When I was a kid, it seemed like the entire
human race loved to eat condensed milk straight out of the jar except me. I
just didn’t seem to like to the taste, or even pretend to like it. It felt like there was a whole world out there
of which I was not a part - like that one unpopular person in school whom no
one invites to their condensed milk consuming parties.
Cut to 2012. And I discovered dulce de
leche (dool say – deh – leh chay). This
is a South American sweet (though different forms may be found all across the
world from Mexico to India) made from condensed milk and you can say it’s a
form of milk jam if you like. Its basically a rich caramel sauce that can be
used as a topping for desserts, in ice creams, a filling in cakes, cookies,
cupcakes, as a spread on a piece of toast or eaten by itself!
The story goes that a woman was heating a
mixture of sugar and milk in an army camp. Rushing to smooth out a discord
between two captains, she forgot about her stove. When she returned, she found
a smooth, rich and creamy jelly like substance in her pot that we now know as
dulce de leche. A fortunate mistake indeed!
I had heard so much about this form of
caramel that I decided to give condensed milk another chance. When I was
looking for recipes, I found ones that seemed a little dangerous to me -
recipes that involved immersing a can of condensed milk in boiling water for 3
– 4 hours. Uh – huh. No way, I thought. I do not want to like condensed milk that much. But then as usual, David Lebovitz came to the rescue. His method of making this is really simple. All
you need to do is empty a can of condensed milk in a large shallow dish ( I
used the one I make lasagnas in). The milk needs to spread out to caramelize well.
It takes about 1 ½ hours in a hot oven. And the best part is that you can add
sea salt, cinnamon, nutmeg or whatever you fancy to take the flavor to another
level.
As of now, having gotten through the entire
jar of dulce de leche, I’m quite content to call myself the queen of condensed
milk.
Adapted from David Lebovitz
Preheat the oven to
425° F (220° C).
Pour one can (400
gms/14 ounces) of sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk) into a glass
pie plate or shallow baking dish. Stir in half tsp of sea salt.
Set the pie plate
within a larger pan, such as a roasting pan, and add hot water until it reaches
halfway up the side of the pie plate.
Cover the pie plate
snugly with aluminum foil and bake for 1 to 1¼ hours. (Check a few times during
baking and add more water to the roasting pan as necessary).
Once the Dulce
de Leche is nicely browned and caramelized, remove from the oven and
let cool. Once cool, whisk until smooth.
Store in the
refrigerator until ready to serve. Warm gently in a warm water bath or microwave
oven before using.
