I started the post with a picture because you need to see it for yourself – the deliciousness that is Dulce de Leche (dole-say-dee-lech-ay). Essentially, its caramelised condensed milk but that makes it sound bland and totally overshadows the exotic appeal. It warranted it’s own post not because I haven’t made Dulce de Leche before but I haven’t made it quite as correctly. The method here is quite simple and quicker too, if you’ll have that. Know that I come from experience – I’ve tried to microwave it, cook it directly over flame, over double boiler etc. This is the cleanest, quickest and least painful way – for me anyway. There are plenty of you who may have tried microwaving it and it worked beautifully. So, first timers, see what works for you.
There is no recipe to follow as such – just cooking time to keep in mind.
Dulce de Leche
Yields: 400 g of Dulce de Leche
Method:
I used one 400g tin of condensed milk (Amul Mithai Mate, as its known here) and placed that in a pressure cooker. Then I poured water up to half way through. I shut the lid tightly and let it cook on high flame till I heard the first whistle. After which, I lowered the heat and let it cook for about 20 minutes. I wanted mine to be intensely caramelised – the idea is that the more thicker you’d like for the Dulce de Leche to be, the longer you let it cook. But, I’d stop at 20 minutes post the first whistle because you don’t want it to be burnt.
It is also really important to note that my tin did not come with a paper wrapped around it. You *must* peel off the paper before placing the tin in the pressure cooker. I also used a factory sealed tin which meant that there was no way it would burst open whilst cooking, due to the pressure.
After I turned off the heat, I let it sit with the lid shut till it cooled down – about 10 minutes. Then I removed the tin from the cooker and let it sit to cool down again. Once it was sufficiently cool for me to handle, I opened it and may have eaten it by the spoonful.
The Vanilla Bean 