Maja Blanca

A coconut pudding set with cornflour and topped with toasted coconut curds.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (evaporated milk).

Ingredients

• 1 litre coconut milk
• 200 ml evaporated milk
• 150 g caster sugar
• 120 g cornflour
• 200 g sweetcorn kernels
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 400 ml coconut cream, for the latik

Method

1. MAKE THE LATIK FIRST. Simmer the coconut cream in a dry pan, stirring, for 25 to 30 minutes: the oil separates out and the solids brown into crisp curds. Strain the curds out and keep both.
2. It goes from white to oil-and-curds to burnt in the last two minutes, so stay with it.
3. Whisk the cornflour into about a third of the COLD coconut milk until completely smooth, with no lumps at all.
4. Heat the remaining coconut milk with the evaporated milk, sugar and salt, then pour in the cornflour slurry while whisking.
5. Cook over a medium heat, stirring constantly, for 10 to 12 minutes until it is very thick and pulls away from the side of the pan. IT MUST BOIL or the cornflour stays chalky.
6. Fold in the sweetcorn and pour into a tray brushed with the latik oil, smoothing the top.
7. Chill 4 hours until firm enough to cut in squares, then scatter the latik curds over. Curds put on while it is warm go soft, which loses the only crunch in the dish.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Philippines · All recipes