Firni Tiramisu: Crazy experiments with Firni, part 3
Firni Tiramisu is the final dessert experiment with Firni, for now. And when I say that I saved the best for the last, I mean it. I’m sure you liked the idea behind the other two, Firni Tart and Firni X Brûlée, didn’t you?
With the flavours of coffee, chocolate and firni combined, this firni-tiramisu comes out so uniquely indulgent. The taste transfers me back to my childhood when we used to relish a very popular candy bar called “Coffee Bite”. Considering that it contained coffee, I don’t know why we were allowed to eat it as kids. I won’t let my children eat anything that contains caffeine. But the good news is that we grew up just fine. (A little crazy, but fine overall.) Anyway, so if you loved Coffee Bite too, you definitely want to try this dessert. And if you love tiramisu or even plain coffee, you might want to try this out as well.
Oh I have to mention that I made this firni-tiramisu for Eid this year. If you are a Kashmiri, you know how back home, bakery is so hyped around Eid. We can’t do Eid without chocolate cakes and other delightful bakery goodies. Our family favourite Eid cake used to be The Black Forest. Fresh fruits, Kashmiri nuts and chocolate, all generously incorporated in between layers of the most decadent moist cake ever. For years, rather for decades, we would order this a couple of days ahead of Eid. In the later years, White Forest started trending, which was one notch higher. Oh, what days! Not long after, diabetes and later the pandemic took over. To relive the memories, I decorated this dessert with chocolate shavings, just the way our old Black Forest Cake used to be. Because we can’t turn back the clock, we can only wind it up again!
Without further chit chat, here’s the recipe. Please do share your valuable comments and feedback, and don’t miss out on exciting stuff on my Instagram. Check out the video for this recipe.
Firni Tiramisu
Ingredients
Firni
- ½ litre milk
- 3 tbsp semolina
- 4-6 green cardamoms
- 2-3 tbsp sugar or sweetener (add more according to taste)
Tiramisu
- 1½ tbsp ground coffee or instant coffee
- 1 packet sponge fingers/ tiramisu fingers/ lady fingers
- 1 tsp coco powder
- 1 plain/dark chocolate bar
Instructions
Firni
- Take milk in a saucepan and bring to boil. Add in green cardamoms and vanilla extract (optional). Allow it to simmer for some time till the milk starts thickening. Stir continuously.
- Add in the semolina, little by little, stirring continuously. Cook for about 10-15 minutes until it thickens to your preferred consistency. Keep stirring to avoid formation of lumps. Discard the green cardamoms.
- Add in the sugar and cook for some more time, until it gets incorporated. Allow it to cool to room temperature or chill in the fridge.
Tiramisu
- Make coffee by dissolving the ground coffee in nearly boiling water in a French press or simply stir it in a mug if using instant coffee. Do not add any milk.
- In the serving bowl, start by adding a few spoons of firni and even it out using a spatula so that it forms the first layer.
- For the second layer, dunk in a sponge finger in coffee for one second and place it on top of the layer of firni. Repeat until the first layer of firni is covered by a layer of sponge fingers.
- Add a few spoons of firni on top of the second layer and even it out. This forms the third layer of the dessert. Repeat the above step to form the fourth layer using sponge fingers.
- Add more firni to form the final layer. Even out the surface and sprinkle some cocoa powder all over using a sieve. Top it with chocolate shavings which can be made with the help of a vegetable peeler.
- Allow the dessert to cool in the fridge for a few hours before serving.