A decadent layered pudding with pistachio cream, mangoes and strawberries, complete with a biscuit base…
Kifaya is a name that was introduced by a local bakery chain called Bakemart. I must say that their cakes are amazing. When they had just opened, I bought a mango mousse cake, which disappeared in a blink of an eye. On a different occassion, I had bought their chocolate cake and it had the same fate. Hehe… It was after ages, I went to their cafe which is a ten minute drive from our home for a blogger meetup early this year. I had met some amazing ladies and we had some major plans for more meetups. One more did happen which I wasn’t able to attend, but then Covid happened and all plans went down the drain. One of the cakes we had ordered that day was the Kifaya. They mention it as their best seller, but I don’t know why I didn’t try eating it. It is on my bucket list, but I don’t know when I will try it… hehe…
Meanwhile, during the lock-down times, the Kifaya pudding was making rounds on You Tube and Instagram. I was watching it with a lot of earnestness and had taken a screenshot on my phone, so that I wouldn’t forget. After watching all the videos available, all recipes had the pistachio element that is a part of the cake, but majority used only mangoes. I figured out that since the videos were from vloggers based in Kerala and strawberries are not something that is available in the interiors. When the theme for “Single Serving Desserts” was declared for the Blogging Marathon #118, the first pudding which came to my mind was this pudding. I know it isn’t the season of mangoes and strawberries are still expensive, however I managed to find canned mango and frozen strawberries at a good price at a store close to us. Total Eureka moment! Hehe…
The recipe is very simple and straight-forward, like many of the layered desserts. The only “cooking” involved is melting of the butter for the biscuit layer and the white chocolate for the cream layer. Even though I did it on the stove top, it can be done in the microwave as well. The base is powdered digestive biscuits tossed up in some melted butter. I didn’t add more butter into it, because I wanted it to look like crumbs and we prefer eating it that way. I don’t know if it is the case at your place, but in my home, the biscuit base for a cheese cake always remains because the girls say it is too hard and doesn’t taste good. You can substitute the base with crumbled cake or even crushed conrflakes tossed up in some melted butter…
The highlight of this dessert is the pistachio cream. I sincerely wish I could find the pistachio essence we use back home for drinks, like in this milkshake. It would have elevated the flavor even further. But I have no complaints. The softly whipped cream along with the white chocolate and condensed milk played perfect fodder for the powdered pistachios. Actually, if you freeze it that mixture in a tub, it would make amazing ice cream. Just saying… 😉 The only other elements are the strawberries and mangoes. I was a little doubtful about how these fruits would go together, but then there was nothing wrong with it. I haven’t used fresh fruit, and hence both were pretty tart. Having said that, it actually went really well along with the sweet pistachio cream and the biscuit crumble. I topped it off with some crushed cookies and reserved fruit, but you can use some crushed pistachios or cashews too. The dessert was immensely photogenic, and I had a tough time choosing which ones to pick for the blog, and hence the photo intensive post. Hehe… Off to this super recipe, that deserves to be pinned! 😉
Kifaya Pudding | Pistachio Layered Pudding
Ingredients
- 10 digestive biscuits
- 50 gm melted butter
- 1/2 cup shelled pistachios packed
- 300 ml whipping cream
- 100 gm white chocolate melted
- 1/4 cup condensed milk adjust to sweetness
- 3-4 drops of pistachio essence didn't use but recommended
- 1 large mango diced (I used 250 gm canned mango)
- 1 cup frozen or fresh strawberries diced
- Crushed cookies and/or pistachios for topping
Instructions
- Keep 6 serving glasses ready.
- Powder the biscuits. Rub in the melted butter. Spread equally into the serving glasses.
- Keep a small portion of the diced strawberry for topping and distribute the rest equally into all the cups.
- Powder the pistachios just till done. Do not process too much, otherwise it would be come butter. Set aside.
- Whip the cream until soft. Add the white chocolate, condensed milk, pistachio powder and essence if using and beat till combined.
- Divide into half. Distribute the first half equally into the six cups.
- Keep a small portion of the diced mango for topping and distribute the remaining equally into all cups.
- Top with the remaining pistachio cream into the cups.
- Distribute the reserved strawberry and mango on the top as decoration. Sprinkle with crushed cookies and/or pistachios.
- Allow it to rest in the fridge for at least 2 hours or until serving. Serve cold.
Notes
Linking this to the Kid’s Delight – Single Serving Dessert event being hosted by Vidya…
Awesome ! First I love the name , definitely very Arabic and somehow I love these Arabic desserts . The pistachio cream , mangoes , strawberries and the biscuits all assembled into a layered pudding – wow ! I am sure we all will love it too . Simple , but a fantastic dessert .
Look at that, you are killing my with your quickie desserts! Loving this one!
Awesome Rafeeda, this dish as you say is surely very photogenic. It’s great that you managed to find all the components to make this delicious dessert! would bookmark for a later day when these are available to us..:)
Splendid dessert with simple ingredients. I am going to make this. Will give the feedback and link to it. Thanks for the recipe.
What an amazing quick fix dessert this is. I agree with you that the pictures have turned out very nice.
This pudding sounds exotic and fabulous and you have captured it beautifully. Is it supposed to be made with strawberries alone?
The inspired cake has strawberries and mango in it, so I guess it has to be with both… 🙂