Have you ever heard of naarang (calamansi) biscuit pudding? Maybe we’re creatively challenged, because not even in our wildest dreams would we have thought to pair together the classic biscuit pudding and Sri Lankans’ favourite citrusy fruit.
But, that’s exactly what Naarang.sl is all about. Founded by Adam Raymond and his lovely wife, they have concocted together a brand-new dessert – the naarang biscuit pudding. And to be perfectly honest, we were quite sceptical of the whole thing, but due to the overall wackiness of the concept, we had to try it.
We are aware, of course, that fruity desserts aren’t an anomaly, there are the more typical key lime pies and an assortment of custards and shortbreads, which, according to Adam, inspired this whole idea, and the first of his attempts were in fact made using lime. Being a lover of citrusy flavours, Adam, who apparently has an affinity for eating plain lime for kicks, shared that he wanted to change things up a bit with the kind of fruit he would use, and settled on using naarang.
Adam shared that he tested it out for the first time not too long before the actual launch of Naarang.sl, which was in early March 2021. For his first attempt, he wandered into his in-laws’ house, thankfully situated next door, collected a few limes, and got to work, and using their close-knit neighbourhood as guinea pigs, he was able to tweak his idea and improve on it. A few weeks later, they created a logo, opened an Instagram page, and Naarang.sl was open for business.
We asked Adam if he ran into any roadblocks in sourcing the key ingredients for his product, as, being a fruit, it can often pose challenges. However, so far, he said, he is yet to encounter any difficulties. He travels early morning around 5 a.m., to beat the traffic, to Manning Market, and procures his ingredients, and things have been pretty smooth for the most part.
Adam’s laissez-faire attitude really shines through in the fresh and inventiveness of his product – the biscuit pudding is not in any way an uptight dessert. With a generous shelf life of about a week, although it is recommended that you have it on the day of or day after purchase, the naarang biscuit pudding is pleasantly citrusy, sweet, light, fluffy, and airy, and, dare we say it, absolutely perfect.
With so much potential to go wrong, this dessert just strikes a perfect balance between a pleasant fruity flavour and an ideally textured dessert. When he was first in the process of perfecting the ratios for the ingredients, Adam said that one major criticism he received was that the citrus was a little too intense for the uninitiated palate, and Adam, being citrus obsessed, was unable to detect this intensity. However, the addition of a considerable portion of biscuit really balanced out the flavours.
At risk of gushing too much about a biscuit pudding, we have to reiterate just how incredibly pleasant the experience was. We thoroughly enjoyed the Naarang biscuit pudding and would recommend it any chance we get.
Once again, this is a cloud kitchen which focuses on one thematic specialisation and does it really well. Adam shared that they do hope to expand upon their concept and maybe offer one-litre naarang juice bottles in the near future. He does have some ideas for other citrusy desserts, opting to stay in his chosen lane, but those are really in the idea stages at the moment.
Retailing at Rs. 450 per jar – an absolute steal in our opinion – the dessert is currently only available for pick up on Saturdays and you must pre-order, and delivery may be arranged for bigger quantities. In addition to the jars, if you wish to have a larger order, there is room for customisation.
Instagram: @Naarang.sl