Ryan Riley recipe for joy: Sweet-and-sour apple crumble with sweet basil cream – UK Times

There’s nothing better than a crumble to bring joy to colder months. For me it’s a pudding for thick socks and darker skies. This version, bright with tamarind and laced with cardamom is the foundation for warming the soul. It starts, as all good crumbles do, with apples, peeled, chopped small, and cooked gently on the hob with a splash of water, a teaspoon of vanilla paste, a hint of sugar, and the tamarind, which brings that sharp-sour note that cuts through the sweetness beautifully.

A pinch of cardamom – a quiet spice that never shouts – warms everything up from the inside. While that softens, you rub butter into flour with a touch of caster sugar and a teaspoon of ground fennel seeds. This is your crumble topping and it’s beautiful: a little herbal, a little earthy, and all the better for it.

Spoon the apple mixture into a shallow oven dish, scatter over the crumble and bake until golden and bubbling. Pop it in for 20 minutes or so at 180C.

While it bakes, turn your attention to the cream. Basil leaves and golden sugar are blitzed to a fragrant green dust, stirred gently through softly whipped cream until it’s sweet, aromatic, and just the right amount of unusual.

Spoon the crumble into shallow bowls, scatter with lemon zest, and serve with the basil cream on the side. It’s soft and crunchy, sweet and tart, familiar and brand new all at once, it’s a dessert that feels just right, whatever the season.

Serves 2

2 eating apples, peeled, cored and chopped into 1cm pieces

2 teaspoons tamarind paste

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

1 teaspoon vanilla paste

1 teaspoon caster sugar

For the topping

2 tablespoons caster sugar

45g plain flour

1 teaspoon ground fennel seeds

30g unsalted butter, chilled and chopped

1 lemon, zested, to decorate

For the sweet basil cream

10 basil leaves

2 tablespoons golden

caster sugar

100ml double cream

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan.

Place the apples, tamarind, cardamom, vanilla, sugar and a splash of water in a small saucepan over a medium heat. Cook for 4–6 minutes, until the apples are soft.

To make the topping, in a bowl, work the sugar, flour, ground fennel and chilled butter together with your fingertips, rubbing until the mixture resembles rough breadcrumbs.

Put the apple mixture into a medium-sized ovenproof dish (about 20–25cm diameter), top it with the crumble mixture in an even layer and bake for 20–25 minutes, or until the top has turned golden brown and the filling is bubbling.

Meanwhile, make the sweet basil cream. Make a basil sugar by pulsing the basil leaves and sugar in a food processor until just combined. Set this aside while you whip the cream to soft peaks.

Then, gently fold 1 tablespoon of the basil sugar through the cream until evenly combined. (You can store the remaining basil sugar for another dish; it will keep for up to three days in an airtight container, although it may lose some of its vibrant colour – but not its flavour – in that time).

Scatter the lemon zest over the warm crumble, then serve in spoonfuls with sweet basil cream on the side.