Kubani ka meetha

“This is my invariable advice to people: Learn how to cook- try new recipes, learn from your mistakes, be fearless, and above all have fun!”
Julia Child

"Kubani ka meetha" (Apricot dessert), this very popular Hyderabadi sweet dish had been on my mind from a long long time. Initially, after having read so much about it, seen some tantalizing pictures in food magazines and also having heard my brother and Mum and so many others rave about it, it was on my "Must eat" list. Unfortunately for me, I never got the chance to savour this much-talked-about royal dish from the land of the Nizams. I had also heard a lot about the other equally relished Hyderabadi desserts like, double ka mittha, gille firdaus and badam ki jaali. To my luck, I got to taste all three and even successfully attempt making double ka mittha and gille firdaus. Now that left badam ki jaali and kubani ka mittha. I strangely didn't seem as interested in badam ki jaali as I was in kubani ka mittha.

Well, I gradually reduced eating and making sweet dishes, since the onset of my diabetes, since the past ten or twelve years. I got innovative with main dishes and savoury snacks and when ever the occasion demanded, I resigned to creating my signature caramel pudding or some not-so-sweet traditional desserts of Dharwad like, "paradi kheer".

This time for new year's eve, I went overboard with planning for the barbecue and the dessert got planned as an afterthought. It was sometime in between my search for a good seek kebab recipe online, that I chanced to spy a attractive picture of my old temptation, the "kubani ka meetha". That did it ! I decided, I had to go for it and try something different ! And that's also when I found out that making kubani ka meetha wasn't as complicated as I had assumed it to be. Well, the recipe for this royal dessert is so simple, that I kept thinking all the sundry sites that I was checking were missing something somewhere... It's finally after checking out some videos from a couple of well known chefs, that I was reassured about the brilliantly effortless recipe to a remarkably delectable sweet dish.

For once, I decided to stick to the authentic recipe and did not add any of my distinct twists. (Though I think, this was more because of the very little time I had after all the marinating for the barbecue.) But well, I can't say if I can exercise the same restraint the next time. He he he !

Here's presenting my very simple, but utterly elegant and flavoursome "Kubani ka meetha", served with fresh whipped cream and chopped nuts. Just as it is done in the original recipe.