Flan//Strawberries
Happy Chinese New Years!
January 24, 2012
You know how in manga characters walk in to convenience stores and come out holding a little pudding cup of caramel flan or coffee flan? The ones set in Japan are given the name purrin. No idea what I'm trying to say? Think of Asian dramas where people walk in and out of convenience stores with a type of egg pudding with caramel on the bottom. When served, the pudding is inverted onto a plate and the caramel is on top. The pudding sits in a puddle of caramel sauce... like this.
January 24, 2012
You know how in manga characters walk in to convenience stores and come out holding a little pudding cup of caramel flan or coffee flan? The ones set in Japan are given the name purrin. No idea what I'm trying to say? Think of Asian dramas where people walk in and out of convenience stores with a type of egg pudding with caramel on the bottom. When served, the pudding is inverted onto a plate and the caramel is on top. The pudding sits in a puddle of caramel sauce... like this.
The smooth silky texture of the egg pudding, and the slightly bitter but amazingly flavourful caramel sauce makes flan better than what the name sounds like. The Vietnamese interchange caramel with black coffee, but cooking the caramel sugar a tad bit longer gives a similar bitterness. I've made made this flan with sweet caramel and burnt bitter caramel, both equally as good but I've always had a thing for "coffee" flavoured foods. Creme caramel and flan are interchangeable names for this breakfast lunch dinner snack dessert. Delicious when still a tad bit warm, fabulous the next day after it's been refrigerated. Room temperature is good too!
I bought strawberries. They were expensive. Too bad, they were delicious.
Peanut Butter and Jenny made them before too! But she used a different recipe and used the oven method... bain marie.
January 31, 2012
I've been busy with studying for exams and writing intense 20 paged research papers. I have no idea how my papers went. I have a hard time with written structures and grammar. But they are all handed in. I can't do anything about it now.
You know what? Flan is a terrible quick dessert to make. I've made it a twice already. Just to relieve my cement block of a brain.
~*~*~*~*~ aiyaahhh... happy belated birthday to my twinsie A, dearie L, and happy birthday to my alienpanda F. and aunty I.
I feel like making cake. But first I'll give you the recipe that I used and post the awesome flan pics up.
Flan Recipe:
Caramel
2/3 cup white sugar
Butter or grease 6 tea cups or 4 inch wide ramekins, set aside. Evenly spread out 2/3 cup sugar in a saucepan and cook on medium heat. Cook until amber in colour with out disturbing it. But if the heat is uneven and part of the sugar is melted and part of it is still grainy, use a wooden utensil to stir the melted sugar (caramel) around. Once liquid and deep golden brown, divide the caramel evenly between the 6 prepared cups. Set aside.
Custard
4 eggs
2 cups milk
1/3 cup white sugar
splash of vanilla (1 tsp? 2 tsp?)
Whisk all the ingredients in a bowl until sugar is dissolved. Strain through a fine mesh sieve to great rid of the egg bits and foam. Divide evenly into the prepared caramel filled containers. Individually cover with squares of aluminum foil. Set aside.
Cook (Steam)
1) Fill a large wide pot with 2 inches of water and boil. Place the steamer divider (rack, whatever you use to steam food).
2) Once the water is boiling, quickly place the covered containers onto the steamer divider and cover the pot. TURN DOWN THE HEAT TO THE LOWEST SETTING. Allow the flan to steam for 20-25 mins.
3) Check for its cooking process, peek under the foil, if the egg mixture is set around the sides and the middles are only a tad be jiggly.... TURN OFF THE HEAT and keep the lid on for another 10-15 mins.
4) Let it cool before serving ~30 min - 1 hour, it's nice when it's refrigerated according to the brother bee, but I like eating minewarm hot, right when they are done. Using a straight edge knife, run it along the sides to loosen the flan from the cup/ramekin. Hold a plate to the top of the cup, quickly flip the plate with the cup attached, jiggle, and the flan should plop out. Serve with fruit!
Tips: Cook your caramel to a deep brown if you enjoy the bitter taste of burnt sugar. It tastes a bit like coffee. I really like its taste but mama bee and papa bee don't.
I bought strawberries. They were expensive. Too bad, they were delicious.
Peanut Butter and Jenny made them before too! But she used a different recipe and used the oven method... bain marie.
January 31, 2012
I've been busy with studying for exams and writing intense 20 paged research papers. I have no idea how my papers went. I have a hard time with written structures and grammar. But they are all handed in. I can't do anything about it now.
You know what? Flan is a terrible quick dessert to make. I've made it a twice already. Just to relieve my cement block of a brain.
~*~*~*~*~ aiyaahhh... happy belated birthday to my twinsie A, dearie L, and happy birthday to my alienpanda F. and aunty I.
I feel like making cake. But first I'll give you the recipe that I used and post the awesome flan pics up.
Flan Recipe:
Caramel
2/3 cup white sugar
Butter or grease 6 tea cups or 4 inch wide ramekins, set aside. Evenly spread out 2/3 cup sugar in a saucepan and cook on medium heat. Cook until amber in colour with out disturbing it. But if the heat is uneven and part of the sugar is melted and part of it is still grainy, use a wooden utensil to stir the melted sugar (caramel) around. Once liquid and deep golden brown, divide the caramel evenly between the 6 prepared cups. Set aside.
 |
| My first flan. I had the stove turned on too high. The water was boiling. The sight ain't so smooth and pretty but it tastes just fine =) |
4 eggs
2 cups milk
1/3 cup white sugar
splash of vanilla (1 tsp? 2 tsp?)
Whisk all the ingredients in a bowl until sugar is dissolved. Strain through a fine mesh sieve to great rid of the egg bits and foam. Divide evenly into the prepared caramel filled containers. Individually cover with squares of aluminum foil. Set aside.
Cook (Steam)
1) Fill a large wide pot with 2 inches of water and boil. Place the steamer divider (rack, whatever you use to steam food).
2) Once the water is boiling, quickly place the covered containers onto the steamer divider and cover the pot. TURN DOWN THE HEAT TO THE LOWEST SETTING. Allow the flan to steam for 20-25 mins.
3) Check for its cooking process, peek under the foil, if the egg mixture is set around the sides and the middles are only a tad be jiggly.... TURN OFF THE HEAT and keep the lid on for another 10-15 mins.
4) Let it cool before serving ~30 min - 1 hour, it's nice when it's refrigerated according to the brother bee, but I like eating mine
 |
| another bubbly one =( |
 |
| Not perfect, but smooth enough! mmmm! |
it looks so good, it's making me hungry!
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