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Keşkül

The almonds are ground and steeped in the milk, then strained out — so it tastes of almond without being gritty.

Egg. Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains egg, dairy (whole milk).

Ingredients

to finish

Method

  1. THE ALMONDS ARE GROUND AND STEEPED IN THE MILK, THEN STRAINED OUT. Two hundred grams of blanched almonds ground as finely as the machine will manage, stirred into the milk, brought almost to a simmer and left to stand for an hour. The milk is then poured through muslin and the almond solids are squeezed and discarded. What is left is milk that tastes thoroughly of almond with nothing granular in it, and the pudding made from it is as smooth as a plain milk pudding. Ground almonds left in -- which is the obvious shortcut -- give a pudding with a sandy texture that coats the mouth, and no amount of extra cooking smooths it out.
  2. THE ALMONDS MUST BE BLANCHED, WITH NO SKINS. Skins turn the pudding grey-beige and add a tannic bitterness. Blanched almonds give the pale ivory colour the dish is known for.
  3. THE MILK IS NOT BOILED WITH THE ALMONDS IN IT. Brought to just below a simmer and then taken off to steep. Boiling extracts the bitterer compounds along with the flavour, and an hour off the heat gets everything wanted.
  4. THE SOLIDS ARE SQUEEZED HARD AND THEN THROWN AWAY. Through muslin, twisted and wrung until no more milk comes -- a surprising amount is held in there. The spent almond meal has given up its flavour and is discarded.
  5. THE EGG YOLKS GO IN OFF THE HEAT AT THE END. Two yolks tempered with a ladle of the hot pudding and stirred back in with the pan off the flame. They give richness and a faint yellow warmth to the ivory. Boiled afterwards, they scramble and the pudding is grainy -- which undoes the whole straining effort.
  6. THE ROSE WATER GOES IN LAST AND IS ONE TEASPOON. Its aroma is volatile and boils away; and more than a teaspoon makes the pudding taste of soap, which is a difficult line to come back from.
  7. The almonds ground as FINELY as possible.
  8. Stirred into the milk and brought to JUST BELOW a simmer, then taken off.
  9. LEFT TO STEEP 1 HOUR.
  10. STRAINED through muslin, the solids SQUEEZED HARD and then thrown away.
  11. The rice flour and cornflour whisked smooth with 200 ml of the almond milk.
  12. The rest brought to a simmer with the sugar.
  13. The starch mixture whisked in and cooked, stirring, 8 MINUTES until thick and glossy.
  14. THE PAN TAKEN OFF THE HEAT.
  15. The yolks beaten in a bowl, a ladle of hot pudding whisked in, then stirred back into the pan OFF the heat.
  16. The rose water stirred in -- 1 TEASPOON only.
  17. Poured into individual bowls and chilled 4 HOURS.
  18. TESTED: it should be completely smooth with no granularity, and ivory rather than beige. Sandiness means the almonds were not strained out.
  19. Scattered with pistachios and coconut.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Turkey · All recipes