Yema

A firm egg-yolk and milk candy cooked to the point where it holds a shape, wrapped in paper.

Egg. Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains egg, dairy (butter), dairy (condensed milk).

Ingredients

• 6 egg yolks
• 400 g condensed milk
• 40 g butter
• 0.25 teaspoon salt
• 50 g cashews, chopped
• 1 teaspoon lime zest

Method

1. Whisk the yolks into the condensed milk COLD and off the heat, until completely uniform. Yolks dropped into a warm pan set into threads of cooked egg and they never smooth out.
2. Strain the mixture through a sieve into a heavy pan. This catches the bit of membrane that always comes off a yolk.
3. Butter and salt in. Over the LOWEST heat, stir constantly with a wooden spoon or a silicone spatula, right into the corners of the pan.
4. 20 to 25 minutes. It goes from pourable to custard to a paste that comes away from the pan in a ball and drags behind the spoon.
5. THE TEST IS A LINE: draw the spoon across the bottom and the channel should stay open for a count of three. Short of that it will not hold a shape and you will be rolling warm paste all evening; past it, it goes grainy and tastes scorched.
6. Cashews and zest in at the very end, off the heat.
7. Spread it in a shallow tray and cool completely, then chill 1 hour. Rolling warm yema is the commonest reason the balls come out misshapen.
8. Roll teaspoons into balls or pyramids with lightly buttered hands and wrap each one in cellophane with the ends twisted.

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