Ajamma’s Apricot Custard/Qubani Ka Meetha

Ajamma’s Apricot Custard/Qubani Ka Meetha

Dessert Of The Year

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Ajamma’s Apricot Custard/Qubani Ka Meetha that is  Stewed Apricots have always been a great favourite in our household and the dessert of the year eagerly awaited every New Year.  Qubani is the Urdu word for Apricot and Meetha means sweet in Hindi.  So the literal translation of Qubani Ka Meetha is Apricot Sweet. It is a super delicious dessert where the Apricots are soaked overnight in water and stewed to perfection, the next day.  My grandmother or Ajamma as we fondly called her would always serve up this delightful dessert every Christmas or New Year and make sure that dried apricots were dispatched well in advance to her two daughters who lived in other Indian states.

It is believed that Apricots entered our country when Alexander the Great wanted to import them to Europe. The Chinese fruit was imported into Central Asia through India, which is the only reason we are acquainted with it. How awesome is that!

Babur, the founder of the 500-year long Mughal dynasty in India, loved this delicacy from his native land of Ferghana, Uzbekistan. He pined for it when he started his conquest in India.  He thought India wouldn’t have that dessert dry fruit and realized he was so wrong when he discovered them here because of its trade connections. And hence the dessert stayed for centuries. It makes me so excited to realise this is an old, old dessert that has stood the test of time.

Ajamma’s Apricot Custard/Qubani ka Meetha was a royal dessert in India for years because it wasn’t a native fruit, then. Only the royals were rich enough to import the fruit to make a dessert out of it.

Qubani Ka Meetha is served after every lavish Hyderabadi Wedding dinner because apricots are extremely good for digestion due to their alkaline and fibre content. So, after eating amazing food, apricots do your stomach a lot of good!

I got the above information from this link.

https://chaibisket.com/qubani-ka-history/

The Recipe For Ajamma’s Apricot Custard/Qubani Ka Meetha:

The Ingredients For Ajamma’s Apricot Custard/Qubani Ka Meetha:

1/4  kg dried apricots (Indian or Black Turkish Apricots)

Sugar to taste (optional). I seldom use sugar because the apricots are sweet enough for us.

1 cup hot water

Method For Making Ajamma’s Apricot Custard/Qubani Ka Meetha

Soak apricots in hot water overnight. Next day remove seeds and cook to boiling point with or without sugar to taste. Lower heat and thicken. Remove and cool. In the meanwhile extract/crack the nuts and add to apricots. Serve cold with custard or cream or evaporated milk.  Sometimes I use whisked curds.

 Ingredients For Custard:

1 cup milk

1.5 tbsp  Bird’s Eye Custard Powder

sugar to taste

Method For Making Custard:

Dissolve the custard powder in a little milk and keep aside. Mix the milk and sugar together and when it begins to boil, lower flame and add the custard mixture slowly, stirring all the while. Bring to the boil. Simmer one minute. Custard should be of a pouring consistency. Transfer to serving bowl and cool. Serve with the apricots, garnished with the apricot kernels. This is my best dessert ever.

NB:  After moving to Malaysia, I used to buy apricots whenever I visited Bangalore and bring it back with me.  At other times, I would ask family and friends who were visiting Malaysia to carry some for me. During my forays to various shops I came across Turkish apricots which work as well as the Indian Dried Apricots.  I was also fortunate enough to come across Apricot Kernels which makes things so much easier.

Instead of Custard use  1 tbsp Cream or 1 tbsp of Evaporated Milk. Pour over Apricots and serve cold

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Learn how to cook a traditional Indian meal using recipes that have been inherited from my Mum & Grandmother.