. It tastes divine and so is its texture. When we Malabaris have their own version of almost all classic desserts; this dessert closely resembles with Pinnanathappam -the white steamed cake served along with muttamala. It is the custard and the caramel on top that distinguishes this dish from the latter and I must say, the response in our family was superb! Hanan couldn't ressist herself from making this as soon as she saw her favourite Shireen Aapa showing this on tv. Now this is her contribution to the blog after a very long time.

Ingredients:

Milk 1 cup

Cream 1/2 cup

Vanilla essence 1 tsp

Eggs 3, separated

Salt a pinch

Castor Sugar 70gm

For caramel syrup:

Sugar 150gms

Water 100ml

Method:

Meringue Floats:

1. Heat the milk and vanilla essence in a dish for 3 minutes and keep aside.
2. Whisk egg whites and salt until stiff.

3.Then gradually whisk in half the sugar.

4. Drop four or five spoonfuls of the meringue mixture (egg white mixture) into the milk and heat for a minute.
5. Now take the white puffs and drain on paper towel, repeat until all egg white mixture has been used.

Custard: (you can either make custard using instant custard mix )

1.  Now strain the milk.
2. Beat egg yolks with remaining sugar until thick and pale in color.
3.  Then add strained milk and cream till combine then cook for a while until thick custard is been formed. Allow it to chill.

Caramel syrup:

 Combine sugar and water, cook till the sugar dissolves completely and caramel is been formed.

To Serve:

Now pour the prepared custard in the dish, the prepared egg white floating islands on the top and drizzle caramel on the top.
 Sprinkle the nuts on top and serve.