Chocolate Soup | For the broken heart

I read somewhere that ‘STRESSED’ spelled backwards is ‘DESSERTS’. The answer is right there, isn’t it? If you want to turn your stress around, get something sweet in you. That’s it.

We all have days when you just want to kill yourself. Women, in particular go through this like at least once a month, when the biological alarm kicks in and we’re a walking cocktail of messed up hormones. Urgggh! It’s a mess. I spent half of last night pinning quotes from Pinterest and crying my eyes out.

Reading Paulo Coelho did not help. Here I am, as miserable as an average shoe, and he makes a Brazilian prostitute find love and happiness in a Swiss painter.

Just like there’s chicken soup for the sick, I really wished there was a soup for the depressed. Thank God, there is one. A chocolate soup. And God bless the soul that came up with it.

This recipe has been adapted from the Food Network.I replaced 2tbsp of cornflour with 3tbsp of vanilla custard powder and 1 tbsp of cocoa powder. I figured it’d add more flavour to the soup. And it did.

I’m now going to go get me a bowl of hot chocolate soup and a blanket to cuddle in, and then I’m going to watch Gerard Butler in P.S. I Love You. Yup, that should do it.

Chocolate Soup Serves 4

You will be needing

– 4 1/2 cups of milk
– 1 cup condensed milk
– 280gms bittersweet chocolate, chopped
– 3tbsp cornflour
– 2-3tbsp Instant vanilla custard powder (I like Brown & Polson Instant Vanilla Custard)
– 1tbsp cocoa powder
– about 5-6 tablespoons of water to dissolve the powders
– a pinch of salt
– nuts or biscuits or toasted bread to garnish or dunk in.

Method

– In a large heavy bottomed pan, heat the milk and condensed milk. If you don’t have a large heavy bottomed pan, use a regular pan, but place it in a larger pan filled with water. This way, your pan isn’t directly over the heat, and the water minimises burning.
– Stir continuously to avoid burning.
– Once the milk heats up, reduce the heat, and add the chocolate. Stir well till the chocolate melts completely. If it’s a little streaky, don’t worry, it’ll come together soon.
– Mix the custard powder, cornflour and cocoa powder in a bowl. Dissolve in water (room temperature) till you form a slurry. No lumps. Just liquid.
– Add this slurry to the chocolate milk slowly while stirring continuously. You’ll notice the liquid slowly thickening.Add the salt.
– Let it simmer over a low flame for about 5-10 minutes. Stir occasionally just to distribute heat and prevent burning. You’ll notice that any streaking you saw  in the beginning are now gone.
– Remove from heat. Serve hot or cold.