Last week it was a time well spent with family at home, outings, meeting friends and not to forget special cooking ! It was 9 days holiday at work on account of Eid celebrations, the news of which was surprise to me as previously it was mentioned for 5 days only. Now with 4 more days added, I decided atleast now I should be spending some more time in the kitchen and try few of the recipes that I had bookmarked from a long time.
  
So here comes the dessert that was prepared on last day of Eid holidays and it tasted so delicious that I am eager to share its recipe here. No bake Eggless Blackberry Cheesecake, that turned out to be a hit at home. I have posted the recipe before, for No bake Eggless Mango cheesecake  with cheese and cream in it. Below recipe has been adapted from here which uses hung curd and paneer instead of regular cheese and cream. I reduced the quantity by half and used small glasses to make individual portions. These individual dessert glasses will surely impress your guests and not just that, it will be convenient while serving too. Though the recipe method may look lengthy, but this is a really simple to make dessert. We all enjoyed it.




Ingredients

400 gms yogurt full cream yogurt
200 gms paneer or cottage cheese, crumbled [ I used store bought]
100 gm powdered sugar
3/4 cup water
5 gms agar agar [ I used powder form, brand name is Meron]
2/3 cup blackberry puree [I used Lucky Leaf brand pie filling, you may use puree of any other fresh fruits of your choice]
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

For the crust
80 gms [6 in no.] digestive biscuits, crushed
50 gms butter [preferably salted butter], at room temperature or melted

For topping
Whipped cream/ Fruit puree

Method:

Hang the yogurt in a muslin cloth. I later placed it on the strainer over a vessel in the fridge until all the water got drained. You will get thick set hung curd and volume is reduced by half.Soak agar agar powder in water for 1o -15 mins. 

Crush the biscuits with hands and place them in ziplock bag. Powder them with a rollpin or simply blend them in mixie. Once powdered, add melted butter. Mix in with fingers until butter gets completely incorporated and mixture becomes moist. Spoon and fill in the mixture [I placed about 4 -5 tsp of mixture] in each serving glass. This will be the base layer for the cake. Spread it evenly and level the layer with back of spoon. Refrigerate for 30 mins.

Meanwhile, place the hung curd and crumbled paneer in a blender /food processor and blend them until you get a smooth mixture. Add powdered sugar, vanilla essence. Mix well and take care to remove any lumps in the mixture with a whisk.

Heat the agar agar mixture in a sauce pan on low flame and keep stirring it continuously. Simmer it until the powder dissolves completely. Turn off the heat and allow it to cool for a min. Warm up the fruit puree/ pie filling, add the agar agar mixture to it and mix well. Add half of this blackberry agar agar mixture to the hung curd paneer mixture. Pour blackberry agar agar mixture immediately in glass as second layer over the biscuit base. Even the surface of second layer with back of spoon, cover it with clingfilm and return the glasses to the fridge. Allow it to set for atleast 2-3 hours. 

Once set now you will use the remaining blackberry agar agar mixture as the top layer/3rd layer. Warm up the mixture [double boiling method as the mixture would have thickened by now] stirring continuously. Once it returns back to liquid form, switch off the flame and keep aside for a minute. Take out the cling film from the glasses and add the mixture as third layer. Cover it with cling film again and return back to fridge. I left it overnight and served it topped with whipped cream. You may also use nuts and dry fruits.



Happy cooking!